SOLVED: Step by step backup for windows clients

[oldfert]

I'm dumber than a post. Flame me all you want, but help if you can. I have installed AMAHI on Ubuntu 12.04 desktop. I followed all the guidelines on the AMAHI installation, including turning off the DHCP server.

The instructions seem to stop at that point.

I have been using WHS 2011 to back up all the PC's in my small office. When it worked, it was great. Problem. It periodically errors out and the only solution is to re-install everything. I'm tired of re-installing and never knowing when it will quit again.

I currently have 5 windows PC's. All 32 bit. 2 Windows XP pro, 1 Windows Vista Business, 1 Windows XP Home, and one Windows 7 Pro.

I want a program that will do a full backup of each PC and then incremental backups on a daily basis. I have tried to use several "Easy" Linux server/windows client backup programs. No luck (I'm not that bright). In short, an open source (preferably free) program that will do everything that WHS will do, but is within my (admittedly limited) capabilities.

I have 2 hard drives on the server. The first is 120 GB, AMAHI is installed here. The 2nd HD is 1TB currently split into 5 logical drives, 1 for each PC.

Suggestions, directions, etc. Just do not skip anything. Do not assume that I know anything.

Thanks for your help.

[bigfoot65]

Try this app for file syncronization/back up:

http://synchronicity.sourceforge.net/

Now if you are talking system images of your clients, Clonezilla is an option. Making a full backup of the OS and files for clients to the HDA is not a simple process. Amahi does not possess a backup solution of this nature out of the box.

Please clarify your intent of just file or entire client system backups.

[oldfert]

Thanks for your reply, it looks promising.

I described what I wanted. I realize that what I want and what I can get are entirely different matters. The WHS has saved my bacon on several occasions (one of the people here has a penchant for clicking the wrong files and getting viruses and trojans). The ability to do a bare metal restore got us back up and running in short order.

I am not adverse to paying for a program, it's just that free would be better. I also noticed on the apps list 2 other programs, I believe they were called phpmybackup and crashplan. What is your opinion of and/or recommendations concerning those programs.

[bigfoot65]

Your initial post did not specify full metal backup, so that is why I asked for clarification. I have never used WHS, so did not know its capability.

phpMyBackup is an app that backs up the MySQL database. Crashplan does file backups.

The best full metal backup/restore solution is Clonezilla. You could use ReDo Backup and Restore as well. These are Live CDs you would use on the client machine. It's not automated and would need to be done manually.

There is nothing that I am aware that will automatically do full metal backup and incremental back ups that works with Linux and/or Amahi. If there is, we would be happy to try and make it work.

[oldfert]

Thanks again for the reply. Amahi looked promising. It took a while to figure out that it was just a server GUI. I was trying to make it do something it wasn't intended to do. I have looked at clonezilla, but it seemed more suited for computer deployment rather than regular backups. I might give up on the full system restore, and just try to set up something like crashplan for file backup.

The main reason for this project was to get some stability for my onsite backups (all computers are backed up online every night). The linux backup project was the belt to go with the suspenders. It is much faster to do a local restore than restore from the online backup. The Windows Home server is a cinch to set up, and does exactly what I need, but I can't depend on it.

Another problem I have ran into. The server indicates that it is up and running, but I can't get it to talk to my Windows machines. The windows machines say they can see the server, but can't connect. It is probably a simple share configuration problem (simple to anyone but me).

The optimist in me says there is a linux solution out there that can be dumbed down enough for me to use. I just haven't found it yet. The realist in me says that I have wasted 3 weekends on 5 different installations and nothing has come close to working.

Thanks again for your time (forgive my longwindedness). Mark this one as solved. I'll start over.

[bigfoot65]

No problem, glad to help. If you need assistance getting the shares working, please let us know. I am sure it's something simple.

[oldfert]

Just a followup. I might take you up on your offer to fix the sharing problem if I get some time at the office this week.

Restore was one of the programs I attempted to install. It's default installation is xubuntu. However, I checked on their website and it doesn't appear to have been actively supported for some time. It looked very promising, but I don't think there will be any ongoing updates or community support.

Amahi appears to be the most complete (simple to use) server. I just have to get the computers talking to each other and find the right backup program.

Thanks again

[bigfoot65]

We will be happy to assist where possible.

You might consider backup programs like Amanda or Zamanda. These offer a more robust backup solution, but would require their own box as they are not compatible with Amahi.

Clonezilla Live is a good app for full metal backups, however it's a manual process. There is a Clonezilla SE edition that offers automated backups/restores I believe.

http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-SE/

[oldfert]

Amanda and Zamanda were two of the solutions I looked at first. Amanda was way over my head. Zamanda was simply (not simply, more complicated) another way to do what I already do with my carbonite backups. I read many reviews on clonezilla. It just doesn't look like a good backup and recovery program. It also appears to be beyond my capabilities to set up and many of the reviewer results were, to say the least, "Unexpected."

Blowing up my server installation and starting over is not a problem. I have tried 7 different packages/configurations/etc. over the last 3 weeks. Amahi was just the last one.

I could always re-install my WHS. I would have good backups for a week or two before it crashed again. However, I understand the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

[bigfoot65]

Understand. There are some good tutorials out there for setting up Clonezilla server. It's still a somewhat manual process for backup as the clients need to be network boot to hit the server.

We have a similar Clonezilla set up for Amahi, but it does not work in Ubuntu. Only Fedora at the moment. You install it on the HDA, then network boot the client to it. From there a tutorial in the wiki guides you through how to do the backup. The files are stored on the HDA.

BTW, there are some Windows apps that can be automated to backup your entire drive and store it on a server. Might be another option to explore. Once such app is http://www.macrium.com/.