[Wylug-help] Tape drive advice

[James Holden]

Gary Stainburn wrote:

>On Tuesday 25 Jan 2005 11:41 am, James Holden wrote:
>
>
>>Gary Stainburn wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Hi folks
>>>
>>>I'm looking to install a 80GB HDD and a tape drive into one of my
>>>linux boxes to create a network backup server. The tape drive
>>>should have at least 40GB capacity.
>>>
>>>I've been looking at the stuff available from CCL  -
>>>http://www.cclonline.com/product-categories.asp?category_id=148 -
>>>and wondered what people's opinions of the various devices are.
>>>
>>>
>>Gary,
>>
>>As you'll have noticed, serious tape drives are:
>>
>>1) SCSI
>>2) Expensive
>>
>>...so I'm assuming this is for work, right?
>>
>>
>
>Yep sur ee Bob
>
>
>
>>There are various holy wars still raging of DDS vs DLT vs Whatever,
>>but it doesn't really matter what you choose. I have no experience of
>>IDE/USB/Whatever drives, only SCSI.
>>
>>
>
>I'm looking at the SCSI ones but have had experience of controllers not
>working with Linux. I'm looking at the Adaptec AVA 2904 - Any comments
>anyone?
>
>
>
Dunno about that specific model, but my 2940 works nicely. My tape drive
is on it.

>>Don't rely on the compression doing what is says it will do. It works
>>for MS Office files and sometimes executables, but many things are
>>already compressed, eg: gif/jpeg files, OpenOffice.org documents. The
>>2:1 compression is a maximum. You might not get any compression at
>>all.
>>
>>
>
>The system I'm currently looking at is NTBackup to a Samba share, then
>backup that to tape, so I'm guessing there'll be no compression at all
>on the tape.
>
>
>
Probably not.

>>SCSI tape drives have a fairly standard software interface. Linux
>>supports this reasonably well.
>>
>>
>
>I'm now looking at the Certance CDL432 which is a 6 tape auto-loader.
>http://www.pcwb.com/servlets/Catalogue?id=(400533)&shop=PCWBD
>
>I'm hoping that from Linux I can select which tape(s) to back up to, so
>that I can have a weekly rotation without human intervention.  So far
>I've not had much success finding anything on doing this though.
>
>
>
AFAIK, tape changing is part of the standard command set for SCSI tapes.
Tape autoloaders have been around for years (and years).

>>Make sure any SCSI card you buy is suppored.
>>
>>You'll also need to budget for enough media to do a proper rotation
>>schedule, which might typically consist of 20 tapes, eg: (M, Tu, Th,
>>F, W1, W2, W3 W4, J, F, M, A M, J, J, A, S, O, N, D). Tapes can be
>>expensive, so this could add another 300 quid onto the bill.
>>
>>Don't forget the cleaning tape.
>>
>>Store the tapes somewhere sensible - cool, dry, vertical, away from
>>monitors and other sources of EMI. Preferably offsite. Don't put too
>>much trust in a fire safe.
>>
>>
>
>So, putting them on the window ledge in my office isn't a good idea?
>
>
>
Probably not.

>>There is a variety of free/expensive backup software products. Amanda
>>is a good place to start (www.amanda.org).
>>
>>
>
>I'll look into that because the current system of using NTBackup and the
>task scheduler ain't working.
>
>
>
Amanda can backup from Windows clients using the samba client.

James

>>James
>>
>>
>>
>
>--
>Gary Stainburn
>
>This email does not contain private or confidential material as it
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>
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