backups priority

backups priority

[Angela Marie Thomas]

[ I know nobody is going to get this for a bit but wanted to send it
  while it was fresh in my mind ]

Given the recent woes I thought it would be worthwhile to ask about
backups priority.

Currently, I do a snapshot of the whole system except htdig every
morning (4:13 Pacific) using rsync.  It takes ~2 hours to complete
(often as little as 1 hour, sometimes as much as 3 hours).  Overall
it doesn't seem to have much of a negative impact on the system.

When something goes awry during the backup window (system crashes,
system is unexpectedly rebooted, network horked, etc), I often
wait until the next backup window rather than load the system
during peak hours.  Part of the justification for this is the
number of snapshots people have of the CVS files themselves.
AFAIK I'm still the only one with a complete backup of everything
(root, ftp, qmail, www, cvs, etc).  With the recent problems,
I'm thinking backups may need to be a high priority always.

When the system is behaving rationally, should I make every
attempt to ensure we have at least one good snapshot a day even
if it means potentially slowing down other operations?  If yes,
should I send a notice to overseers first (affects whether I can
automate the process) for approval?

--Angela

Re: backups priority

[Frank Ch. Eigler]

Hi -

> [...]
> When the system is behaving rationally, should I make every
> attempt to ensure we have at least one good snapshot a day even
> if it means potentially slowing down other operations?  [...]

Yes, I believe your backups are already important enough to take
priority, and without the handicap of manual approvals.

- FChE