RHEL6 Best Practices: Backup & Restore Potential Using Duplicity
Has anyone successfully deployed/made use of Duplicity for backup/restores on RHEL6? I'm currently developing some Backup & Restore "Best Practices" procedures and policies (to include best tools - I do of course note the presence/potential for utilizing AMANDA and Bacula as packages currently installed/available).
I've used duplicity + Deja-Dup gui (plays perfectly in GNOME, Nautilus) on other Linux installs (Ubuntu primarily) and like the ease of use for secure automation and direct portability of backups to AWS, Rackspace Cloud Files, etc. Just curious if others have attempted this in RHEL6 (as duplicity is actually packaged in the Fedora EPEL repo?). This is primarily for backup/restore of RHEL6 Desktops (Clients + Workstations). Thx in advance!
Responses
John,
I am interested in your environment and why backing up workstations is necessary?
What is it that you are attempting to capture from the workstation that isn't already hosted on the network / can be restored through a standard build image?
For enterprise backup I use Commvault Simpana and highly recommend it, but it really depends on what you're backing up (and why).
Active Contributor
119 points
@PixelDrift.NET -
Thank you, but - you are welcome to kick my shins in for this and I sincerely apologize to you in advance how this is going to come across (i promise, it's not meant to be unappreciative or rude, and is not intended even to be directed at you this is just in general as to discussions on forums). I do realize (and appreciate) your intent was in nothing more than to provide help - i may well be a casualty here of my own phrasing by using "best practices" here and implying need for them, but...
I am not in any need of coaching on my environment or other options and practices for backup, I am asking succinctly:
Has anyone successfully installed/made use of Duplicity (with or without Deja-Dup) for backup/restores on RHEL6 (as duplicity is actually packaged in the Fedora EPEL repo)?
- i am not interested in "use-cases", i simply want to know if anyone has installed/used Duplicity (irrespective as to "why" and "what for");
- there isn't any "network", or data/images hosted on a network/server involved here; this is for a single, independent mobile laptop (at the moment), backing up OS and data off internal SSD - the use of "Desktops (Clients + Workstations)" here was necessary to stave off confusion over what Red Hat itself remains confused about in their terms of art/product descriptions for Desktop v. Workstation v. Client. I spent the last 2 weeks seeking clarity/receiving conflicting information on this before finally securing answers on my own, so it was necessary to attempt to clarify here for "Desktop";
- being a lifelong veteran of Technical "Knowledgebase/Discussion Forums", I only referenced "AMANDA" and "Bacula" b/c the thousands of hours I've spent resolving tech issues in similar forums recognizes that having asked questions that only read as "has anyone used 'Duplicity' for Backups?" would only lead to posters, many, offering up solutions limited to "just use 'AMANDA' it's already installed/available" - never answering the actual question that was asked; these were mentioned to hopefully stave off just such posts positioning other tools that someone feels I should be using instead of answering what was asked;
- I am actually both a Consulting Partner and Reseller of Commvault, and also highly recommend it for Enterprise-level disaster recovery - superb offering for certain use-cases; that is completely beyond the fold here, however.
I apologize for having said all that, so clarifying my own question is best perhaps? This is all I'm asking and all I need/want to know:
Has anyone successfully installed/made use of Duplicity (with or without Deja-Dup) for backup/restores on RHEL6 (as duplicity is actually packaged in the Fedora EPEL repo)?
Active Contributor
119 points
If anyone is interested or would like to make use of duplicity (either with or without Déjà Dup) for backup/restoration of RHEL6 Desktops (Client/Workstation), I would be happy to post back with the working details; duplicity package(s) install without any hiccups and work fine (at least under the current v. 6 for 64-bit x86_64). The "optional" + "EPEL" repos are really the only requirements to make use of duplicity; will test duplicity for RHEL6 Server this weekend - Good Stuff!
Hi John,
I recently started using RHEL 7 (Client or Desktop - not sure what to call) and am looking for a simple and easy way to backup and restore my data and downloaded installation packages using yum. Though I am not new to Linux and RedHat but I am not an expert also. I am interested and want to try your solution to see if I can make use of that.
By the way, I am trying luckybackup right now and trying to setup on my own.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks.
Active Contributor
119 points
Absolutely, Srikanth - this is long overdue on my end so I will draw up a small guide on installation and use of duplicity (with and without Deja Dup); I should be able to have this posted back first of this coming week.
*that's funny/interesting your note there about not being sure what to call "Client" or "Desktop" I had exactly the same row and conversation when I first started out with rhel as well! the documentation and marketing collateral was highly ambiguous on this and frankly, I never really got a straight answer on it
Thanks John. I shall be waiting for the update from your side. In case you want to contact me directly feel free to drop a message on srikanth at srikanthkota dot com.
By the way, I am on x86_64 architecture.
Active Contributor
119 points
Hi, Srikanth - i haven't forgotten the above; outside of doing an unexpected migration this week I'm also really expanding the duplicity post into a broader disaster recovery piece with duplicity and several other applications used together - once i got started writing this i couldn't help but think how badly rhel really needs to start pre-packaging a simple, secure backup/restore tool set (especially if they intend to make the desktop version a viable offering going fwd). Leaving it up to the end user to go and find something or using ones that are cumbersome and manual really mean the majority of end-users will not backup their data appropriately, or even do it at all. My post will look to address using duplicity as a mainstay along with some other tools i've used to round out a disaster recovery approach that can be applied to servers/networks-to-desktops/workstations (large and small) and for enterprise/personal. I'm almost done with it so apologies for the delay.
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