Any backup software with good GUI

I need to install for a client a file server on Linux. I am using redhat 7.2 Is there a good backup utility with some gui. I tried using tar but the problem is the backup size is usually very huge ( around 4-5GB ) and tar always hangs. I found an excellent utility called DAR which I am currently using. This takes inclremental backups. and stores files in chunks as reqd and even extracting from a 9GB archive is not muchof a problem But the problem is there is no GUI for DAR. My client wants some Gui. Has someone written a gui for dar. Or is there a better backup utility I am looking at backups of about 4-5GB with increments everyday of 500Mb I would like to be able take the backup on remote server, But that is no problem because Today I am using NFS and doing so Thanks Ram

The world rejoiced as "Ramprasad A Padmanabhan" <myname@netcore.co.in> wrote: > I need to install for a client a file server on Linux. > I am using redhat 7.2 > > Is there a good backup utility with some gui. Generally speaking, no. The _good_ backup software is the stuff that doesn't require interactive intervention, but which instead runs in the background. The only piece where a GUI _might_ be useful would be in configuring what is to be backed up. And if you understand your backup tools well enough for it to be conceivable that you could actually USE the backup, it is unlikely that you need the GUI. -- "cbbrowne","@","acm.org" http://cbbrowne.com/info/backup.html "Heuristics (from the French heure, "hour") limit the amount of time spent executing something. [When using heuristics] it shouldn't take longer than an hour to do something."

Christopher Browne wrote on 08/23/2003 06:50 AM: > The world rejoiced as "Ramprasad A Padmanabhan" <myname@netcore.co.in> wrote: > >>I need to install for a client a file server on Linux. >>I am using redhat 7.2 >> >>Is there a good backup utility with some gui. > > > Generally speaking, no. > > The _good_ backup software is the stuff that doesn't require > interactive intervention, but which instead runs in the background. > > The only piece where a GUI _might_ be useful would be in configuring > what is to be backed up. > > And if you understand your backup tools well enough for it to be > conceivable that you could actually USE the backup, it is unlikely > that you need the GUI. I'm currently developing such a program as a front end to existing backup tools. Though I agree that a backup system is something that you don't need (nor want?) to _see_ as long as it does its job well in the background, I believe that in many cases the configuration of the backup sets and their managment can be greatly simplified using a GUI. I designed my program so as to allow the user to use a number of different backup storage types and tools. That means that you don't need to learn and understand each and every one of them separately. That's another advantage of a common GUI. Eduardo

On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 12:10:52 +0500, Ramprasad A Padmanabhan wrote: > I need to install for a client a file server on Linux. I am using redhat > 7.2 > > Is there a good backup utility with some gui. > > I tried using tar but the problem is the backup size is usually very > huge ( around 4-5GB ) and tar always hangs. > > I found an excellent utility called DAR which I am currently using. This > takes inclremental backups. and stores files in chunks as reqd and even > extracting from a 9GB archive is not muchof a problem > > But the problem is there is no GUI for DAR. My client wants some Gui. Has > someone written a gui for dar. Or is there a better backup utility > > I am looking at backups of about 4-5GB with increments everyday of 500Mb I > would like to be able take the backup on remote server, But that is no > problem because Today I am using NFS and doing so > > > Thanks > Ram I don't know how useful it is but there is a backup module in webmin.

=2D----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 At 2003-08-20T07:10:52Z, "Ramprasad A Padmanabhan" <myname@netcore.co.in> w= rites: > Is there a good backup utility with some gui. What do you want the GUI to do? I wrote a Python GUI for Amanda that runs under FreeBSD and Linux, and probably Windows. It's at: http://subwiki.honeypot.net/cgi-bin/view/Main/AmControl It doesn't do *any* configuration, but does provide a point-and-click way to launch backups, check on their status, etc. =2D --=20 Kirk Strauser The Strauser Group Open. Solutions. Simple. http://www.strausergroup.com/ =2D----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE/Q4Ll5sRg+Y0CpvERAsH4AJ9h6LFudmaXgcaLdYYnuS2y2maL/wCfdLp9 zdkAmqfEnar33+wy+Omenf8=3D =3DcJ+R =2D----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 18:20:38 GMT, Kirk Strauser <kirk@strauser.com>: > > At 2003-08-20T07:10:52Z, "Ramprasad A Padmanabhan" <myname@netcore.co.in> w= > rites: > > > Is there a good backup utility with some gui. > > What do you want the GUI to do? I wrote a Python GUI for Amanda that runs > under FreeBSD and Linux, and probably Windows. It's at: > > http://subwiki.honeypot.net/cgi-bin/view/Main/AmControl > > It doesn't do *any* configuration, but does provide a point-and-click way to > launch backups, check on their status, etc. .... And when you go to recover a system with said produced backup, what GUI are you going to have available to work with? -- Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced. (*) http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling - - http://learn.to/quote (Deutsch) http://quote.6x.to (Eng.) Spammers! http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling/spammers.html

