Backup Windows XP to FreeBSD server

M

mefizto

Greetings all,

I was wondering if any of you would have a suggestion. I am contemplating two options:

1. Install Cygwin to obtain an ssh server on the XP machine, and then use, e.g., rsync;
2. Mount XP shares to be backed-up and use, e.g., rsync.

Is there any other option? What would be preferable?

Kindest regards,

M
 
mefizto,

it depends on what you want to backup. I use tar, dd and dump/restore for backups, regardless of the location storage. When I use dd and dump/restore I want to backup everything (filesystem structure and semantics, acls, etc); I use tar when I don't care much about pipes/unix sockets, device nodes, and filesystem internals, plus it copies only data, not bit-copy of a whole partition like dd does.

As far as remote backup is concerned, you may dd, tar or dump/restore your filesystem along with ssh to store your backup on another location (through a pipe).

As far as integrity is concerned, I am not sure if tar is the best choice of backing up a windows bootable partition (you won't copy the boot loader with tar, but you'll definitely get your data), and I am not sure if tar knows about windows filesystem extended attributes so as to copy them. But this is something I don't know about rsync either. Check if your utility of choice "speaks" the windows filesystem language (fat32, or ntfs that is).

Lastly, depending on your network speed and backup storage size, you may wish to use differential/incremental backups or full backups.

Don't know if I helped much, but I hope you got some more ideas of what needs to be answered before the back up starts :).

Good luck with your venture.
 
dd(8) has its place, but it should be at the bottom of the list for backup. Clonezilla can copy a whole disk but only copies used sectors. Even compressed, these backups are still pretty large, and you still can't get to individual files without restoring the whole thing.

Set up NFS or even just ssh on the FreeBSD system and Clonezilla will save to it. Set up Samba and Windows can copy whole folders directly. Probably can use commercial Windows backup software like Acronis or Ghost or maybe CrashPlan.

Cygwin and rsync can work, but test-restore those files to make sure it copies everything needed. I don't know if Cygwin will run sshd, I just copy files from the Windows machine with rsync.
 
mamalos, wblock,

thank you for your replies. Unfortunately, it appears that I have not formulated my question correctly. I do understand, which backup tools to use, i.e., tar, rsync, etc, and how. However, what I do not understand is how to use these tools over the network.

By means of an example, should I choose rsync, I can either run it via ssh, or mount the XP share, e.g., via CIFS/samba and then use rsync on the mounted share. The former is hindered by the fact that XP has no native ssh server and I am worried about the additional attribute translation via Cygwin. The latter works, but I do not know how to automate the process, e.g., via a script, because I must first assure that the share is properly mounted and only then run the backup tool.

Regarding NFS, I do not believe that XP has support for it.

Regarding the content to be backed-up, it comprises only data, albeit in separate folders, not the entire OS.

I hope that I heave explained the issue better.

Kindest regards,

M
 
First, pick which machine will run the rsync. If you run it on Windows with Cygwin, it's the same as normal:
# rsync -avz /cygdrive/c/data/ mefizto@freebsdmachine:~/winbackup/

Otherwise, mount(8) can be used to see if a mountpoint is mounted.
Code: 
if `mount | grep -q /mnt/winxpshare`; then
  # do backup
fi
 
Several options, besides the ones already mentioned:

1) Bacula/Amanda (requires a client on the xp machine)
2) Samba on FreeBSD with the shares mounted on the XP machine and some schedule job to run a script in XP to copy the files you need
3) VBox + some linux + IBM TSM (if you wanna play big of course). You will need a client on the xp machine

I would suggest option 1 or 3 if you care about your data and because these 2 options are REAL software backup programs (you have versions of the files (well, they are called objects actually), retention for existing and deleted files and so on).

If you want to play big (option 3) I can give you a hand there.
 
I do it all the time. You obviously want to back up your windows XP to a share on your file server... seems like a lot of responders to your questions got this backwards...

1) On your FreeBSD box -- configure Samba and create a file share.
2) On your windows box: map a drive to the Samba share
3) On your Windows box. use the scheduled task tools to run your windows backup job periodically.
 
codeWarrior said:
I do it all the time. You obviously want to back up your windows XP to a share on your file server... seems like a lot of responders to your questions got this backwards...
Click to expand...

Or use mount_smbfs(8) to mount shares on the XP machine on FreeBSD, where there's usable scripting and rsync. Don't even need Samba for that, mount_smbfs is in the base. As the Perl guys say, TMTOWTDI.
 
Gentlemen,

thank you all for your willingness to help.

codeWarrior, wblock,

maybe, I am confused too. One of my above-described options was - mount the XP shares on the FreeBSD server and then run rsync from FreeBSD on the mounted share. Actually, I have been doing that manually. But, since I would prefer an automated solution but being ignorant of scripting, I could not figure out how to verify that the mount was successful. I will try wblock's code in the interim.

da1, klabacita,

thank you for the suggestion. Due to my ignorance of scripting, I would prefer a ready-made solution. Since you appear to have experience with Bacula/Amanda, would you recommend one over the other?

Kindest regards,

M
 
mefizto said:
da1, klabacita,

thank you for the suggestion. Due to my ignorance of scripting, I would prefer a ready-made solution. Since you appear to have experience with Bacula/Amanda, would you recommend one over the other?
Click to expand...

I think it's really up to you to decide because they are quite similar. Since I started out with Bacula (because I use mhvtl (a linux virtual tape library)) I kind of like it more than amanda but keep in mind this is highly subjective. If you can, I would suggest trying both and then making up your mind. Truth be told, nothing beats TSM when it comes to backup. I worked with TSM, Bacula, Amanda, HP DataProtector, Symantec .... god, so many but nothing beats TSM when it comes to high level backup.

My 2c.
 
mefizto said:
thank you for the suggestion. Due to my ignorance of scripting, I would prefer a ready-made solution. Since you appear to have experience with Bacula/Amanda, would you recommend one over the other?
Click to expand...
If you don't mind a commercial solution, you could look into ShadowProtect Desktop. That's a backup system that runs under Windows and backs up to network shares (so Samba is needed on the FreeBSD side).

Since ShadowProtect Desktop is a desktop version of their server product, it has all sorts of features that may or may not be of interest. Among others, it can automatically schedule both full backups and incrementals, and can compress the data before writing it to the backup server. There is also a "bare metal" bootable restore CD that will restore backups to a blank hard drive, either on the original system or on a different one (host independent restore).

I'm using this here to back up 10 or so Windows desktops to my FreeBSD servers.

There's a free 30-day demo at the site linked above. Note that the free demo doesn't include the bootable restore CD.

The only downside to this software is that it is rather expensive (probably due to its server heritage) and it isn't sold at most of the usual places, though Programmer's Paradise has it. Most of the other resellers listed on their web site are in vertical markets.
 
mefizto said:
Gentlemen,

thank you for the suggestion. Due to my ignorance of scripting, I would prefer a ready-made solution. Since you appear to have experience with Bacula/Amanda, would you recommend one over the other?

Kindest regards,

M
Click to expand...
I spent 2 weeks on learning how to work with Bacula and now have nice tool for backuping data from several machines which operated by different OS.
On the official site you can find full documentation about how to use this system.
 
Greetings all,

thank you once again. I have perused all the web-sites, but since I cannot understand all the fine nuances, I will heed your advice and try the different solutions.

Kindest regards,

M
 
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