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We have 20 servers that were all created from a base image.  70% of the data on each of the 20 servers are identical from server to server.  Is it possible to base the initial backup on one base image, so I don't have 20 copies of the same data on each host, to save space?


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On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 1:38 PM, Scott Wright <swright < at > raleys.com> wrote:
We have 20 servers that were all created from a base image.  70% of the data
on each of the 20 servers are identical from server to server.  Is it
possible to base the initial backup on one base image, so I don't have 20
copies of the same data on each host, to save space?

*SURE*. Just replicate that base image to your first snapshot with the
command 'cp -al', or install and use the 'hardlink' command. You will
still need inodes available for each file in each directory, and you
can eventually run out of those even with well merged snapshots. But
it's a handy tool to run now and then for similar OS's.

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On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 10:38 AM, Scott Wright <swright < at > raleys.com> wrote:
We have 20 servers that were all created from a base image.  70% of the data
on each of the 20 servers are identical from server to server.  Is it
possible to base the initial backup on one base image, so I don't have 20
copies of the same data on each host, to save space?

Sure. Before starting your backups, I would probably setup a "fake"
hourly.0, and populate it with sub-directories for each host, using cp
-al from the base image. Then you could either keep that backup (as a
record of where things started), or delete it after the first real
hourly run.

Another easy way to do it would be to backup only one of the hosts,
then capture the rsync command-line from the log file. Then run rsync
manually for each of the other hosts, using --link-dest to let rsync
hardlink with files from the first host's backup.

BTW, it's probably best to practice with a smaller system first,
though, to make sure you're putting all the files in the right places,
and that everything works as you expect it to. Otherwise you've
potentially done a lot of work which the first backup pass will nuke.
Maybe you could backup only /etc from each host as a test.

-scott

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Hallo, Scott,

Du meintest am 30.03.11:

We have 20 servers that were all created from a base image. 70% of
the data on each of the 20 servers are identical from server to
server. Is it possible to base the initial backup on one base image,
so I don't have 20 copies of the same data on each host, to save
space?

For such problems I use "hardlink" from Dag Wieers,

<http://helmut.hullen.de/filebox/Linux/slackware/ap/hardlink-1.2-i486-1hln.tgz>

hardlink server1/weekly.0 server2/weekly.0 server3/weekly.0

(called from the appropriate directory) should hardlink across the
separate backups.

As long as "hardlink" runs "rsnapshot" must not change these
directories.

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