On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 6:07 PM, John Andersen wrote:

On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 2:52 PM, Andrew Joakimsen wrote:

...

Can someone recommend an "easy" disaster recovery solution for an openSUSE system running MD RAID 0? Ideally I could tell a computer-illiterate person to insert a DVD, press "yes" at the prompt and everything will be restored to a default state. --

By MD RAID 0, I assume you mean software raid? (lets be precise here).

You have virtually nothing in the way of disaster recovery with Raid 0, loss of either disk means your data is gone forever.

So I don't see any "Insert the DVD" sort of solution here. Even with a full backup you would have to potentially repair the failed disk then do a restore. And if your system was on the raid-0 (as opposed to just your data) you are right back to doing a bare metal install.

With Raid 1 you get mirroring and you can lose one disk with no data loss. You can recover from that fairly easily (in fact I have lost one disk of a mirror and didn't even notice. I've since started using monitoring).

Disaster recovery is seldom as easy as shoving in a dvd. That's why they use the term "disaster".

If he really meant RAID-0, HP supports "One-Button Disaster Recovery" via some of its hardware / software combos. I think you're looking at a couple $K minimum for hardware/software. http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/drs/ http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storage/software/datapexp/index.html Traditionally you needed to have your backup on tape. Then you booted their custom restore OS and restored the tape. Greg -- Greg Freemyer Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer First 99 Days Litigation White Paper - http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pdf The Norcross Group The Intersection of Evidence & Technology http://www.norcrossgroup.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 12:37 AM, David C. Rankin wrote:

Short answer: NO

Basic solution:

(1) Backup all data from the current machine - daily; then if it dies (2) Insert the openSuSE install disk; you will have to give more answers than just "yes" (3) Restore the safe, secure, backup of your data

You don't really give enough information about your current backup scheme to know what will be left to restore after a failure.

Where is your data backed up currently?

I don't want to do that. I want to create some sort of bootable medium that can restore the system to the current state. Sorry I meant it is currently in MD RAID 1. There is no current backup. There is no need for constant backups. If a year from now the system fails (yes I understand if a hard drive physically fails that needs to be addressed first) a year-old backup will be just fine. What you guys are telling me is that thereś nothing like "Norton Ghost" that will work with Linux software RAID? N�����r��y隊Z)z{.�ﮞ˛���m�)z{.��+�Z+i�b�*'jW(�f�vǦj)h���Ǿ��i�������

On Friday 08 August 2008 11:18:08 am Jeffrey L. Taylor wrote:

Quoting Andrew Joakimsen :

Just one word: Katrina. RAID-1 will do nothing for a disaster scenario like flood of the building, collapse of the roof, etc. Real backups, preferably stored somewhere off site.

Though OT, that's a valid point. I keep backups both at my mother's house (1 mile), my work (20 miles) and my aunts house (three states away). My work keeps a live hotsite available with virtualized machines about twenty miles away in a building with a diesel generator and 2 weeks supply of fuel underground. -- kai www.filesite.org || www.4thedadz.com || www.perfectreign.com remember - a turn signal is a statement, not a request -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Friday 08 August 2008 04:53:31 pm Rajko M. wrote:

On Friday 08 August 2008 05:40:54 pm Kai Ponte wrote:

...

Though OT, that's a valid point. I keep backups both at my mother's house (1 mile), my work (20 miles) and my aunts house (three states away).

Data are safe. Now how to backup us.

I dunno, I'm just a manager. I don't know how to actually *do* anything. -- kai www.filesite.org || www.4thedadz.com || www.perfectreign.com remember - a turn signal is a statement, not a request -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Andrew Joakimsen wrote:

On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 12:37 AM, David C. Rankin wrote:

...

Short answer: NO

Basic solution:

(1) Backup all data from the current machine - daily; then if it dies (2) Insert the openSuSE install disk; you will have to give more answers than just "yes" (3) Restore the safe, secure, backup of your data

You don't really give enough information about your current backup scheme to know what will be left to restore after a failure.

Where is your data backed up currently?

I don't want to do that. I want to create some sort of bootable medium that can restore the system to the current state. Sorry I meant it is currently in MD RAID 1. There is no current backup. There is no need for constant backups. If a year from now the system fails (yes I understand if a hard drive physically fails that needs to be addressed first) a year-old backup will be just fine.

What you guys are telling me is that thereś nothing like "Norton Ghost" that will work with Linux software RAID?

OK, I'm beginning to understand. You have a computer that is *already* configured and produced no *data* that significantly changes the setup on a daily basis so you just want something that can restore that system in case of a disaster? Is that close? Since you are raid1, you have the disks mirrored, so for failure of 1 disk, it is just a matter of replacing a harddrive and letting the software rebuild the new drive. So do you want to address the situation of a double drive failure like caused by fire, etc.? If so, there are a few ghosting packages, but all installs are somewhat hardware dependent. Do you have a backup machine with the same hardware? A little more data may produce a little more useful answer. -- David C. Rankin, J.D., P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Sat, Aug 9, 2008 at 4:56 AM, David C. Rankin wrote:

Andrew Joakimsen wrote:

...

On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 12:37 AM, David C. Rankin wrote:

...

Short answer: NO

Basic solution:

(1) Backup all data from the current machine - daily; then if it dies (2) Insert the openSuSE install disk; you will have to give more answers than just "yes" (3) Restore the safe, secure, backup of your data

You don't really give enough information about your current backup scheme to know what will be left to restore after a failure.

Where is your data backed up currently?

I don't want to do that. I want to create some sort of bootable medium that can restore the system to the current state. Sorry I meant it is currently in MD RAID 1. There is no current backup. There is no need for constant backups. If a year from now the system fails (yes I understand if a hard drive physically fails that needs to be addressed first) a year-old backup will be just fine.

What you guys are telling me is that thereś nothing like "Norton Ghost" that will work with Linux software RAID?

OK,

I'm beginning to understand. You have a computer that is *already* configured and produced no *data* that significantly changes the setup on a daily basis so you just want something that can restore that system in case of a disaster? Is that close?

Since you are raid1, you have the disks mirrored, so for failure of 1 disk, it is just a matter of replacing a harddrive and letting the software rebuild the new drive. So do you want to address the situation of a double drive failure like caused by fire, etc.?

If so, there are a few ghosting packages, but all installs are somewhat hardware dependent. Do you have a backup machine with the same hardware?

A little more data may produce a little more useful answer.

I have some servers that have dual raid-1s. The first is for OS / config only. I backup the that raid pair by pulling one of the drives and putting it on the shelf. Then I put in a blank and let the raid rebuild. If for whatever reason I were to lose the raid-1 boot pair, I simply pull both drives and stick the old one back in. Once things are running, I could then put in another blank and do a rebuild. I've never had to do that final rebuild, but I don't see a problem with this scenario. Greg -- Greg Freemyer Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer First 99 Days Litigation White Paper - http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pdf The Norcross Group The Intersection of Evidence & Technology http://www.norcrossgroup.com N‹§˛ćěr¸›y隊Z)z{.ąďŽžË›ąĘâmę)z{.ąę+€Z+i×bś*'jW(šf§vÇŚj)hĽéěşÇž…éi˘—§˛ë˘¸