How Do You Backup Arch Linux

Carlwill · 2010-02-26 14:38:56

I was wondering from many of us here, how many of you guys implement Arch Linux in a enterprise / corporate environment for server use? I am sure most here use Arch for home / mobile machines and even personal servers but do any of you guys use Arch at work where it's a critical depended on server? Just curious what roll Arch plays in your work environment and if so can you please share what it does and how you back it up. One of the biggest problems I see is that I don't know how to properly back up my Arch Linux server since it's not commonly supported by commercial vendors like Symantec for scheduled back ups.

evr · 2010-02-26 14:46:37

i don't use arch linux in a corporate enivronment, but as far as backing up goes, there are alot of backup options for you to choose from.

bernarcher · 2010-02-26 14:51:43

The easiest way for a complete system backup is rsync. I do it this way (daily as cron job):

rsync -av --delete --delete-excluded --exclude="/tmp/" --exclude="/sys/" --exclude="/proc/" --exclude="/mnt/" --exclude="/dev/"  /   /mnt/sysbu

Where /mnt/sysbu is located on a separate hard disk.

Carlwill · 2010-02-26 15:14:04

Just also wondering if any of you guys think it's very careless to use Arch Linux in a "corporate environment"?

brisbin33 · 2010-02-26 15:26:11

i use backup for my daily/monthly targeted folder backups.

as for corporate environment, there have been many discussions. i think the 'safe' approach is to have a DEV box that you apply updates to regularly; after they pass there, you can then update PROD. by keeping a shared pkg cache, etc this isn't too bad to deal with and will help catch alot of problems before they reach the production machine. (a tested backup solution and probably some sort of RAID setup is also a must in these applications i'd image).

as a rule though, rolling release == bad in the uber-stable-long-uptime world of production servers. better to use a more traditional distro.

Carlwill · 2010-02-26 15:29:05

Thanks. I have been using Debian Linux for all my servers but had thought about moving to Arch. I still find it interesting to see what people use for back ups and how Arch is used.

Thanks all!

Sin.citadel · 2010-02-26 16:49:22

while bleeding edge distros are frowned upon for server usage, the ability to update the entire system by just using --sysupgrade with pacman to the current level is quite advantageous when you actually do need to upgrade. also, pacman comes with the --ignore command, so upgrades for specific services can be ignored quite easily.

how about a VM solution, put arch in the vm box. its easier and provides a great option since the virtual hard drive can be copied and the server can be up and running in no time when the physical hardware goes down.

tss · 2010-02-26 19:15:18

As far as a corporate environment goes, Arch Linux is not the best choice out there. You want to pick a stable distribution with a dedicated security team. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is an excellent choice if you have a budget. At the moment good free options are CentOS (RHEL clone) or Debian.

That being said, the last thing I want my development machine to feel like is corporate. CentOS is great for my servers that I don't work with on a daily basis, but if I have to use a machine for an extended period of time I want Arch on it. Different needs require different solutions.

Carlwill · 2010-02-26 19:19:41

I agree however and I do use RHEL / CentOS on all my servers currenlty at my office.

Red Hat = Production servers
CentOS = Development / Test servers

My problem is the release cycle is too far back. I know the focus is on security and reliability but their packages are so old! Postfix 2.3?!? Really old!!! There is a time where I need a recent release of a package for added functionality or bug improvement.

fukawi2 · 2010-02-26 22:54:42

Carlwill wrote:

Just also wondering if any of you guys think it's very careless to use Arch Linux in a "corporate environment"?

ArchServer

I use ArchLinux on my Web Server, Database Server, Mail Server and the Servers for ArchServer.org

Carlwill · 2010-02-26 23:01:12

fukawi2 wrote:

Carlwill wrote:
Just also wondering if any of you guys think it's very careless to use Arch Linux in a "corporate environment"?
ArchServer
I use ArchLinux on my Web Server, Database Server, Mail Server and the Servers for ArchServer.org

So you don't even host and run the Arch Server site on Arch Server but Arch Linux instead? Did I understand this correctly?

fukawi2 · 2010-02-27 06:37:16

Carlwill wrote:

So you don't even host and run the Arch Server site on Arch Server but Arch Linux instead? Did I understand this correctly?

Correct.

It's a bit of a chicken and egg.... I couldn't run ArchServer (distro) on the ArchServer (server) when I set it up, because ArchServer didn't exist at the time

The aim is to move it over to ArchServer eventually obviously

Last edited by fukawi2 (2010-02-27 06:37:57)

Peasantoid · 2010-02-27 07:25:07

cron job to copy /home, /etc, and the list of [explicitly-]installed packages to an external HDD partition.

fumbles · 2010-02-27 09:50:54

Carlwill wrote:

Just also wondering if any of you guys think it's very careless to use Arch Linux in a "corporate environment"?

You could easily say it is careless to use Linux in the corporate environment. But that is a discussion for another forum.

Arch Linux has no real support, whereas distro's like RHEL and SuSE do.

Last edited by fumbles (2010-02-27 09:53:01)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-26 14:38:56

How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#2 2010-02-26 14:46:37

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#3 2010-02-26 14:51:43

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#4 2010-02-26 15:14:04

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#5 2010-02-26 15:26:11

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#6 2010-02-26 15:29:05

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#7 2010-02-26 16:49:22

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#8 2010-02-26 19:15:18

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#9 2010-02-26 19:19:41

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#10 2010-02-26 22:54:42

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#11 2010-02-26 23:01:12

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#12 2010-02-27 06:37:16

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#13 2010-02-27 07:25:07

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

#14 2010-02-27 09:50:54

Re: How Do You Backup Arch Linux

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