Hi all. Need some help here. Would the following method ideal? Would I encounter any potential problem?

I am getting an SCSI hot swappable server soon. I am going to have 1 SCSI 36GB HDD and 1 IDE 80GB HDD. We are going to perform automates rsync from SCSI HDD to IDE HDD daily. Then rotate the IDE HDD weekly. I mean pull out the IDE HDD and put a new IDE HDD in. This way, we always have an offsite backup.

My questions is:
1. Since this will be a SCSI hot swap system. Would the IDE be hot swapable?

2. Any potential problem with this backup method? I know tape backup is probably the best way. But just one 40GB tape will cost an arm and a leg.

3. Personally, we never used rsync method. Would it be diffcult to restore the system from the backup if SCSI crashed.

All comment would be appreciated.

Originally posted by Eiv

My questions is:
1. Since this will be a SCSI hot swap system. Would the IDE be hot swapable?


According to one particular howto (http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Software-RAID-HOWTO-3.html#ss3.2) over at linuxdoc.org, that would be an emphatic no. I certainly wouldn't want to fry a controller, so I have never even tried.

Regards,

Jeff

He is not talking about software raid, he is talking about using the program rsync to sync files too the hard drive every so often. There is EXISTANT HotSwap IDE configurations but who makes them etc.. i couldnt tell you.

Originally posted by Eiv
1. Since this will be a SCSI hot swap system. Would the IDE be hot swapable?

2. Any potential problem with this backup method? I know tape backup is probably the best way. But just one 40GB tape will cost an arm and a leg.

3. Personally, we never used rsync method. Would it be diffcult to restore the system from the backup if SCSI crashed.


1. Usually: no.
2. Usually: no. But I think it's a bit expensive. Why not do a backup over the network?
3. Usually: no. :) But don't forget to include databases and such.

You *can* get IDE hostswap solutions but they are not common.

Tape is far cheaper than using HD's if you are going to do a proper backup sequence.

For example a daily incremental:

Tape1 - Monday (incremental)
Tape2 - Tuesday (incremental)
Tape3 - Wednesday (incremental)
Tape4 - Thrusday (incremental)
Tape5 - Friday (incremental)
Tape6 - Saturday (incremental)
Tape7 - Sunday Week 1 (full backup)
recycle tape 1-7
Tape8 - Sunday Week 2 (full backup)
recycle tape 1-7
Tape9 - Sunday Week 3 (full backup)
recycle tape 1-7
Tape10 - Sunday Month 1 (full backup)

Requires 10 tapes. The daily incrementals can be small that total capacity as they only contain changes since last backup. The weekly tapes need to be full system capacity.

You could add another 11 tapes in a monthly backup system recycling the weekly tapes as well and you would have an entire year's worth of reasonably detailed backups.

At $50 to $60 a tape it would be cheaper than using hard drives.

Just my 2 cents.