Bacula-users

Re: [Bacula-users] Using Bittorrent as Backup Technology

2010-02-08 09:33:54
Subject: Re: [Bacula-users] Using Bittorrent as Backup Technology
From: Josh Fisher <jfisher AT pvct DOT com>
To: bacula-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net
Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:30:24 -0500
On 2/7/2010 10:29 PM, mehma sarja wrote:
> Thanks to both of you for your thoughts. I am actually looking for 
> anyone who has tried it or someone who has thought about trying it and 
> dropped the idea.
>
> I understand 10 instances is very small - but I am not contemplating 
> huge files either. Is the transfer latency something like 
> filesize/number of nodes?
>
> Bacula can dump a daily differential and Bittorrent can take it from 
> there. Databases will be more problematic.
>
> DRBD assumes, atleast that's what Google says, stable, decent 
> bandwidth. My design takes network cutting out on a daily basis into 
> account. We are talking the US postal service kind of a backup. It 
> should work under adverse situations.

DRBD assumes stable, decent bandwidth, but that is not to say it doesn't 
handle network problems well. DRBD is essentially RAID 1 over a network 
connection as opposed to SCSI, SAS, etc. If Bacula is writing to a DRBD 
device and the connection between DRBD nodes goes down, Bacula will 
never know the difference. When the network comes back up, the DRBD node 
on the other side will be rebuilt in the background, just as a raid 
array will be rebuilt when a failing drive is replaced.

>
> I also want to be able to plug another unit in and have it start 
> backing up without any twiddling. I have been there on the rsync front 
> and it is reliable and simple. I just think if a cleaning person bumps 
> the power cord and then plugs it back in (at night) that the machine 
> should right itself. I know it can be done with scripts and rsync. Why 
> invent and maintain something when p2p apps have solved the problem 
> already?
>
> For some reason, I still think Bittorrent could be a winner in the set 
> it and forget it backup arena. Technically, this is not really a 
> backup, it is actually backing up a backup. A poor man's disaster 
> planning.

DRBD is designed for high availability systems. It is a device driver, 
thus does not require a two step approach. It is already available and 
works as is without any changes to Bacula.

>
> To be clear, here is the amount of work I am willing to do with this 
> technology:
> a.  Get the hardware and connection installed
> b.  Configure encrypted transfers among a limited number of nodes
> c.  Configure the master directories which needs to be backed up for 
> 3x redundancy
>
> THAT'S IT - any more work is getting into fiddling.
>
> Mehma
> ===
> On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 1:25 AM, Wolfgang Denk <wd AT denx DOT de 
> <mailto:wd AT denx DOT de>> wrote:
>
>     Dear mehma sarja,
>
>     In message
>     <ec5d34681002061636p308947abre20a0b38874549c0 AT mail.gmail DOT com
>     <mailto:ec5d34681002061636p308947abre20a0b38874549c0 AT mail.gmail DOT 
> com>>
>     you wrote:
>     >
>     > PROBLEM
>     > I am trying to solve off-site, on-disk backup problem in the Bay
>     Area which
>     > is prone to earthquakes.
>     >
>     > QUESTION
>     > Is anyone out there using bittorrent as a backup tool?
>
>     Hm... have you ever looked into DRBD instead?
>
>     Bittorrent has not been designed for what you want to use it.
>     DRBD has.  I am aware that you can use many tools for things they have
>     not specifically designed for, but I also believe that in most cases
>     the tools that have been designed for a specific purpose are most
>     efficient.
>
>     Best regards,
>
>     Wolfgang Denk
>
>     --
>     DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
>     HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
>     Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email:
>     wd AT denx DOT de <mailto:wd AT denx DOT de>
>     There is a time in the tides of men, Which, taken at its flood, leads
>     on to success. On the other hand, don't count on it.   - T. K. Lawson
>
>
>
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