[ale] virtual machines, cloud, back-up

[Edward Holcroft]

"Exporting the virtual machine & storing that copy until it's replaced by
the succeeding copy? "

In short, "yes".

There are two main elements to consider: the servers themselves and the
data on the servers. Not sure how much of a standard this is, but it works
for me:

I have a script that snapshots my entire system volumes once a week. If
config changes were happening at a rapid rate for some reason, I'd shorten
the snapshot interval. The script deletes snapshots older than four weeks.
I snapshot the entire machine rather than configs. In the event of total
loss I just slap the entire system image into service. Kind of a
sledgehammer I s'pose, but this way there's there's no risk of forgetting
about that oddball script that for Some Good Reason never made it into /opt
with the rest of them.

Another script snapshots data volumes. Those snapshots are typically stored
for 30 days in my case.

For MySQL, I used to have a scripted snapshot arrangement on my own
servers, but now I use Amazon's RDS service. If you're running MySQL, I
believe you need a really, really good reason to roll your own vs using
RDS.

I tried various hacks before finding this python script. It's simple and
solid and all the work's been done:
http://aws-musings.com/manage-ebs-snapshots-with-a-python-script/ I love
this script and never even knew that there was an AWS module for Python
before.

This is all Amazon specific, not sure what other providers have.

ed


On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 4:20 PM, Nolan Voight <nolan.voight at gmail.com> wrote:

> A friend asked me to look over a hosting deal she was considering for her
> business site--the folks offering it used 'cloud' everywhere possible in
> the ad copy. I assume this means it's all running on virtual machines, as
> are most affordable hosting plans these days.
>
> What is standard practice for back-up on virtual servers (if there is
> something approaching standard practice)? Exporting the virtual machine &
> storing that copy until it's replaced by the succeeding copy?
>
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-- 
Edward Holcroft | Madsen Kneppers & Associates Inc.
3020 Holcomb Bridge Rd. NW | Norcross, GA 30071
O (770) 446-9606 | M (770) 630-0949

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