hard drives for backup != backup solution... You're just asking to get burned, there's too many "what-ifs" to list. Tape may be slow, but the shelf-life is unbeeatable and the cost is pretty low for what you get. If your company relies on this data, you need to start talking about off-site storage, nightly, weekly, and monthly backups, a real solution. IMHO, if you feel the data is important enough to back up then you probably should use tape and have some sort of off-site storage. Management is usually pretty open to spending some cash if you can prove how important the data is. Normally the time lost recreating the lost data is more expensive then the cost of the tape drive and tapes. The selection for a drive depends on how much data you have to back up. I hate Travan, but it's probably the cheapest solution if you're talking about < 1Gb. I've been quite happy with DLT if you need many Gb. If you need lots of space you can get a Quantum ALT changer that can do more than 500Gb natively for ~ $10,000 (L500). They also have the P-1000 that can do about twice that. www.atlp.com Don't forget - according to the O'reilly book, if the cost for the tapes doesn't cost more than the drive, you're doing something wrong! Also, Amanda is your friend. She's also a Vietnamese prostitute that goes by "Ming Lee"... Adam Maloney Systems Administrator Sihope Communications On Tue, 18 Jul 2000 rgoldber at d.umn.edu wrote: > Hello! > > I'm building a file/print server. I'd like your thoughts. > > The network (as of right now) consists of 10-12 win98 machines plus one > linux backup machine. Right now the database for the key client app (and a > bunch of other important stuff) sits on one of the win98 machines. Ick. > Before I put the linux machine in (a p75 with 32mb, found in a closet), > they were depending on a guy switching out zip disks everyday. Ick. The > linux machine rsyncs the current file "server" every night, plus once a > week, so we can go back in time. If the "server" fails, the backup machine > easily subs for it till things are righted, losing at most the day's work. > Not good, but better than trying to restore a borken machine from zips, > losing the same amount of work. > > I go into detail about the backup machine because I'm thinking of using it > instead of a tape drive. Anyhoo, here's my plan: > > New dedicated file/print server (running linux, duh) > > pIII 450-600 > 128mb ram > asus p3bf or abit bf6 > 2-4 quantum fireball 10.2g LM series (ide) > 3ware ide raid card (2 or 4 port, doing raid 1) > dual hot swap power supply > maybe a tape drive > > I somewhat expect to be beaten severely for using "ide" and "raid" in the > same sentence but... Does anybody have any hands on experience with > 3ware's cards? The sales rep put me in contact with a couple of people who > really like them... > > This is a dusty environment, so I don't trust anything that moves. > Redundancy is more important than performance. So, raid 1, hot swap power > supplies, I feel warm and fuzzy like. > > What I'm most interested in hearing about is how stupid/smart it is to use > the junker backup machine as an alternative to a tape drive. Secondly, if > it's really stupid, I'd like some suggestions for sub $1000 tape > drives. Of course, all other pointers will be appreciated. > > This email turned out really long, sorry. > > Thanks in advance! > > - > > Ryan > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: tclug-list-unsubscribe at mn-linux.org > For additional commands, e-mail: tclug-list-help at mn-linux.org > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: tclug-list-unsubscribe at mn-linux.org For additional commands, e-mail: tclug-list-help at mn-linux.org