Synch Up With Rsynch for Quick-Restore Backup

As we are all (I hope …) painfully aware, decent backups are absolutely
vital. Last week I looked at a potential option for offsite backup, and
solutions like Bacula are excellent for
providing a stable, reliable onsite backup, with historical data available.

But these solutions don’t provide rapid access to the backed-up
data in the event of a major disk crash (e.g., if a centralized home
disk bites the dust, leaving everyone on the system unable to work).
What you want here is an instant slot-in replacement, and for this,
rsync is an excellent option.

rsync doesn’t keep historical data, but if all you want is a
nightly current snapshot, it does that very well. You can use a “proper”
backup solution for your historical data.

Either set rsync up onto a disk that you can physically slot in to your
regular or another server; or use a spare machine that can be plugged in
immediately instead (e.g., by changing your NFS mappings). Set up a

cron job to synchronise nightly, and you’re done. In the event
of a serious main server crash, just slot in the new disk and get everyone up
and running again with only 24 hours of data lost — which if your backup
schedule permits, you can then recover at leisure.

Be aware that although this will work if the main disk crashes overnight — as
rsync will not be able to access it so won’t run — it will not work if something more subtle goes wrong. In this case, both disks will have corrupt
data, and you’re back to using your normal backups for a regular restore.

This article was first published on ServerWatch.com.

RELATED NEWS AND ANALYSIS

• Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality

  FEATURE |  By James Maguire,
  December 16, 2020

• AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  December 11, 2020

• Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  December 04, 2020

• Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  November 18, 2020

• Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA

  FEATURE |  By Guest Author,
  November 10, 2020

• Top 10 AIOps Companies

  FEATURE |  By Samuel Greengard,
  November 05, 2020

• What is Text Analysis?

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  November 02, 2020

• How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 29, 2020

• Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 23, 2020

• The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 16, 2020

• Top 10 Chatbot Platforms

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  October 07, 2020

• Finding a Career Path in AI

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  October 05, 2020

• CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science

  FEATURE |  By Guest Author,
  September 25, 2020

• Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 25, 2020

• Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  September 22, 2020

• NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 18, 2020

• Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By James Maguire,
  September 14, 2020

• Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By James Maguire,
  September 13, 2020

• IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 11, 2020

• Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality

  FEATURE |  By James Maguire,
  September 09, 2020