Martha Stewart called it a Good Thing whenkeeling@spots.ab.ca (s. keeling)wrote: > On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 18:20:38 GMT, Kirk Strauser <kirk@strauser.com>: >> >> At 2003-08-20T07:10:52Z, "Ramprasad A Padmanabhan" <myname@netcore.co.in> w= >> rites: >> >> > Is there a good backup utility with some gui. >> >> What do you want the GUI to do? I wrote a Python GUI for Amanda that runs >> under FreeBSD and Linux, and probably Windows. It's at: >> >> http://subwiki.honeypot.net/cgi-bin/view/Main/AmControl >> >> It doesn't do *any* configuration, but does provide a point-and-click way to >> launch backups, check on their status, etc. > > ... And when you go to recover a system with said produced backup, > what GUI are you going to have available to work with? Exactly. The thing that _would_ be of value would be a GUI for configuring what is to be backed up. There is so much potential information to be backed up, these days, that having sophisticated tools to manage how you pick what is processed is what is valuable. But once you have determined what should be done, "silence is golden." And as you say, if there is a need to recover a system using the backup, you probably _won't_ have all sorts of graphical infrastructure around. The system BROKE, with the result that things like graphical subsystems are amongst what is probably BROKEN. -- let name="cbbrowne" and tld="cbbrowne.com" in name ^ "@" ^ tld;; http://cbbrowne.com/info/backup.html If the odds are a million to one against something occuring, chances are 50-50 it will.

"Ramprasad A Padmanabhan" <myname@netcore.co.in> wrote in message news:<pan.2003.08.20.07.10.29.446898@netcore.co.in>... > I need to install for a client a file server on Linux. > I am using redhat 7.2 > > Is there a good backup utility with some gui. > > I tried using tar but the problem is the backup size is usually very > huge ( around 4-5GB ) and tar always hangs. > > I found an excellent utility called DAR which I am currently using. This > takes inclremental backups. and stores files in chunks as reqd and even > extracting from a 9GB archive is not muchof a problem > > But the problem is there is no GUI for DAR. My client wants some Gui. > Has someone written a gui for dar. Or is there a better backup utility > > I am looking at backups of about 4-5GB with increments everyday of 500Mb > I would like to be able take the backup on remote server, But that is no > problem because Today I am using NFS and doing so > > > Thanks > Ram Just to get the obvious out of the way: a.) Which backup software have you already evaluated, if any? b.) What are your thoughts on the list provided by freshmeat?

Christopher Browne wrote (in part): > The thing that _would_ be of value would be a GUI for configuring what > is to be backed up. There is so much potential information to be > backed up, these days, that having sophisticated tools to manage how > you pick what is processed is what is valuable. > With BRU's backup scheme, it backs up everything in all mounted directories, including /dev (it does not backup the devices, but the entries there, so on restore you get the links and permissions right. There is a control file, /etc/bruxpat Mine accepts most everything: # Each command line in the bruxpat file (the file you are now reading) # consists of a control field and a pattern. The pattern # is separated from the control field by whitespace. Control field # characters are: # # i Include this pathname if pattern matches. The # pathname is accepted and no further patterns are # applied. # *** NOTE **** # It stops trying on the first pattern match found # and passes the filename. Since it scans patterns # in the order listed, "include" patterns normally # should be listed before any "exclude" patterns. # # x Exclude this pathname if pattern matches. The # pathname is rejected and no further patterns are # applied. # # z Exclude this pathname from compression if pattern # matches (if the -Z option is specified). # # s The pattern is a shell style wildcard pattern except # that '/' characters are not treated as special characters. # # r The pattern is a regular expression (same as used by the "grep" # command). # # l The pattern is a literal string. # # Exclude all core files xs */core xs core # Exclude all files and subdirectories in the temporary directories. # Handle files specified with relative and absolute pathnames # # -- NOTE -- the actual directory names will still be backed up, # only the files within the directories will be # excluded. xs ./usr/tmp/* xs /usr/tmp/* xs ./tmp/* xs /tmp/* The GUI I use to edit that is called emacs but many might choose vi . It works just as well. -- .~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642. /V\ Registered Machine 73926. /( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org ^^-^^ 7:25am up 14 days, 16:52, 2 users, load average: 2.08, 2.15, 2.07

Kirk Strauser <kirk@strauser.com> writes: >=2D----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >Hash: SHA1 >At 2003-08-20T07:10:52Z, "Ramprasad A Padmanabhan" <myname@netcore.co.in> w= >rites: >> Is there a good backup utility with some gui. >What do you want the GUI to do? I wrote a Python GUI for Amanda that runs >under FreeBSD and Linux, and probably Windows. It's at: > http://subwiki.honeypot.net/cgi-bin/view/Main/AmControl >It doesn't do *any* configuration, but does provide a point-and-click way to >launch backups, check on their status, etc. Amanda is a superb backup utility. It is very easy to configure, even for a klutz like me. (Of course, I'm quite old, and find GUI interfaces more trouble than they are worth.) -- J.Otto Tennant jotto@pobox.com Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit. Charter Member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy