[Ilugc] Open source enterprise backup solutions
- From: knura9@xxxxxxxxx (Arun Khan)
- Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:59:47 +0530
On Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 9:58 PM, devjyoti patra <djpatra at gmail.com> wrote:
Hi All,
My friend works as an IT administrator for a medium size Pharma
company that has 3 offices spread across India and lot of its
employees are mobile.
In your place, I would encourage your "friend" to join such mailing
lists and forums and ask the questions directly, rather than use you
as a proxy.
IMO, you are asking for several unrelated requirement in one post (on
behalf of your friend).
For clarity on each requirement, it is best to post the relevant
requirements separately.
The company wants him to implement an open source/free enterprise
backup, and recovery solution.
**This is requirement no.1.**
The best practice for storage/backup is "online" on fast storage NAS
or SAN, then close "inline" on slower disk storage or virtual disks
(tape) and finally on tapes (library). Which part of this spectrum
is your friend interested in?
Take a look at amanda and bacula for "library" backup. They are cross
platform but I am not sure about OS X client.
They also have some proprietary
analytics software that needs to be fed with the data that has been
generated throughout the day, across all their offices. They host this
proprietary softwares on a local data-center that is accessible from
all their offices. People so far used to upload all the data in the
evening, before leaving for home. But now, since they are expanding
and the data within the organization is growing at a rapid rate, they
want to have a local server sitting on their premise, where employees
from all their offices can upload bulk data (50-100 MB/employee/day).
**This is requirement no. 2**
A "server" with FTP service will do. You also have the option of
more sophistication with a DAM (Digital Asset Management) or DMS
(Document Management System).
This system should also enable people who are on move to access this
server sitting on their premise.
A VPN server for remote users. Once connected they have access to
the services on the LAN just as those in the physical office premises.
openVPN is the easiest to setup.
So he is looking for a system where
people can upload the data at the end of the day and the system, in
turn, uploads this data to their data-center without needing any human
intervention. As data transfer over LAN is fast, people need not wait
long to upload their data.
**This is requirement no. 3**
On the FTP server your friend will need write software (could be a
simple shell script) that consolidates all the data for the
proprietary analytic package.
Employees of this company use Linux, Windows, and Mac operating
systems. So if the solution comes with client software for these
mentioned OS's, it would be cherry on the pie. He need some
suggestions on choosing a smart open source enterprise backup solution
which can solve the said problem
Both amanda and bacula are powerful tools with enterprise features.
Powerful tools also need system/network admins with "AoM" [1].
and also it would be very helpful if
someone can share his experiences with the security issues in such a
system.
**This is requirement no. 4**
A well thought out set of iptables rules plus IDS like Snort should be
enough to get you started.
Your friend should set aside the time for RTFMs. In my experience
they are the best source for information on setup as well as usage.
Join the respective mailing lists and forums if s/he gets stuck.
Typically, the developers of the software are also members.
A word of caution - some of them may not be as "user friendly" as this
list. Therefore, your friend should do his/her homework and ask
specific questions.
In closing, I would suggest that you invite your friend to join the
mailing list and ask follow up questions directly.
[1] Application of Mind.
--
Arun Khan
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
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