BackupPC-users

Re: [BackupPC-users] Reduce backup load on clients

2012-11-22 09:27:59
Subject: Re: [BackupPC-users] Reduce backup load on clients
From: Paulo Almeida <palmeida AT igc.gulbenkian DOT pt>
To: "General list for user discussion, questions and support" <backuppc-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net>
Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2012 14:26:15 +0000
On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 02:54:54PM +0100, Jimmy Thrasibule wrote:
> On Thu, 2012-11-22 at 13:35 +0000, Paulo Almeida wrote:
> > Hi,
> 
> Hello,
> 
> > I don't use Windows myself, but would it be possible to link the backup
> > to the computer shutdown, so that when a user turns off the computer, it
> > first performs the backup and then shuts down?
> 
> I really like this idea. But I don't know neither if this possible.
> 

I checked and it is possible:

http://www.trishtech.com/win7/run_a_script_at_shutdown_in_windows_7.php

But right after I replied to your e-mail I thought there is one problem
with this solution. Backuppc jobs are usually initiated on the server,
except for manual requests through the web interface. This shutdown
script would have to somehow contact the server and initiate its backup,
perhaps by using automation on the web interface or by running an SSH
command on the server. It's doable, but maybe not the most elegant
solution.

> > Would it be reasonable to do the backups during lunch, using backuppc's
> > blackout periods?
> 
> It could be and it's already like this. However I noticed that BackupPC
> doesn't take in account blackout periods for the first backup. Is that
> normal?
> 
> Here are my blackout periods:
> 
> $Conf{BlackoutPeriods} = [
>   {
>     hourBegin => 8.0,
>     hourEnd   => 12.5,
>     weekDays  => [1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
>   },
>   {
>     hourBegin => 14.0,
>     hourEnd   => 16.5,
>     weekDays  => [1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
>   },
> ];
> 

With the default configuration it takes 7 consecutive good pings for
blackout periods to become effective. Take a look at the
BlackoutBadPingLimit and BlackoutGoodCnt variables in the configuration.
You can play with those to force blackout periods (for instance, setting
BlackoutGoodCnt to 0).

> > There may be other solutions, outside the scope of backuppc, like
> > traffic shaping and throttling processes.
> 
> I'm also thinking about this. But one other side effect is disk I/O
> usage when making a backup.
> 

In Linux there are mechanisms (e.g. ionice) to limit I/O of certain
processes. I would imagine similar things exist for Windows, but I don't
know.

Cheers,
Paulo

> > Cheers,
> > Paulo
> 
> Cheers,
> Jimmy
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Paulo Almeida
Bioinformatics Unit
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal
Web: http://bioinformatics.igc.gulbenkian.pt
Tel: +351 214 464 644

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monitor your physical, virtual and cloud infrastructure from a single
web console. Get in-depth insight into apps, servers, databases, vmware,
SAP, cloud infrastructure, etc. Download 30-day Free Trial.
Pricing starts from $795 for 25 servers or applications!
http://p.sf.net/sfu/zoho_dev2dev_nov
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