[geeks] Linux tape backup help

[Dr. Robert Pasken 300a]

Phil Stracchino wrote:
>> On Fri, 15 Jan 2010, Dr. Robert Pasken 300a wrote (in a message I never received):
>>
>>     
>>> Bacula is NOT a solution to much of anything. My brother works with
>>> Bacula and he fights with it daily. It is overly complex to the level of
>>> bloatware.  IF and ONLY IF you are working with a large company with
>>> 10's of thousands of unix work stations, multiple maxed M9000 servers
>>> and multiple SL3000's tape libraries bacula  would provide a FOSS
>>> alternative to pay software, but even then I would think 30 times before
>>> trying bacula
>>>       
>
> I have to say that if your brother is having that much trouble with it,
> and he's NOT using a huge installation with multiple Catalogs and
> Directors, then he's doing it wrong.  I've been using it since 2001, and
> unless you're trying to push the bleeding edge or use problematic
> features like writing DVDs directly[1], once set up correctly It Just Works.
>
>
> [1]  A feature which is technically present in the code, but unsupported
> and strongly discouraged because it's very difficult to make it work
> reliably.  The recommended method of backing up to DVD with Bacula is to
> set up Bacula to write DVD-sized volumes on disk, then call an external
> script to burn them to DVD as a separate operation.
>
>   
No just 10 desktops (mixed solaris and linux) and a DL-380 server with a 
LTO attached. Just getting to work reliably without a LOT of hand 
holding is problematic