[gtaSAGE-members] RE: backup client (Duane Bedeau)

[D. Scott Murphy]

AMANDA is a great tool, even with the rather oddball configuration, it
serves very well for backing up all manner of systems. I prefer using gnutar
as the underlying engine rather than the dump, as I can always manipulate
the files directly after the fact. In addition, if you configure in smbtar,
you can back up windows machines as well.

There was a great resource that explained the basics out there on a site
called frankenlinux. It has vanished from the net, but I think I made a copy
from google's cache of it when it vanished, but I'd have to look around a
bit to find it. There is support for pretty much any variety of backup
device, as well as just dumping to a file. Yahoo groups has an AMANDA users
group out there, and it is loaded with info. The biggest problem is the
sheer mass of data and the way yahoo performs a search.

If you are just backing up one machine, it is a bit of overkill, but the
exercise of setting it up will be of great value for any future use, as the
client setup is very simple once you have configured the server portion.

The AMANDA portion of Curtis Preston's book "Unix Backup & Recovery" is
available on line at http://www.backupcentral.com/amanda.

If you are looking for a drive/partition snapshot utility, try
http://www.partimage.org.

There are also a few HOWTO's out there if you look.

Scott