Mac Mini Server - Mirrored RAID vs. Time Machine

[talmy]

As many people have said in this thread, don't back up you server with TimeMachine.

 

[romeyn]

Time Machine runs a pre-backup process (ServerBackup) on Snow Leopard Server which backs up lots of server stuff, including Open Directory. You'll find the results of that process in:

/Volumes/<time machine>/Backups.backupdb/<hostname>/Latest/Server HD/.ServerBackups

There is a man page for ServerBackup (case sensitive).

A.

I found this thread because I just accidentally deleted a Computer Group in WGM and figured restoring OD from Time Machine would be easier than re-creating that group from scratch.

But how?

I found the OD backup sparseimage in the folder mentioned above and copied it out to the desktop. I then used Server Manager--Open Directory-->Archive to back up OD as-is (just in case) and then chose to restore from the archive I had dragged from the desktop. I was given the option to MERGE that data into the OD current state, which I did.

My group is back as if nothing had happened. So I'm not sure what all the anti-Time Machine sentiment is about, but it seems to do exactly what I expected it to: save my butt when I've been stupid.

 

[talmy]

So I'm not sure what all the anti-Time Machine sentiment is about, but it seems to do exactly what I expected it to: save my butt when I've been stupid.

TimeMachine won't back up everything, and the documentation isn't clear exactly what is and isn't backed up. And you can't boot from a time machine backup. Having an image backup gets you up and running faster when everything has gone belly up. My OD changes very infrequently so I just do a manual backup. There have been times when I have needed to boot from the clone drive and had to restore OD from the backup, so I know it all works.

 

[michaelbyfield]

Hi thanks for your comments, I'm not sure what all the negative press is about either.

I have 1 MacMini server serving eight windows laptops and two mac book pro's.

A software RAID system backing up the server. The server is also backed up to my Macbook Pro via Chronosync, and then both the MacBooks are backed up to a 1TB time machine.

The only thing that isn't quite right is the Time machine front end on the server, apart from that, all the files are backed up right up to date.. Seems like a minor niggle, and I haven't quite got something right rather than a serious problem?

 

[talmy]

The only thing that isn't quite right is the Time machine front end on the server, apart from that, all the files are backed up right up to date.. Seems like a minor niggle, and I haven't quite got something right rather than a serious problem?

You will never know how quite right things are until you attempt to do a restore. Some things to attempt:

1. Ability to completely restore system as well as boot from an external backup.

2. Ability to restore Open Directory

3. Ability to restore other databases such as address book and calendar.

4. Ability to restore files on shares

5. Ability to restore files in user folders

6. Ability to restore web pages

If TimeMachine is working strangely, how do you know you can do a restore?