Differential (Delta) backups for Linux?

Seems like an interesting option that could be used as part of the overall backup plan. ie. Have workstations run timeshift to backup settings/config to an NFS share when doing software updates, and periodically. Looks like it can also clone a desktop setup, so might be usefull when changing distro.


Related question for anyone, seeing as I have a box with 6 hard drives, gigabit Ethernet, and no data on it right now. What is a good simple tool for bench-marking network and drive read/write speed together? I see hard drive tools and network tools, but I’d like to try some things, like setup a ZFS pool with six drives, served over NFS, and see how fast I can copy files to and from it over the network (ideally using ram on the client so the client’s disks don’t become a factor).

Is it a good test to copy (dd) /dev/urandom from the client to a file on the server and check the transfer speed? It only shows the average when you’re done though.

That would simulate copy a large file or streaming a video (editing scenario).

What’s a good test for read/write speed on NFS for many small files?

Try https://www.phoronix-test-suite.com
No affiliation, never tested it myself (but others have!)

Interesting. It’s built in PHP. I was thinking of writing something in PHP to manage backups since it’s a language I already know. Looks like it’s in the repos too:
sudo apt install phoronix-test-suite

Does anyone know how to do a network test with Phoronix? I got it installed and tried running test #101, “Flexible I/O Tester”. But I’m not sure what it’s actually testing as it didn’t ask me what drive to test. It also seems to be giving reuslts in seconds, not Mbps.

I’d usually use dd and fio (Derp Proof FIO)

There’s also iozone and sysbench, that I know of.

what if you used git for backups…?

No good at binary diffs.

If it’s all text files, it’d do just fine tho.

dd if=/dev/sda | openssl base64 -out /save/file.txt

are you happy now?

You’re an evil, evil man.

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rdiff-backup gets to the incremental backup part, but I’m unsure about comparing a month-old backup to current.

What is a reliable way to move lvm disk images over a public network? dd wouldn’t have fault tolerance.

Is this actually good practice? dd a volume, base 64 encoded as text, then use differential backup to “commit” the changes? Do we need a checksum?!

It was a joke!!!