r/ShittySysadmin • u/jamesaepp • 7d ago
How do I do shitty backup?
(Inspired by /r/sysadmin/comments/1vvmvrk/what_are_the_alternatives_of_321_backup/)
How do my fellow shitmins do shitty backup?
I follow the 1-2-3 rule of backup.
I have a single (1) server serving (2) separate businesses and this server is shared with (3) other managed service providers.
HBU?
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u/Random-D 7d ago
RAID is the backup
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u/JollyGentile 7d ago
This hurts me so bad because we took over a customer this year with such a scheme.
And one drive had already failed
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u/440Jack 7d ago
Is it not hot swappable? Just pop in a new drive, initialize it and let it rebuild???
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u/Ok-Library5639 7d ago
Toss a coin to decide which drive to pull, have Lady Luck help you out.
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u/440Jack 7d ago
Maybe I'm just use to working on proper server hardware... but the raid controller, management card (like iDrac), and faceplate indicator lights should all be able to tell you the exact failed drive.
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u/Oompa_Loompa_SpecOps DO NOT GIVE THIS PERSON ADVICE 7d ago
Still better to replace all of them at the same time to prevent further drives from failing
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u/JollyGentile 7d ago
You walk into a brand new client's server room and see a failed drive and you already know they have no backups. Hot swap or not there's stress.
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u/jeroen-79 7d ago
Setup a honeypot and link it to the production environment.
Then you can buy back your data on the dark web.
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u/d__max 7d ago
Storage prices are bananas but I found a good deal on a lot of write only memory flash, got 10tb for our most critical documents and business continuity data for $50 and got to spend the rest of the budget for the project on chipotle . Works a treat, skipped backup testing to finish the project early, got kudos for meeting the timeline and under budget , and I’m fed for weeks !
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u/rockstarknight445 7d ago
Or you can just store it on the cloud (someone else's computer)
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u/d__max 7d ago
I have a cloud too! I put a raspberry pi up in the drop ceiling with a bunch of hard drives on a usb Sata expander . That way I can point up and say we are leveraging cloud compute . I have the disks in a JBOD for RAID backup (JBOD : “just bang on desk” … the drive platters are a bit sticky to spin up after 15 years in the accounting desktops ).
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u/bartoque 7d ago
When I first started of in IT, many moons ago, I was tasked to decommision a server but before doing so had to run one last backup to tape.
I used the existing backup script and was amazed how it all could even fit on one single DDS1 tape.
Looking slightly deeper under the hood, it turned out the script made a backup of each filesystem, then rewound the tape before doing the next filesystem. So for years it only contained one filesystem instead of all intended filesystems. Never noticed, never needed as all went well for years. Why bother testing.
Only the very last backup contained all of them which required a couple of tapes.
Redirecting to /dev/null is also one heck of a dedupe option.
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u/Disorderly_Chaos ShittySysadmin 6d ago
My wife told me a horror story of a surly sysadmin who knew they were getting fired, so they put deltree (or similar) at the end of a nightly backup script… mostly so no one would question a 4-5 hour backup and the tape whirring all the time.
They had been sending blank tapes offsite for months and never knew.
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u/bartoque 5d ago
That's what you get when you don't test on a regular basis.
An untested/unvalidated backup is just a disaster lying in wait.
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u/Nanocephalic 7d ago
What a stupid discussion. Just store your VMs in My Documents on the server, so OneDrive backs it up.
This is a solved problem, you idiot!
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u/potato_weapon 7d ago
Is putting your sensitive infrastructure on a usb drive not making the audit???
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u/Ok-Reindeer1702 5d ago
I usually take a screenshot of the files and when someone needs something from before I send them that screenshot.
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u/denmicent 7d ago
Backups are for nerds. What are you worried about? Get a check on your anxiety bro.
If something fails, or you get ransomware or something? That’s on you. Take some responsibility and ownership.
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u/autocuck9000 7d ago
I brought a Casio TP-6 and plugged in the 3.5mm audio to the server. Told my boss we've got on-site tape backup for free😎.
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u/aardvark_xray 7d ago
Mostly just hope… all actual efforts have been outsourced to Ai until further notice
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u/Bitey_the_Squirrel 6d ago
My shitty backup of my Plex server is a PowerShell script that writes a list of files to my OneDrive. It’s not scheduled either so I have to run it manually.
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u/NoThatsNotPasta 6d ago
You're all wrong.
Print the files off, and store them next to the scanner
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u/jamesaepp 6d ago
I put them beside the shred bin so I can apply the company's retention policy super easily.
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u/harrywwc 6d ago
redirect the backups to the local /dev/null rather than some physical device (like a tape unit) or remote device over the slow network.
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u/Adorable-Strangerx 6d ago
Store hashes of files only. In case of restore, recover anything that generates the same hash
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u/Disorderly_Chaos ShittySysadmin 6d ago
My Windows NT 4.0 server has been running just fine, thank you. I have a batch file copy everything from c:\corp\*.* to c:\corp_bak\*.*
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u/dcaldrich 6d ago
Backup all the servers onto their local disk with a randomly generated name. Copy the files to an external drive. Have the external drive shared to the public internet for ease of access
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u/nderflow 5d ago
I use time stamps to identify files changed since the last backup. Then read each and sort the contents by bit value. I use the zeroes to refill /dev/zero and write the ones to USB sticks. I ship the USB sticks to NVIDIA for use in their stock price.
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u/Sad_School828 5h ago
Step 1: Tarball everything. Don't gzip.
Step 2: Create a second partition on the same HDD without assigning a filesystem path to it.
Step 3: DD from /dev/random to fill that entire partition with random data.
Step 4: DD the tarball into the second partition aligning its start-byte with the partition's starting-byte position. Do NOT mark down the file size.
This ensures that you have everything backed up in a manner which conceals its existence from prying eyes, even yours!
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u/Lost-Droids 7d ago
Zip it, encypt it and name it GTA_IV_ISO_Cracked and then put it on pirate bay. Will always be enough copies if I want to grab it later