Linbox Rescue Server Ubuntulandia

Linbox Rescue Server

hugoluis @ 10:17

The Linbox Rescue Server (LRS) es un potente tool centralizado para realizar el backup completo de nuestro PC. Se adapta perfectamente ya sea a Windows que a Linux.

Entre los formatos soportados se encuentran:

Ext2

Ext3

ReiserFS

XFS

NTFS

FAT

The Linbox Rescue Server (LRS) is a server providing for each PC on a network the following functions :

Save: PC workstation hard-disk images on a network server.
Restore: Images on the hard-disk in case of problems (virus, file corruption...).
Install: Through the network, new Operating Systems on new PCs within a few minutes.
Deploy: The same hard-disk image and thus the same configuration on several PCs.
Inventory: Manage, audit and control the hardware and software configuration of your network's workstations.

WITHOUT ANY CLIENT SOFTWARE INSTALLATION ON THE WORKSTATIONS...

The LRS system allows you to save and restore whole workstations' hard-disk partitions on a network server, independently of the operating system.

The file Backup module of the LRS

Regular backup of user's files for PCs under GNU/Linux or Windows,
no software installed on the client,
optimization of the space used on the server by replacing files doubloons on a PC or between 2 PCs by a hard link,
web administration interface,
recovery of backed up files through a web interface,
backup on hard disk, thus, immediacy of data recovery.

The optimal solution to manage backups and recovery quickly, easily and carefree.

1. User interface

The file Backup module is administrated through a web interface that allows :

to consult the list of PCs whose backup is managed by BackupPC,
to see the state of the backed up PCs,
to access to previous backups and to recover files,
to consult global or individual logs of the backup,
to launch a manual backup,
to restore one or several directories, one or several files, either directly in their original location or by getting back an archives or a zip file.

2. Functioning
The directories that need to be backed up must be put in sharing mode (Windows) or exported via NFS (Unix/Linux). The LRS will regularily look at the directories and compare the files with the once stored. This comparison is made by calculating a signature for each file and by comparing the signatures of the files. File names are thus not important. If files have appeared or were modified, they'll be backed up on the server and included in the stock of available files.

The data backup module of the LRS has been based on BackupPC, a free software developed on sourceforge.net by an international team of programmers under direction of Craig Barratt. Linbox FAS has translated the software in french.

To make this possible, the LRS uses a network boot system that takes advantage of the PXE technology. LRS can also use other types of network interface cards, through the use of "etherboot" boot disks. So the LRS does not require any software installation on the workstation to be saved or restored.

The LRS is thus very well suited for any organization that requires a backup system, without the need of deploying a backup software on each computer of a wide network.

In the case of a training center or classrooms, the LRS system allows a full re-installation of a working configuration on-demand within a few minutes (even automatically by using Wake-on-LAN technology of some NIC). This way, one can always boot on a fresh, stable and identical system, session after session.

1.2. Principle

The PXE compatible NIC takes control of the workstation at boot time, and fetches the Linbox Boot Loader (LBL) a server-stored boot loader that offers the user the choice between several possible actions such as: boot on the local disk, restore pre-stored images, re-install a base/shared image or save hard-disk content.

Hard-disk images are stored in a compressed form (typically 2:1) on the network server. Menu options presented to the workstation's user are chosen by LRS' administrator in the configuration interface (Web interface, webmin module). The user's choice can be restricted to only a few actions, and the administrator can even force choices and automate actions using Wake-on-LAN capability.

Saved images are currently optimized for the following operating systems (see Section 14.1, “Supported File Systems and Partition Types” for more details):

FAT16: DOS, Win3.1x, Win95...
FAT32: Win95,Win98,WinMe,Win2000
NTFS: WinNT, Win2000 and WinXP
EXT2/EXT3: Linux
ReiserFS: Linux
XFS: Linux
JFS: Linux

Partitions and volume managers like Windows LDM, Linux LVM v1 and v2 are supported.

The optimization consists in not saving empty sectors, only sectors with data are saved.

Images for Win9x/Me/NT and Linux can be re-installed on hard-disks that have different geometries than the hard-disk on which was created their image, providing that they have a greater or equal capacity (deployment/re-installation function).

Downloads

We give you the possibility to test for free the Linbox Rescue Server (LRS). The LRS is protected by a key. This key corresponds to a MAC ethernet adress and to the amount of PCs that need to be managed. Once the LRS installed you will therefore need to send us an e-mail with the ethernet adress of your network interface card. A key that will enable you to test the LRS's management capabilities for two computers will then be sent to you.

We propose to you the iso image of an auto-bootable CD that will install on one of your PCs a Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 system with an already configured LRS. Located in the same directory as the iso image, the README-ISO.txt file contains the instructions needed to use this CD.

You can also use the VmWare image which contains an already installed and activated LRS with a 2 clients demo license. Located in the same directory as the VmWare image, the README.txt file contains the instructions needed to use this image. The VmWare Player is freely available here .

We invite you to consult this part of the online installation and configuration instructions.