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I'm currently using rsync to keep a copy of a filesystem. This rsync constantly runs and keeps the backup up to date (in theory, its not particularly reliable). Is there a better way to keep a remote up to date snapshot of a filesystem (I'm unable to change the FS type to one with this built in - the source is on a NAS unit).

Thanks in advance!

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    How is rsync acting unreliable for you? In my experience it is very reliable, so I suspect there is more to your situation that you are not telling us. – Zoredache Oct 29 '10 at 07:10
  • You need to provide details of the NAS. – Cry Havok Oct 29 '10 at 10:06
  • Unreliable in the aspects of keeping it continuously running. The data copies themselves are fine, but keeping a continuous rsync of the filesystem is proving troublesome. –  Oct 29 '10 at 12:44
  • NAS is a netapp filer. The source drive is mounted from that. –  Oct 29 '10 at 12:44

2 Answers2

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You can try with block device level replication with DRBD, it's de facto standard for this purpose (and it's even included in mainline Linux kernel starting from 2.6.33).

ipozgaj
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  • Thanks. The source data is mounted from a netapp so I'm unable to use DRBD, otherwise taht would have been a good step. –  Oct 29 '10 at 12:46
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An alternative is to use glusterfs, which is very simple to set up.

Or check out inotify which you can set up to run the rsync only when something changes on the filesystem.

Check out http://github.com/rvoicilas/inotify-tools/wiki example 1 for how to do this.

Richard Holloway
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  • inotify sounds like it might be just the ticket. Thats the main issue with rsync, getting it to consistently copy the data. I'll check that out. Thanks. –  Oct 29 '10 at 12:46