Tape Spanning Backups on Server

[uncleaelfrich]

Hello! I'm new here.

But not to a home server. Currently I am running ubuntu home server (with a xubuntu front end and a Raid 1 array, but I wish it were a Raid 5) on a home network with three other wired machines (including a home based business) and one to two laptops.

I currently have home shares (primarily for the wired users). I back up the home shares to a tape using tar. My wife then takes the tape offsite.

It's crude, but it's better than nothing. I don't run apache, or mysql, or dns server, or even have it assign dhcp (my router does this). I do use putty and SSH to terminal in.

I would be VERY interested in AMAHI if it has a clean and (relatively) easy to install backup program that can do metal to metal backups on all (wired) machines using tape spanning, then incremental backups. By easy, I mean that I tried installing BackupPc and Amanda and Bacula. I was unsuccessful because by that time I had already learned way more linux than I was interested in learning without getting paid for it. Installing Fedora is less intimidating since I have installed Gentoo from step 1 way in the past when I wanted to earn my linux cajones.

Is AMAHI what I have been looking for, or do I still search in vain?

Thank you for your help.

uncleaelfrich
Los Angeles, CA

[cpg]

whatever you are using now for doing the backups you can continue using. i am confident anything of that sort (tar, etc.) that you can do in ubuntu, you can do on fedora just as well.

sounds like a solution you have rolled yourself.

as far as bare metal backups, we have two apps, currently in testing, called PBA (which can be installed by hand with some recipe we posted here) and clonezilla (in beta, way more sophisticated than PBA).

these are not unattended bare metal backups. they require someone to actually be there to do the backup.

there is also crashplan (in beta). some people use the standard backup solutions in Mac OS X (Time machine) or Windows (windows backup) to back up to the network shares.

there are a couple of alternatives also. something that does exactly what you want, with a single click install? no.

you can help us get there, however. maybe you can package the solution you rolled yourself as an app? (we can help you with that!)