[DRBD-user] drbd or rsync?

Peter Sabaini peter at sabaini.at
Wed Apr 8 14:45:56 CEST 2009

Note: "permalinks" may not be as permanent as we would like,
direct links of old sources may well be a few messages off.


On Wednesday 08 April 2009 14:04:29 Sally-Anne Edwards wrote:
> > I don’t think its suitable as an actual backup of your files.
> > Having reliable backups/etc are worth it even if its just that one time
> > "somebody" (may or may not have been me) has overwritten the wrong file
> > on the customers live copy.
> > Drbd would have gone and happily deleted the file's data like you asked.
> > If you were backing up with rsync its still there in the last backup you
> > did, and the archived backups, and the offsite copies.. etc.
>
> Firstly, I notice a lot of people's replies are coming to me and not
> the entire list - maybe the list configuration needs to be tweaked -
> thanks to those who replied
>
> I do understand that drbd is not backup.
>
> In my situation, I don't own the servers in the data centre.  I have a
> good tape drive in another location.  So I need to replicate before I
> can backup.  Does this seem unreasonable, whether it is done with drbd
> or rsync?  Getting a tape drive in the data centre would add a lot of
> cost, and would mean that other people are handling the tapes (I know
> they can be encrypted, but that's more effort too)

A crucial factor is wether you can tolerate stale data. Running rsync 
periodically will probably result in not-quite-uptodate replication when the 
storm troopers come rushing in and cut your power. If that is not a concern, 
eg. because your data doesn't change all that often, or you simply don't care 
about a few lost updates, then rsync is IMHO simpler to set up. 

In contrast, DRBD does real replication. Depending on your link/network 
quality and the chosen protocol you can guarantee that local writes are only 
considered complete if the remote side also has completed. 

peter.



-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 197 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part.
URL: <http://lists.linbit.com/pipermail/drbd-user/attachments/20090408/5607ba2d/attachment.pgp>


More information about the drbd-user mailing list