Hello, I am building a linux/samba server to backup some nt servers and would appreciate some suggestions/pointers/criticisms etc... I googled for "samba backup" but could not find many similar solutions. need... Full/incremental network backups for 2=nt and 1=win2k servers. Ability to choose which folders/files get included/excluded. No software costs. motivation... Full drive backups exceed 1 dds3 tape but some files do not need backup. NT backup makes include/exclude difficult. win2k backup difficult to script. Will move from NT to linux/samba eventually. Tape drive failures cause main server downtime. gameplan... Build Linux-samba box with 3 dds3 drives and 4 100Mb nics. Add another nic to each nt/win2k server. Build 3 crossover ethernet cables. Configure nics with private ip addresses. Mount nt shares with smbfs or use smbclient. Linux script backsup/compresses specific nt files to a local tar file and then copy file to tape. I had some problems connecting via the crossover cable, but did connect via primary nics. If anyone has attempted something similar, let me know. Thanks, Dale
Dale, The RH-Linux 7.3 samba-client rpm installed a script file called smbtar in /usr/bin. It wraps the smbclient command specificaly for running the smbclient tar program. I don't know where it is installed on your system, if at all. It is most likely in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin if you've installed the full samba package. You could use that script in your own scripts, or just borrow from it to understand how to call smbclient in non-interactive mode to tar a share. You could probably even use smbclient in interactive mode with an expect script. It supports exclude/include patterns (including regexp file name matching), full and incremental backups, and changing to a starting directory, as well as resetting or not resetting the windows archive flag on files so you could do incremental or differential backups. It doesn't seem to support the verify option or compression. It's documented to write directly to a tape device, but I've only used it to write to a file on the linux box. You could also just use GNU tar across a smbfs, but you may run into problems with errors about the file being modified while reading the archive when you know it wasn't. I tried that way at first, since I knew GNU tar better, and it has a much larger range of options, including the ability to give shell pattern matching for include files as well as an exclude shell pattern, rather than just one or the other. You may want to see these posts for more info: bug: smbtar and incremental backups smbclient returns incorrect file size for large files File changed as we read it.... Re: SMBFS files receiving incorrect timestamps If you are following the mailing list, but just joined you can find these at news.gmane.org. Jacob Anawalt "Sykora, Dale" <Dale.Sykora@hp.com> wrote in message news:E7BC9AA1C77D634D8255A878AB49B09D02330F94@cceexc19.americas.cpqcorp.net. .. Hello, I am building a linux/samba server to backup some nt servers and would appreciate some suggestions/pointers/criticisms etc... I googled for "samba backup" but could not find many similar solutions. need... Full/incremental network backups for 2=nt and 1=win2k servers. Ability to choose which folders/files get included/excluded. No software costs. motivation... Full drive backups exceed 1 dds3 tape but some files do not need backup. NT backup makes include/exclude difficult. win2k backup difficult to script. Will move from NT to linux/samba eventually. Tape drive failures cause main server downtime. gameplan... Build Linux-samba box with 3 dds3 drives and 4 100Mb nics. Add another nic to each nt/win2k server. Build 3 crossover ethernet cables. Configure nics with private ip addresses. Mount nt shares with smbfs or use smbclient. Linux script backsup/compresses specific nt files to a local tar file and then copy file to tape. I had some problems connecting via the crossover cable, but did connect via primary nics. If anyone has attempted something similar, let me know. Thanks, Dale -- To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the instructions: http://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/samba
Jacob, Thanks for the info! As you suggested, I will look into the inner working of smbtar. I just joined the mailing list today. I'll research the topics you mentioned. I also need to brush up on multiple ethernet and tape devices as my experience is lacking. My big concern right now is if my gameplan is reasonable or if I should consider another approach. Thanks, Dale> -----Original Message----- > From: Jacob Anawalt [mailto:anawaltaj@hotmail.com] > Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 3:04 PM > To: samba@lists.samba.org > Subject: [Samba] Re: nt->samba backup suggestions > > > Dale, > > The RH-Linux 7.3 samba-client rpm installed a script file > called smbtar in > /usr/bin. It wraps the smbclient command specificaly for running the > smbclient tar program. I don't know where it is installed on > your system, if > at all. It is most likely in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin if > you've installed > the full samba package. You could use that script in your own > scripts, or > just borrow from it to understand how to call smbclient in > non-interactive > mode to tar a share. You could probably even use smbclient in > interactive > mode with an expect script. > > It supports exclude/include patterns (including regexp file > name matching), > full and incremental backups, and changing to a starting > directory, as well > as resetting or not resetting the windows archive flag on > files so you could > do incremental or differential backups. It doesn't seem to support the > verify option or compression. It's documented to write > directly to a tape > device, but I've only used it to write to a file on the linux box. > > You could also just use GNU tar across a smbfs, but you may run into > problems with errors about the file being modified while > reading the archive > when you know it wasn't. I tried that way at first, since I > knew GNU tar > better, and it has a much larger range of options, including > the ability to > give shell pattern matching for include files as well as an > exclude shell > pattern, rather than just one or the other. > > You may want to see these posts for more info: > bug: smbtar and incremental backups > smbclient returns incorrect file size for large files > File changed as we read it.... > Re: SMBFS files receiving incorrect timestamps > > If you are following the mailing list, but just joined you > can find these at > news.gmane.org. > > Jacob Anawalt > > "Sykora, Dale" <Dale.Sykora@hp.com> wrote in message > news:E7BC9AA1C77D634D8255A878AB49B09D02330F94@cceexc19.americas.cpqcorp.net. ..
> My big concern right now is > if my gameplan is reasonable > or if I should consider > another approach.Dale, your gameplan is ok, it's the execution thereof that counts. If you're p2p-ing to backup clients, why not do the right thing and use GigaBit cards. They're just a tad more expensive than the fast ethers (it's the switching stuff that makes it expensive). A backup server with humongous buffering disks is a good idea, if you need that kind of aggressive backup power. Once you're done, you may sell it to others as "appliance". _____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB, POP3, Spam Filtering with LYCOS MAIL PLUS for $19.95/year. http://login.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus&ref=lmtplus
>> If you're p2p-ing to backup clients, why not do the right thing >> and use GigaBit cards. They're just a tad more expensive than the >> ..................... >The cost of the fibre optics is usually what is prohibitive >when using GB NIC's. > >More than a couple of metres it starts getting very expensive..Sure a mile of cheapernet isn't really cheap either. If the boxen are close enough, good 5e could do. But it's a bit off topic. _____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB, POP3, Spam Filtering with LYCOS MAIL PLUS for $19.95/year. http://login.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus&ref=lmtplus
Gareth, I have many 100Mb cards but no 1Gb cards. If I can find some free 1Gb cards I'll do it, but I want to minimize costs and this is a relative short term solution "<2years" before the old NT boxes are replaced. Thanks everyone for all the feedback. Thanks, Dale> -----Original Message----- > From: Gareth Davies [mailto:gdavies@willowbrook.co.uk] > Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 6:50 AM > To: dkrnic@lycos.com; samba@lists.samba.org > Cc: Sykora, Dale > Subject: Re: [Samba] Re: nt->samba backup suggestions > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dragan Krnic" <dkrnic@lycos.com> > To: <samba@lists.samba.org> > Cc: <Dale.Sykora@hp.com> > Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 7:01 AM > Subject: [Samba] Re: nt->samba backup suggestions > > > > > My big concern right now is > > > if my gameplan is reasonable > > > or if I should consider > > > another approach. > > > > Dale, your gameplan is ok, it's the execution thereof that counts. > > If you're p2p-ing to backup clients, why not do the right thing > > and use GigaBit cards. They're just a tad more expensive than the > > fast ethers (it's the switching stuff that makes it expensive). A > > backup server with humongous buffering disks is a good idea, if > > you need that kind of aggressive backup power. Once you're done, > > you may sell it to others as "appliance". > > > > The cost of the fibre optics is usually what is prohibitive > when using GB > NIC's. > > More than a couple of metres it starts getting very expensive.. > > > > > _____________________________________________________________ > > Get 25MB, POP3, Spam Filtering with LYCOS MAIL PLUS for $19.95/year. > > http://login.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus&ref=lmtplus > > -- > > To unsubscribe from this list go to the following URL and read the > > instructions: http://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/samba > > > >