[DRBD-user] drbd or rsync?

Tom Brown wc-linbit.com at vmail.baremetal.com
Thu Apr 9 20:38:23 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 Wed, 8 Apr 2009, Sally-Anne Edwards wrote:

>> However, how would this compare to using rsync?  Which will be more
>> efficient and safer?

hhmm, I've been thinking about this. DRBD is a wonderfull tool, but by the 
same token, its job is to deliver real-time replication. If you don't need 
that, then sticking extra layers into the kernel stack is not really the 
right thing to do. You are adding complexity where it can really hurt. 
>From that point of view, using a "user space" app like rsync makes a _lot_ 
more sense.

That said, I'm flipping your question around and looking at it from a risk 
management point of view. If the memory and disk I/O that rsync is going 
to use are not an issue (because you can schedule it for the middle of the 
night), then drbd really has nothing to offer that you need. the rsync 
solution will also save you bandwidth, and rsync over ssh is likely to be 
more secure.

There are lots of cool uses for drbd, but copying data to a (remote?) 
"spooling" machine so you can make a tape backup probably isn't at the top 
of the list :)

-Tom


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