What Software Do You Use for Unix Backups?

jregel asks: "Linus has stated that dump should not be considered a reliable backup program, and both tar and cpio have their limitations. So what are Slashdot readers doing for backing up Linux servers and workstations? (you do backup, right?)" Given this bit of news, have you used anything other than the standard Unix staple to back up your Linux boxes? If you were forced off of tar, cpio and dump, what would you use as a replacement?

Comments

Why not fix dump and/or Linux?

[Dahan]

Dump has been the standard Unix backup program for decades... I don't use Linux, but if I did, I'd consider it a bug that dump didn't work properly.

Seems to me that Linus (or another kernel hacker) should fix the ext2 race condition reported in that thread, rather than blithely dismiss the problem with, "dump was a stupid program in the first place."

Re:I cannot be forced off tar

[mcelrath]

The horrible problem with linux right now though is that because the memory management is so braindead, that backup will swap out everything in memory in favor of caching your multi-gigabyte backup file. Thus your method brings the machine to a standstill while the backup is occuring (which can take hours to days depending on the size of your filesystem).

Not a criticism of your method (in fact, I use this), just a rant that the Linux MM system NEEDS TO BE FIXED. I'm sick of watching as some trivial process that will only read or write once gets the whole filesystem cached for it while programs I'm using interactively get swapped to disk. Video recording and playing programs (mplayer, ogle) have the same problem.

Let's hope 2.6 is better than 2.4. Can any kernel hackers comment on this? In 2.5 will tar cvjf /home /mnt/backup/home.tar.bz2 bring my system to its knees?

-- Bob