[Box Backup] Production use

[Ben Summers]

On 27 Jan 2004, at 15:51, Eduardo Alvarenga wrote:

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> On Tue, 27 Jan 2004, Ben Summers wrote:
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>>>> notice changes, as long as those changes were made a configurable
>>>> time ago. Future versions will allow a snapshot based approach in
>>>> addition to this behaviour, but for now, you have to be aware that
>>>> what you restore is not going to be what was on the disc at a
>>>> particular moment in time (if you see what I mean). But you will
>>>> have all your data backed up in a timely manner.
>>>
>>>  Is there any workaround to make weekly-{directory,files} backup? I
>>>  mean, a directory for each day-of-{week,month} where the files
>>>  (encrypted or not) are stored?
>>
>> Not really, without loosing all the efficiency gains. As it's so
>> completely against the basic design, it's not really worth thinking
>> about.
>>>
>>>  This is confortable (at least for me) to retrieve any file revision
>>>  from the last week very easily.
>>
>> This is what you can do now to view and retrieve an old version:
> [snip]
>
>  That's awesome ;-). It really DO suit my needs.

Great. I will pop that little example on the web site.

>
>> What I'm planning to do is to be able to do a "show snapshots"
>> command, which lists all the snapshots on the server, then a "select
>> snapshot", and then all the queries and restores you do relate to
>> that.
>>
>> The design is there, and it's all built to do this, just a matter of
>> implementing that last bit of code which actually does the magic!
>
>  Well, a snapshot-based option will be very pleased on full system
>  emergency recoveries. Normally i'll be using it when the data is lost
>  or the client hard disk fails.

I didn't think it was *that* vital, which is why I haven't quite got 
around to implementing it.

>
>>>> Regex exclusion isn't done yet, but is not a big job. If you wanted 
>>>> to
>>>> use this seriously, then I'll put it in as a priority item.
>>>
>>>  Yes, this is serious. Many large temporary files may not be 
>>> backuped.
>>>  So exclusions based on regex are very welcome. If you mind... please
>>>  keed it priority #1.
>>
>> Not a problem. It's now next on the list!
>
>  Okay, when regex is ok i'll start installing boxbackup...
>
> [snip]
>>>> However, I am working hard to get to a stage where I can recommend
>>>> it's use. It would help me enormously if you would consider running
>>>> it in parallel with your existing backup systems, and let me know
>>>> how it works out.
>>>
>>>  Our backup system as noticed in the last message is poor. The 
>>> current
>>>  backup machine is getting it's resources exausted and I'm going to
>>>  exchange it by this new one (more disk, more speed, more reliable). 
>>> So
>>>  I'm looking for a better tool then ours. I'm seriously thinking 
>>> about
>>>  boxbackup, for real.
>>>
>>>  All I need to make it blow here: Regex exclusion and {daily,weekly}
>>>  based backup structure; as explained above.
>>
>> Splendid. How long have I got? :-)
>
>  Hm... not so much time. Actually I'm just waiting for our developers 
> to
>  commit their changes our CVS/Backup server to migrate information to
>  the new system. It should not take more than 2-3 days.

I should have a private snapshot for you within that time limit. :-)

Ben