Free backup tool for data centers

BackupwithBacula

Article from ADMIN 05/2011

By Philipp Storz

Everybody needs backups; if you are looking for an open source program that will back up heterogeneous networks, you should check out Bacula.

One of Bacula's biggest advantages is that it doesn't continually vie for the administrator's attention. Instead, it goes about its work quietly and reliably in the background. Once configured correctly, Bacula will run for a long time without any administrative overhead. And, even in a worst-case scenario where the backup server crashes, you don't lose anything. Instead, you can restore directly from the backup media. In other words, if your priorities are stability, reliability, and robustness, Bacula is the tool you've been looking for.

If you work with Bacula, one thing will immediately grab your attention: In the Bacula system, each task is handled by a separate program. Tasks can include reading the data to be backed up and transferring them across the network, writing to the backup media, or updating the catalogs. A separate daemon exists for each of these tasks in Bacula:

The file daemon runs on the computer you want to back up and reads the files in order to transfer them across the network. In a restore scenario, it receives the data and writes them out to disk.
The storage daemon addresses the storage media in the Bacula system. It receives the data read by the file daemon and stores it on the backup media. In a restore scenario, the process is reversed: It reads the data from the media and sends it to the file daemon.
The director daemon manages the information in the catalog database. For each backup, the catalog database stores the details of which file daemon stored which backup on which medium. The director daemon is also responsible for scheduling and starting the backups on time. It also receives and processes messages, statistics, and reports.
The Bacula console is a simple user interface for Bacula and gives the administrator access to the director daemon. This gives administrators an interactive option for launching backups and restores, and for querying the status of all the daemons in the

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