Re: [mbackup-devel] indexing brainstorm and sqlite

[Robert D. <ro...@nr...>]

On Sat, 16 Feb 2002, James O'Kane wrote:

> I'm looking for brainstorm help to get an idea of the various things that 
> people might want to query for, so that I can define the API for index 
> modules. Since sql the language would be an implimentation detail, I don't 
> want to have sql statements outside of the index module. That way, if 
> someone wants to finish work on the db3 stuff, they don't have to 
> impliment the sql language.

I missed the original question, but hopefully this is along the same lines...

I would like "named" backups.

I haven't used any commercial backup apps - the only one I have any real
experience with is AMANDA - but they all seem like they're host/file-based.
What I mean by that is a host and files on the host are specified to be backed
up, and then they are all tossed on the same tape.  You restore by specifying
the same host and files.

I think a grouping abstraction layer would be very beneficial for management
purposes.  The idea is to have named backups.  The host/files groups would be
in a named sections.  Let's say the DNS machine's disk catches on fire.
It was backed up with:

  Group DNS
    dns.machine.com /etc/named.conf
    dns.machine.com /var/named

I can now restore DNS service to any machine with:

  restore DNS from dns.machine.com to temp-dns.machine.com

Log in and start the service.

And to take this a step further.. 

  Group DNS
    file://dns.host.com/etc/named.conf
    file://dns.host.com/var/named

  Group pgsql
    file://host.com/var/lib/pgsql

  Group mysql
    file://host.com/var/lib/mysql

  Group mail
    file://host.com/etc/mail
    file://host.com/etc/sendmail.cf
    file://host.com/var/spool/mail

  Group host.com
    Include DNS, pgsql, mysql, mail
    file://host.com/

Here we include the other groups so we don't duplicate any backups and also
so we can do a full restore of host.com.  Well, that's it for named backups,
but I'm sure some of you are curious about the url-style entries.

This is a bit off-topic on this thread, but I think the backup mechanism
should be able to handle multiple protocols for file retreival.  Sometimes
a machine is accessible via only http or ftp.  Or perhaps we want to backup
a windows share (smb://win.com/c/).  In any case, the url-style specifies a
protocol, host, and file in one neat line.

-- 
Robert Dale