Scheduled Maintenance: We are aware of an issue with Google, AOL, and Yahoo services as email providers which are blocking new registrations. We are trying to fix the issue and we have several internal and external support tickets in process to resolve the issue. Please see: viewtopic.php?t=158230

 

 

 

Business System Backups

Linux Kernel, Network, and Services configuration.
Post Reply
Message
Author
crawfcol
Posts: 6
Joined: 2021-07-14 07:42

Business System Backups

#1 Post by crawfcol »

We are building a business system with the DB server running on Debian 10.10 and MariaDB.

We are investigating the best way to recover the complete system in time of failure. To that, we are currently looking at TimeShift. Having installed and created a snapshot of our test system, it would appear to offer what we need.

Anyone have any comments regarding its use?

So if we decide to use TimeShift going forward, then my next question is where to store the snapshots created by TimeShift (NAS etc.)? If NAS, does anyone have experience of a particular NAS solution that will work very well with Debian 10.10?

Maybe there's a better method entirely. Any comments really appreciated.

User avatar
wizard10000
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 557
Joined: 2019-04-16 23:15
Location: southeastern us
Has thanked: 75 times
Been thanked: 85 times

Re: Business System Backups

#2 Post by wizard10000 »

crawfcol wrote: 2021-07-14 07:48Maybe there's a better method entirely...
Not sure it's *better* but you might want to separate the data from the OS so failure of one component doesn't trash the other.

Since we're talking about NAS anyway unless there were database performance concerns I'd put the data on the NAS (redundancy would be an option here - RAID 1,5 or 10 plus regular database backups to another machine on the network and ideally one copy to the cloud as well).

JMO but configuration management is just as critical as backups - critical server configurations should also be backed up so they can be restored in an emergency even if they need to be restored to another machine.

But - as mentioned, my thoughts are not necessarily *better*, just a different perspective :)

cheers -
we see things not as they are, but as we are.
-- anais nin

User avatar
bester69
Posts: 2072
Joined: 2015-04-02 13:15
Has thanked: 24 times
Been thanked: 14 times

Re: Business System Backups

#3 Post by bester69 »

crawfcol wrote: 2021-07-14 07:48 We are building a business system with the DB server running on Debian 10.10 and MariaDB.

We are investigating the best way to recover the complete system in time of failure. To that, we are currently looking at TimeShift. Having installed and created a snapshot of our test system, it would appear to offer what we need.

Anyone have any comments regarding its use?

So if we decide to use TimeShift going forward, then my next question is where to store the snapshots created by TimeShift (NAS etc.)? If NAS, does anyone have experience of a particular NAS solution that will work very well with Debian 10.10?

Maybe there's a better method entirely. Any comments really appreciated.
I think btrfs filesystem would be great... and i 'd prefer snapper-gui to timeshift in debian, but both of them must do the same when using btrfs snapshots

And. as Wizard1000 said, its better to separate system installation of database... so you should create subvolume for mariadb database separated of system subvolume.. this way you just rollback database server files..

It would be as easy as this to rollback a mariadb sitation when using snapper.:
mariasql --STOP (you stop services mariadb database)
sudo umount /mariadbfolder
sudo mv /mariadbfolder /mariadbfolder.DEL
sudo btrfs subvolume snapshot /mariadbfolder.DEL/.snapshots/<<Id to rollback>>/snapshot /mariadabfolder
sudo mv /mariadbfolder.DEL/.snapshots /mariadbfolder/
sudo mount -a
mariasql --START (you stART services mariadb database)

sudo btrfs subvolume delete /mariadbfolder.DEL
bester69 wrote:STOP 2030 globalists demons, keep the fight for humanity freedom against NWO...

User avatar
NFT5
df -h | grep > 20TiB
df -h | grep > 20TiB
Posts: 597
Joined: 2014-10-10 11:38
Location: Canberra, Australia
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 43 times

Re: Business System Backups

#4 Post by NFT5 »

Timeshift is designed to back up your operating system, not data. Their are specific recommendations on this on their page on GitHub:
Timeshift is similar to applications like rsnapshot, BackInTime and TimeVault but with different goals. It is designed to protect only system files and settings. User files such as documents, pictures and music are excluded. This ensures that your files remains unchanged when you restore your system to an earlier date. If you need a tool to backup your documents and files please take a look at the excellent BackInTime application which is more configurable and provides options for saving user files.
Note also their comments about using BTRFS. How you set up your backups is up to you. A RAID configuration which provides redundancy is, of course, ideal but the best choices use a lot of hard drive space. Off site is even better but the "cloud" can be expensive and I have doubts about security

I use BackInTime and find it works exceptionally well backing up data (i.e. /home/*) from desktop to server over ssh or from the server to a removable drive.

