I've come up with a list of problems I will have, or could run into, as I embarking on building my Solaris-based open server in the coming weeks:
- Solaris/Linux Hardware Compatibility: I don't know whether my hardware is fully compatible (ex. NIC, GPU) with Solaris, and the Solaris Hardware Compatibility lists are incomplete. Let's hope everything goes ok!
- Bootloading: I will have to configure a bootloader, probably GRUB, with all of my different OS's. I have previously experimented with GRUB, and I didn't like it. It seemed too complicated, and I was never able to understand how to add OS's. Maybe there is a better alternative than GRUB?
- General *NIX Ineptitude: I have very limited CLI experience, mainly from using OS X's Terminal app. lightly. If it comes down to having to enter shell commands in order to enable or fix things, I won't know what to do unless I have a tutorial to follow.
- Networking Protocols: Which networking protocol should I use to share my files? SMB/CIFS? NFS? Should I try to install AFP on Solaris? What about iSCSCI? or mDNS (Bonjour) for automatic discovery with my Macs?
- Server Access: How will I go about remotely accessing my server to perform admin tasks and browse files and snapshots. This is easy. More than likely, I'll just use whatever networking protocol I decide on. I may also enable some of the following: SSH; FTP; VNC; media serving?
- rsync Script: I will need both a shell script & a Launchd/CRON job for automatic, hourly backups from my Mac to the file server (however, what happens if I sleep my Mac while a backup is in progress; can I get any notification while a backup is in progress or if one completes successfully?)
- ZFS Snapshot Creation Script: I will need a script, running preferably on the server, to create a snapshot using the current date/time as a name upon successful rsync backup.
- ZFS Snapshot Management Script: I will need a script, running preferably on the server, to manage ZFS snapshots (deleting old snapshots)
- Remote Backup: This isn't so much a problem as it is a curiosity. Which online backup service should I use once I get my server up and running, and whether I should backup from my Mac or from the server (Some considerations: Mozy, Amazon S3, JungleDisk, etc. - I'm currently using Mozy on my Mac, which is not available for Solaris)
- Server Sleep: Can the server enter either S1 or S3 sleep, and automatically be woken by attempted network access?
- Windows+ZFS Compatibility: How to get around Window's incompatibility with the ZFS pool. I think I will use my proposed FAT or NTFS "Windows Storage" drive, and copy files back and forth when I know I will need them. Oh, can Solaris read NTFS? If not, I will have an additional problem. Another option would be to create a separate Solaris virtual machine inside Windows to use as a bridge.
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3 comments:
Hey Jeff - there's a CIFS server in Solaris these days (which allows for remote Windows access to ZFS filesystems), I've got a pretty useful periodic snapshot SMF service on my blog (which also deletes older snapshots, and sends stuff to a remote backup server, yes, it slices/dices too!)
I've had success with serving NFS to my mac, but haven't tried CIFS yet [ my Solaris fileserver here is still running nv_57, the shame! ]
Finally, there's a Solaris NTFS filesytem module that allows you to mount readonly NTFS - more on google://sourceforge.net,solaris,ntfs
(hey, did I just invent a new URL syntax ? :-)
Tim, I've been playing around with your SMF snapshot script, and I have to congratulate you on some great work. I'm a GUI kind of guy, so I really appreciate the configuration panel. By the way, can your app. be installed in Indiana? I'm not sure whether Indiana contains the necessary dependencies (such as the SMF service) for it to run?
My current backup idea would be to rsync over SSH from my source machines (Macs) to the Solaris or Indiana-based server. My backup script (running on the Mac) would then issue a create snapshot command via SSH to the Solaris server (I think this would work). This leaves the snapshot management function. I would preferably like to find something of a cross-platform solution should I migrate from Solaris to OpenSolaris (or even OS X or FreeBSD) in the future.
I haven't been able to find a script that would allow the specification of number of hours/days/weeks/months to keep, rotate the snapshots, and then delete old ones. Can your service be used solely for the snapshot management feature (and not create new snapshots)? If you know of such a script, or if your service can do strictly this feature, I would greatly appreciative.
Hi Jeff - your setup looks a bit like what I'm planning myself, just got a Solaris server setup at home and now I'm trying to figure out how to do backups. Seeing your question about the rsync script and how to be notified from it, my idea would be to use "growl" (http://growl.info/). I am sure you know growl's notifications in action already, if you have used Adium or any of a number of popular third-party applications on the Mac - it's the framework behind those small balloons/unobtrusive pop-ups. You will find documentation on how to pop-up such notifications from your script on the above site.
Good luck!
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