This is the third post about Amanda, an open source backup system for UNIX-based computers. The previous two posts were a general introduction to Amanda inner workings, and instructions for configuring a Mac OS X amanda client.
In this post I’ll explain how to recover from a catastrophic failure, like when a hard drive dies. Although much of the steps are identical, this post is focused on how to recover the entire file system and not a small set of files that an user accidentally deleted. To recover something like that, you can simply run amrecover on the server, recover the files you need and transfer them using SFTP or any other protocol to the client machine.
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In my previous article, I presented Amanda, its basic concepts, and how does it compare to Time Machine. Now, I’ll give you an example of how to install and configure a Mac OS X machine to be an Amanda client. The next post will explain how to properly recover after a catastrophic failure.
As with any UNIX tool, Amanda can be compiled, installed and configured in a lot of different ways. How you should do it depends on your needs, so don’t feel pressured to do everything in the same way I did, as it’s not “the right way”, just one way. Also, everything I describe here should work on the Leopard or Snow Leopard versions of either Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server on Intel or PowerPC Macs. I’m not sure about previous versions of the OS, but you may find more information about those in the Mac OS X installation notes page of the Amanda wiki.
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Just a quick note related to my old memory-testing related post: memtest86+ now runs on Intel Macs just fine. Just download the pre-compiled bootable ISO file, use Disk Utility to create a CD out of it, and boot from it. This is much better than the previous solution where you had to boot Mac OS X in single-user mode, because memtest86+ won’t need Mac OS X (or any other OS) to run, which means it uses a very, very small memory footprint. The least memory you’re using, the more memory memtest will be able to test. This version of memtest uses a few KB of RAM. Booting Mac OS X, even in single user mode, will use at least 50 MB. It’s a really huge difference. And being able to boot directly from a CD is pretty handy.
Given that Retrospect 8 is essentially a piece of crap, I’ve been searching for an alternative I can use when Time Machine is not an option for backing up Macs. The main two points I’m focused on is reliability and speed. I want a backup system I can trust that won’t take the age of the universe to recover a file.
I’ve been using Amanda for a while now to backup all the Macs in our workgroup (10 machines) and so far I’m nothing but happy. Amanda is an open source backup system for UNIX-based operating systems, Mac OS X included (I believe it can also backup Windows clients, but I couldn’t care less).
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OK, I admit it, I don’t see why the iPad would be an useful device. For me. On the street, I have my iPhone, at home, I have my Mac. So why do I need a third device? For nothing, probably. But that’s me.
What I find paradoxical is that most people who are buying iPads are the ones who need it less. It’s the people who love gadgets, and those people already have everything – iPhones, laptops, desktops, you name it. What will they be able to do with an iPad that can’t be done with every other piece of electronics they have? Nothing.
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Posted in Apple
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Tagged Apple, iPad, time capsule
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My father gave me a classic movie on DVD some weeks ago. I opened it today. The box was sealed with plastic. Despite that, it came with that weird glue (that I had to wash out) and the disk surface full os scratches. One more reason for pirating movies: you don’t have to wash your MKV file in the sink to avoid destroying your DVD player.
There’s a rule of thumb for software development: make it, make it good, make it fast. For those unfamiliar with it, this means you should first build the core functionality of the software. Then, fix it’s bugs and make it as reliable as you can. Finally, optimize it to make it fast enough for your needs.
Retrospect 6 was a very good backup software, but its age was showing up. It was still fundamentally a Mac OS 9 app running on top of OS X Carbon API. The worst part about this was the need to launch the application in Finder, forcing you to have automatic login configured and remote-acess your backup machine via Remote Desktop or VNC, assuming it was running on a data center. Despite that, it was very reliable (I had two situations where Retrospect complained about corrupted data, and both situations were caused by faulty hardware). Also, it was not the fastest software I had seen, but it was good enough. Keep in mind Retrospect was designed when file systems had hundreds or a few thousand files on them, not a million or more like it’s normal today (I have about 1.5 million files on my laptop drive).
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