So far, I haven't succeeded in backing up the operating system on a desktop to the server via ssh. This may just be something I'm doing wrong but it relates to permissions. Backing up the operating system (i.e. /) from the server or a desktop to a local mounted drive is a piece of cake.

BackInTime has an excellent scheduling and include/exclude options as well as an excellent restore tool (but you need to practice with it first since it is a little obscure and can mess up your system if not done correctly). Watch out for the "create .backup files option which can fill your hard drive with duplicates that can be a real task to remove.

The documentation is better than many Linux applications, but that doesn't mean it's comprehensive or even good. Get used to Googling things that aren't covered. Fortunately it's been in Ubuntu for some time so their forums seem to cover most issues.

I had a D-Link NAS. Sold it for a giveaway price after not being able to make it work with BackInTime because it wouldn't support ssh and BIT wasn't able to access it otherwise. Now I just have a desktop that runs as a server for backing up, streaming, files and with VMs for phone, VPN, pi-hole and DMZ. Not the greenest or most energy efficient solution, but it works. And I can ssh into it from anywhere.

There are other "enterprise grade" backup solutions in the repos. Problem is that you need an enterprise grade IT department ( and budget ) to install and operate them. For small business or home use there are not many choices - luckybackup isn't bad but doesn't have the range of choices as BIT, TimeVault is no longer supported.....there are others.

There are some very comprehensive commercial solutions. Whether you think they're worth the cost is up to you.

Of course, there is always rsync and cron.

User avatar
bester69
Posts: 2072
Joined: 2015-04-02 13:15
Has thanked: 24 times
Been thanked: 14 times

Re: Business System Backups

#5 Post by bester69 »

NFT5 wrote: 2021-07-15 05:29
So far, I haven't succeeded in backing up the operating system on a desktop to the server via ssh. This may just be something I'm doing wrong but it relates to permissions. Backing up the operating system (i.e. /) from the server or a desktop to a local mounted drive is a piece of cake.
that's very easy to achieve by using fsarchiver.... Ive backed up my installation system in cloud several times, and when needed to restore.. it always worked by using fsarchiver.. its the only tool i trust when is about backing up and restoring the installation-- furthermore, you get a compressed and splitted resulting backup files... in my case just 7Gb with compression and excluding home
bester69 wrote:STOP 2030 globalists demons, keep the fight for humanity freedom against NWO...

User avatar
NFT5
df -h | grep > 20TiB
df -h | grep > 20TiB
Posts: 597
Joined: 2014-10-10 11:38
Location: Canberra, Australia
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 43 times

Re: Business System Backups

#6 Post by NFT5 »

bester69 wrote: 2021-07-15 20:28 that's very easy to achieve by using fsarchiver
Thanks for that. I had a quick look and it does appear to be able to do the job. I'll investigate further and try it out a bit later. :)

User avatar
bester69
Posts: 2072
Joined: 2015-04-02 13:15
Has thanked: 24 times
Been thanked: 14 times

Re: Business System Backups

#7 Post by bester69 »

NFT5 wrote: 2021-07-16 10:05
bester69 wrote: 2021-07-15 20:28 that's very easy to achieve by using fsarchiver
Thanks for that. I had a quick look and it does appear to be able to do the job. I'll investigate further and try it out a bit later. :)
very good software, one of my favourites; you wont regret.. even works with btrfs-
bester69 wrote:STOP 2030 globalists demons, keep the fight for humanity freedom against NWO...

crawfcol
Posts: 6
Joined: 2021-07-14 07:42

Re: Business System Backups

#8 Post by crawfcol »

Quick update.

We are now currently backing up just the MariaDB databases to a Synology drive over the Internet to keep them offsite. Next plan is to back them up to AWS S3

Post Reply