[ale] Backup strategies

[Mike Harrison]

> This is something I live with and it hits a nerve.   I've dealt with
> people "too cheap" to purchase a full replicated clone of their server
> for use when their's

Agreed. your backup server might be a bit different..
but if it's mission critical, having to only change
an IP address and possibly some other configs
can be a life/business saver.

Hardware is cheap.

Oh. and test it. Don't assume it works.
Understand what you have to do if your backup server
is a day or hour behind your production ones..
(ie - what data is missing/changed)

   Note: Last week a client tested theirs.. and found
         they were missing some libraries like lib_curl..
         No big deal to fix, but their normal staff was
         not that bright. It was nice to find out
         in a calm setting rather than during a real
         busy day.


My favorite backup method.. if it will fit, is CD/DVD.
It's easy to script things like this:


----------------------------------------------------------------
#!/bin/bash

rm -r -f tmp/*
#rm -r -f logs/*
rm /tmp/juice.iso
eject /dev/cdrom
echo --- INSERT A BLANK CDROM ---
echo ----------------------------
echo Creating SQL Dumps, including base creation sql scripts.
echo "use nvgebe ;" >datadump/juicedump.sql
mysqldump -c nvgebe >>datadump/juicedump.sql
echo "use nvgebe ;" >datadump/juicebarecreate.sql
mysqldump -d nvgebe >>datadump/juicebarecreate.sql
ls -al datadump/*
#cdrecord dev=ATA: -scanbus
# run the above to see where the CDROM is,
#Makes an ISO of Juice
mkisofs -v -o /tmp/juice.iso -R /home/juice
#Burns it to CD.
cdrecord -v dev=/dev/cdrom driveropts=burnfree /tmp/juice.iso
rm -f /tmp/juice.iso
eject /dev/cdrom