Backup Central

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I'm sorry if this question is easily apparent in the Bacula
documentation but I simply can not find a straight answer.=20

My boss wants to move away from our current backup system; so I
recommended Bacula.=20

He loves the power and cost savings we would receive from Bacula but
will not convert based on one caveat.=20

=20

I'm not sure what term is used to describe the feature but basically the
backup server only saves 1 copy of a file. Using MD5 it checks to see if
the file is different if its not it considers it to be the same file and
doesn't backup multiple copies of the file.=20

For example most *nixes have the /bin/ls binary file. Assuming it's the
same 'ls' that another system has the backup server only keeps 1 copy of
the binary but 2 entries in the Database - one for each PC.=20

=20

This feature becomes very helpful as we have say 300 workstation all
running WinXP - 2GB of 'system' files. That could results in 'savings'
of ~598GB of hard drive space - not to mention bandwidth on the network.

(Please note: we backup up everything to a Hard Disk RAID not tape; and
have bandwidth constraints.)

=20

Can Bacula perform the above feature?=20

What PROs and CONs should I make sure he knows about if it can?

Mark Best schrieb:

I'm not sure what term is used to describe the feature but basically the
backup server only saves 1 copy of a file. Using MD5 it checks to see if
the file is different if its not it considers it to be the same file and
doesn't backup multiple copies of the file.

For example most *nixes have the /bin/ls binary file. Assuming it's the
same 'ls' that another system has the backup server only keeps 1 copy of
the binary but 2 entries in the Database - one for each PC.
...

I don't think this is possible with bacula. BackupPC with its pooling
feature could be an alternative (maybe you know BackupPC already).

Ralf

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Hello,

Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 11:55:22 -0700
From: "Mark Best" <markbest < at > co.nezperce.id.us>
Subject: [Bacula-users] Feature: Reduce Backup Size on RAID
To: <bacula-users < at > li...>
Message-ID:
=20
<324994D47E84D511822800304821E17D0419CE08 < at > np...>
=20
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=3D"us-ascii"

I'm sorry if this question is easily apparent in the Bacula
documentation but I simply can not find a straight answer.=20

My boss wants to move away from our current backup system; so I
recommended Bacula.=20

He loves the power and cost savings we would receive from Bacula but
will not convert based on one caveat.=20

=20

I'm not sure what term is used to describe the feature but basically the
backup server only saves 1 copy of a file. Using MD5 it checks to see if
the file is different if its not it considers it to be the same file and
doesn't backup multiple copies of the file.=20

For example most *nixes have the /bin/ls binary file. Assuming it's the
same 'ls' that another system has the backup server only keeps 1 copy of
the binary but 2 entries in the Database - one for each PC.=20

=20

This feature becomes very helpful as we have say 300 workstation all
running WinXP - 2GB of 'system' files. That could results in 'savings'
of ~598GB of hard drive space - not to mention bandwidth on the network.

(Please note: we backup up everything to a Hard Disk RAID not tape; and
have bandwidth constraints.)

=20

Can Bacula perform the above feature?=20

No.

=46rom the number of queries I've seen about this feature, I would say it i=
s a=20
hot topic. This is essentially what I would call a "high end" feature, in=
=20
that not even all commercial products have it, and to get it you are going =
to=20
have to pay for a "high end" product.

That said, we have a project to implement, and although there is someone=20
interested in developing it, there is at the moment nothing active. It isn=
't=20
a simple project and would probably at best require 3 to 6 months to=20
implement it.

Perhaps if there is enough interest and there were some promises of donatio=
ns,=20
it would motivate someone to implement it :-)

Regards,

Kern

What PROs and CONs should I make sure he knows about if it can?

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