Fresh Virgin Linux Newbie

[Scotmk]

Ok, here goes.

 

firstly,

 

I would like to setup a linux backup server to backup my Win2003 servers over the network.

 

The box itself will have 1 hard drive and then a removable caddy (x5) for taking away out of the premises. if this is the best way to do it?

 

All it needs to do is connect to the network see the network drives and then backup the data from server.

 

I know that the machine does not have to be the greatest spec, but any recommendations hardwarewise, e.g. network cards etc. (cheap) would be great and also what linux do I get? and what software to do the backups?

 

Secondly,

 

I also want to set up and internal webserver running linux, so the same question for this too.

 

Thanks

 

Scot

[Geoff]

Firstly, I suggest you get a copy of VMWare server installed on a reasonably specced PC and have a play about with Linux.

 

I would like to setup a linux backup server to backup my Win2003 servers over the network.

 

How complex a backup solution do you need?

 

The box itself will have 1 hard drive and then a removable caddy (x5) for taking away out of the premises. if this is the best way to do it?

 

We need to establish if the hardware will actually work. Do you have it already? If so, stick a LiveCD in the machine andC:\home\Students\Year12\reeyre\PRODUCT DESIGN see if it can see everything? If not, can you tell me the make/model of the caddy?

 

All it needs to do is connect to the network see the network drives and then backup the data from server.

 

Presumably you mean windows networking, thus you will have to become familiar with Samba.

 

I know that the machine does not have to be the greatest spec, but any recommendations hardwarewise, e.g. network cards etc. (cheap) would be great and also what linux do I get? and what software to do the backups?

 

Chances are the hardware you have already will work. However any large vendors boxes will work fine too. If you have anything in mind, post the make/model so we can double check.

 

On the distribution side of things, I use Ubuntu Server Edition for almost all my deployments. You may wish to consider other distros or even some tailored appliance installations.

 

As for backup software, we need to know more what sort of backups you'd like to do.

 

I also want to set up and internal webserver running linux, so the same question for this too.

 

With Ubuntu Server this is trivial, you simply select 'LAMP install' during setup and off it goes.

[kylewilliamson]

"Virgin Linux" - has Richard Branson morphed into another market place?

 

*runs away*

[Scotmk]

"Virgin Linux" - has Richard Branson morphed into another market place?

 

*runs away*

 

Ha ha, dont give him ideas....

[dhicks]

> The box itself will have 1 hard drive and then a removable caddy (x5)

> for taking away out of the premises. if this is the best way to do it?

 

Yes. Remember to get a case with enough 5.25 front slots to take 5 caddies. I'm pleased with the Antec 900 case I got off eBay - around £60 with no power supply (but lots of fans and fun shiny blue lights!). Get a power supply that's big enough to power your 6 harddrives (don't know if that needs to be 600W or whatever). Get a power supply that that has enough SATA power connectors to connect to 6 harddrives - or remember to buy a couple of two-way molex splitters and molex-to-SATA converters.

 

Edit: forgot to say - get SATA caddies that support hot swapping. Ones that specifically support SATA 2 might be a good idea too. I've just bought a couple of PlusCom caddies for my home server, I'll see how well they work.

 

Most new motherboards these days come with 2 or 4 on-board SATA connections. Get a motherboard with a couple of PCI Express slots so you can add more SATA controllers.

 

> All it needs to do is connect to the network see the network drives

> and then backup the data from server.

 

Install Ubuntu. We have a server very similar to the equipment mentioned above, Ubuntu installed fine on it. Xen virtual machine didn't work with the PCIE/SATA controllers, but that's something different.

 

Ubuntu will see your Windows shares no problem. For a simple backup, all you would have to do is have a cron job (periodic job, like Windows scheduled task) do a copy once a day ("cp -r //server/share/* /local/path").

 

--

David Hicks

[Scotmk]

Firstly, I suggest you get a copy of VMWare server installed on a reasonably specced PC and have a play about with Linux.

 

Yeah, I think I am going to, I was looking at wmware last week.

 

How complex a backup solution do you need?

 

I basically want to back up the user profiles/data and a few shared folders (mapped drives).

 

The box itself will have 1 hard drive and then a removable caddy (x5) for taking away out of the premises. if this is the best way to do it?

 

We need to establish if the hardware will actually work. Do you have it already? If so, stick a LiveCD in the machine andC:\home\Students\Year12\reeyre\PRODUCT DESIGN see if it can see everything? If not, can you tell me the make/model of the caddy?

 

I dont have any particular hardware yet, though we do have a few spare pc's lying about, but I was thinking of getting a rack mounted case and have it in the rack.

 

All it needs to do is connect to the network see the network drives and then backup the data from server.

 

Presumably you mean windows networking, thus you will have to become familiar with Samba.

 

Yes Windows networking. Samba? ok I will now have to learn something else.....

 

I know that the machine does not have to be the greatest spec, but any recommendations hardwarewise, e.g. network cards etc. (cheap) would be great and also what linux do I get? and what software to do the backups?

 

Chances are the hardware you have already will work. However any large vendors boxes will work fine too. If you have anything in mind, post the make/model so we can double check.

 

On the distribution side of things, I use Ubuntu Server Edition for almost all my deployments. You may wish to consider other distros or even some tailored appliance installations.

 

This is not going to do anything other than backup, why should it need to distribute?

 

As for backup software, we need to know more what sort of backups you'd like to do.

 

Basically, select drives and folders from network and backup/compress to the hd caddy which we will swap each day.

 

I also want to set up and internal webserver running linux, so the same question for this too.

 

With Ubuntu Server this is trivial, you simply select 'LAMP install' during setup and off it goes

 

Cool

[Geoff]

Right, sounds to me you don't need anything more complex than a Linux box pretending to be a NAS? You can either go with a tailor made distro like Openfiler or FreeNAS or DIY it with generic distro like Ubuntu/Debian/etc.

 

I suggest you start playing with VMware now.

[CyberNerd]

we back up a windows and linux servers with rsync + cwrsync

it runs in daemon mode so doesn't need samba, we found using rsync faster than samba and we do snapshots like this:

http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/

[dhicks]

>> Firstly, I suggest you get a copy of VMWare server installed

> Yeah, I think I am going to, I was looking at wmware last week.

 

You might like to try VirtualBox - dead easy to install under Windows and under Linux, nice GUI, and is free for your own use.

 

--

David Hicks

[DanRF]

Quote::

On the distribution side of things, I use Ubuntu Server Edition for almost all my deployments. You may wish to consider other distros or even some tailored appliance installations.

 

This is not going to do anything other than backup, why should it need to distribute?

 

Scotmk I think in this context distribution is meant in the sense of Variety. Often the Operating System is refered to as Linux and the Distribution is the variety of Linux being used (eg Novell's Suse, Redhat, Ubuntu, Debian etc).

 

I prefer ubuntu personally for ease of use, but it's a matter of taste. Good idea to check how long the distribution you pick is supported with security updates as well. (In ubuntu the Long Term Support releases have something like 5years server support but the releases inbetween the LTS ones have less support) This is even more important if they are visible from the internet.

 

But the best first step is to download/order a few Live CD's or virtual machines images and just try them out. Ubuntu will send a free live/install cd on request so you can try ubuntu from the CD which is good for checking the hardware will work then if you like by clicking the install icon it will put ubuntu onto the harddrive, but you'll want the server CD I imagine for the final install. Ubuntu's not the only one with a live CD of course so look around for them to 'try before you buy' as it were. (many distributions are free of course so shouldn't need to buy unless you want extra support services or a distribution which bundles non-free software in there releases)