For the backup I see two options - Network backup and DiskSync. Can someone please briefly explain the difference?

If I went with the network backup, am I correct in assuming that I could do a daily compressed dump of my MySQL databases and it would not be affected by a hard drive failure?

With that option, does use bandwidth or is it "internal" and therefore unlimited?

Thanks!

I have no idea. I've only used R1Soft and cPanel's "cpbackup."


In theory, that's correct. There are many details involved with backups though. It's really important that you configure everything with your goals in mind.


Internal bandwidth also counts against your monthly quota, and any off-server backup solution will use bandwidth.

Hmm... well I will have my web server synced with a local dev server and I will have backups of the major config files (running web server) so what I really want/need is (at least) daily backups of the mysql databases that will not reside on the same hard drive. What's the best solution for that?

The NAS is just disk space at a different datacenter building that you can manually or via cron, etc. place backups on, either via ftp or mounting vai samba, etc. It's useful for everyone who doesn't have an ultra-fast local connection to backup to / restore from in a worst case as it gets you off-site backup and ~30 mbps transfer speeds to and from it during most times.

DiskSync has the complexity of additional software to run and setup in terms of needing the agent, console, etc. but it gets you into automated versioning while transferring only the changed bytes over the network.

Why would I not just take a 2nd hard drive, giving me 250GB for $20 rather than th 10gb network backup for $10?

If I JUST wanted to backup my MySQL databases, would the DiskSync option work well for this? I'm not familiar with how MySQL actually stores the data but but basically would DiskSync work well to backup my MySQL databases as often as every 12 hours?

I just worry because one thing it mentions is incremental backups, but of course with MySQL the first very row in a table could be what changes...

Thanks!

A 2nd hard drive is a common means of backup, mainly because it's fast and it doesn't cost you the bandwidth to move it off-server. However, the drawbacks are:
1.) backup is on same server as primary data, so if server is hacked for example, your backups could be toasted as well
2.) backup is not off-server and off-site, so if a disaster happens, your backup as well as your data could be inaccessible. For example, if you had a server in the H1 datacenter at the end of may when the electrical explosian happened, a second hard drive would still leave your data inaccessible for the day until they restored power. If you had that backup off-server and off-site (the backup solutions are in a different datacenter than regular servers) you could grab your backup data instantly and restore it to a functioning server.
Backing up to a second drive does protect you aginast drive failure or software corruption of the data. A common stategy is to backup daily or x-times a day to a local drive and then weekly off-site (adjust safety:economy ratio depending on how large the data is and how much bandwidth you have to spare.)

Thanks Jeff - so what about my last question, with regards to the DiskSync?

I'll have to defer to someone who has a better understanding of both disksync and mysql storage. How big (ballpark) is the mysql database that you will be backing up?

I still do a mysql backups by doing a mysqldump (export) of each database and backing that up so that the data being backed up isn't in flux. The drawback is that the load can spike while doing a mysqldump backup as requests are queued waiting for the dump to complete.

Ya I sort of really would want to do full backups... just that extra security. Plus this way I could still transfer over a compressed tar...

I just worry about it hmm

DiskSync doesn't back up the active mysql database, so you'd have to go the mysqldump route Jeff suggested. If maintaining up-to-the-minute backups of the database is your primary concern, I think our best solution (though it is more expensive) is the Dedicated Backup Sever with the MySQL plugin/add-on. The DBS uses the R1Soft Continuous Data Protection Mark mentioned above.

If you're looking for additional information about our backup options, we've got a blog discussing the differences between our solutions.

I am not actually looking for up-to-the-minute.. i just want to try and figure out the best way to backup my mysql database maybe as often as every 12 hours. Does the disk sync backup count against data transfer?

the "Network backup" definitely does count towards transfer, right? But it's sort of just like a hard drive located elsewhere that could be mounted as a drive?

Unless I'm mistaken, anything except a backup server located in a private rack or with the virtual private rack option counts against your bandwidth. With the NAS you can either connect via ftp login or mount it like /mnt/nasbackup/ via samba, etc.

Is the mysql database really going to be huge enough that it will make even a tiny dent in your allocated bandwidth to back it up a couple times a day?

IMHO R1Soft is awesome, and low cost if you have a number of servers to backup, but the cost might be prohibitive if you only have one server to backup to start with.

In terms of saving bandwidth, what I don't know is if there is some way disksync would be able to backup only the changed parts of a mysqldump backup to save bandwidth if that's a concern. One alternate route 'on the cheap' may be to change the application if for example raster images are being stored in the database to store them in the file system instead. Then disksync would be able to only backup the changed blocks. Or you could simply use rsync to backup only the changed files/attachments/images.

Ya it really shouldn't make a dent.. especially when I am going to backup a compressed file...

I'm overanalyzing things

Thanks to all for your help