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Jesse
Asked: 2010-10-13 08:04:58 +0800 CST

Good rsync-with-version-history solution for mission-critical remote backups on Windows?

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I need to back up some huge files (100GB) and a zillion little ones (2,000,000 x 50k) over the internet via SSL, from one Windows Server 2008 box to another.

What I want is to have the directory structure on the backup server mirror the production server -- but with a version history. rsync does the first part, and I know a few products combine rsync with a version history, but I don't know which ones are really ready for prime-time.

My plan was to use Syncrify, but since nobody seems to have any experience with it, I'm looking for other ideas.

rsync

4 Answers

  1. Sounds like rdiff-backup will fulfill your needs nicely. I have used it to do linux->linux and windows->windows and windows->linux backups. It keeps the current version as an exact mirror of the source. Then uses a reverse-differencing algorithm to store prior versions. It uses the rsync network protocol for efficient use of the network.

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  2. If you want to backup with a version history as in being able to restore older versions of backed up files, you should probably look at using a versioning system such as git or subversion instead of a copy system like rsync. Less recommended alternatives would be to manage your own deltas with something like incremental tar files.

    If I misunderstood what you want for "version history", please clarify your question, but rsync itself is not a tool equipped to keep a history of either it's own actions over time or versions of files as they change through time. It is just a copy/synchronization tool. A very good one at that, but a very specific use tool.

    Edit: Another tool that might suit your needs is rsnapshot, which uses rsync as a copy tool but keeps track of multiple versions so that you can backtrack to older "snapshots".

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  3. My rep is to low to comment so I will add and answer...
    rsnapshot does run on windows! http://blog.gingerlime.com/rsnapshot-server-on-windows
    hope your problem is already solved, but if it isn't, I hope this helps

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  4. Best Answer

    Syncrify is good and should work. We use it to backup our web server and it works fine. However, I have not te

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