Posted by phreestilr on November 19, 2010 at 7:33pm
I've recently migrated from a server that did automatic backups by default to a VPS where I need to make all the calls. I need to set up a backup system but am not sure what the best course of action is. Some options I'm considering:
- Using rsync with a remote backup service such as http://www.theserverexperts.com/services/backup.html or http://rsync.net/
- API-based file storage such as http://www.rackspacecloud.com/cloud_hosting_products/files or http://www.opsource.net/Services/Cloud-Hosting/Cloud-Files, in which case I would need to create a script for backups
There's also the question of how to implement the use of the above for files and dbase. For files, using duplicity or tar all files? For the database, mysqldump? I hate how mysqldump requires locking of the database.
How do you guys perform auto backups? Any advice?
Thanks!
Comments
RE: Server Backups - How to revert?
I have been building automated file/database backups for years. Lots of cool ways to accomplish the same tasks. I personally use linux, php, rsync, mysqldump, and magic ;)
However, how is everyone reverting from your collected backups? Has anyone built a user interface in Drupal? If so, are you providing clients access to revert back to specific hours/days/weeks/months?
Personally, I use the same
Personally, I use the same methods Slurpee uses for backing up, but there are several Drupal modules that help with this here: http://drupal.org/search/apachesolr_multisitesearch/database%20backup?fi...
I have no experience with any of them, but there may be something useful there.
Snapshots
If you are on Amazon/EC2, have a look at this:
http://alestic.com/2009/09/ec2-consistent-snapshot
Combine the XFS filesystem with EBS snapshots and you can freeze the database and the filesystem, take a consistent snapshot, and get right back to it without missing a beat. It's smart enough to flush and read lock the DB before/during the snapshot process. You also get the benefit of the entire filesystem being backed up, database, files, and all, in one quick process.