[Box Backup] server management

[Ben Summers]

On 21 May 2004, at 11:00, Mitja Mu=C5=BEeni=C4=8D wrote:

> Hi!
>
> I'm following Box Backup development with interest - I think it has a=20=

> lot of
> potential. As I was considering possible real-life usage I came to two
> scenarios that eventually turn out to be the same problem - how to
> synchronize/manage multiple bb stores.
>
> 1. bbstored on a laptop. If I add a new remote site to bb, it could be
> faster to go on site, do an initial backup to a laptop, bring the data=20=

> with
> me and then import/migrate it to the main store. Afterwards, all the=20=

> deltas
> can go over the wire since the bulk of data is already in the main=20
> store.

This one is fairly easy.

* Run bbstored on the laptop (with a separate certificate to the main=20
server).

* Configure bbackupd with the store being the temporary address of the=20=

laptop.

* Run it, and wait until the sync finishes.

* IMPORTANT: Stop bbackupd

* Take the laptop to the main server. Create an account with the same=20
account number on the server, then replace the store directories with=20
the directories from the laptop.

* Start the bbackupd client again.

and it should all be fine. I will be making this easier at some point,=20=

it's something I want for myself too. I'm thinking of the client making=20=

archives of encrypted files, which can then be transported (laptop,=20
CDs?) to the store server, and installed as the initial store.

>
> 2. multiple stores. For additional safety margin I'm thinking of=20
> having two
> physically separate servers (as in diferent cities) running bbstored.=20=

> They
> could accept backups round-robin-style or one serve as primary, the=20
> other as
> backup store. Again, the issue here is how to make the data on both=20
> server
> in sync.

Eventually I will be writing code to syncronise stores, so that as one=20=

store is updated the changes are copied by that store to another store=20=

server.

In the meantime, backup to a primary server. Have a cron job use rsync=20=

to copy the stored (encrypted) files to a secondary server. If the=20
primary goes down, use the secondary server if you need to restore. You=20=

would probably want to use OS level RAID rather than build in raidfile,=20=

since otherwise you increase traffic between the store servers by 50%=20
unnecessarily.

I think the two things are actually different problems, and need=20
different solutions to be easy to use.

Thanks for the comments.

Ben