thoughts on setting up an emergency server

[Janina Sajka]

This is more complicated than it needs to be.

Just mirror the primary computer to the backup machine nightly. That way, the second is always ready to go with an ip
adjustment--or even without one depennding on how the ifrewall is handled.


Darrell Shandrow writes:
> From: "Darrell Shandrow" <nu7i at azboss.net>
> 
> Hi Greg,
> 
> Well, first, especially if a particular system is mission-critical, it is a
> very good idea to make a full system backup and keep that backup up to date.
> Perhaps, do a full backup once weekly, then an incremental backup each night
> thereafter.  Of course, you'll need to devise a quick method of restoring
> such a full backup in the event of an emergency.
> 
> Outside of that, well, it'd be best to just have another Linux box up and
> ready to go.  When the inevitable happens, just change the IP addresses on
> that second box as needed, and you're all set.  Of course, your second Linux
> box must be configured the same or similarly to your primary one; though it
> doesn't probably have to be nearly as powerful.
> 
> OK; hope this helps.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gregory Nowak" <greg at romuald.net.eu.org>
> To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2002 8:28 PM
> Subject: thoughts on setting up an emergency server
> 
> 
> > Hi all.
> >
> > I've been thinking of the possibility of a dark day when some piece of
> hardware should fail in my server, leaving it inoperable, and me up a creek
> without a paddle.
> >
> > I usually wouldn't have the time to setup another box to temporarily
> replace the failed one. Instead, I'd like to have things already set, so
> that I can make some minor tweaks if need be, and let a replacement run.
> >
> > I do have one more box with gnu/linux that I can configure as a server
> just in case.
> > However, doing so would mean that I would need to keep in mind that it
> should be a backup server any minute, and that I can't mess around with it
> like I could otherwise.
> >
> > What came into my head is to put zipslack/speak on a 250 meg zip disk.
> Then, should something go wrong with the main box, I can hook up my parallel
> zip drive into another box, and let it run until I was able to get the main
> box back online without being under pressure.
> >
> > I would strip zipslack to the minimum needed to run web, dns, and mail.
> >
> > The advantage would of course be that it would all be ready to go.
> > The disadvantage would be the 250 meg limit.
> >
> > I was wondering if those of you who run your own domains have prepared for
> the dark day I described.
> >
> > If so, I would appreciate it if you could please share your plan b for my
> brain to chew on and/or resynthesize to meet my needs.
> >
> > Some people may just ask why don't I take a couple of hours, install
> slackware on some other partition some where, and I'd be ready to go.
> >
> > It wouldn't be that simple, since I'd need to build software such as qmail
> from sources, and I have also pretty heavily modified my current slackware
> server's startup scripts to meet my specific needs.
> >
> > Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
> > Greg
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Speakup mailing list
> > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 
	
				Janina Sajka, Director
				Technology Research and Development
				Governmental Relations Group
				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Email: janina at afb.net		Phone: (202) 408-8175