Backup is absolutely necessary. If you think you don’t need backup, wait till a calamity hits and you lose all your data. It might be utter redundancy, but we all just need it. There are several tools for easy backup, and I’ve listed some awesome backup tools for your Linux system. And some of these will also work on Mac and Windows as well.
Fwbackups
This one is probably the easiest of all backup solutions for Linux. It is user friendly, and you can do scheduled and recurring backups using this utility. You can backup both remotely and locally in various formats. It is easy to install, backup, and restore- certainly recommended!
Bacula
This one is an enterprise ready solution for a Linux system. But since it is enterprise ready, it is not made for dummies. It has many features that are not present in other backup solutions, like console, director, storage, file, monitor and catalog. Granted that it’s not the easiest, but it is definitely the most powerful. If it’s power you seek, Bacula is meant for you.
Mondorescue
Take one disaster recovery tool and add some cool features and what do you get? Mondorescue- it can backup to almost any medium: tape, CD/DVD, and hard disk etc. Plus it supports RAID, LVM ½, XFS, JFS, and VFAT among others.
Rsync
Judging by popularity, Rsync is the hottest tool for Linux backup. You can get incremental backups- both locally as well as remotely. It allows you to update your entire directory tree with it, while preserving the permissions, ownerships, privileges, and links. You can also use ssh, rsh, or direct sockets. Rsync is basically command line operated, but you can get front ends for it.
Amanda
This tool allows a Linux administrator to setup a backup server to backup multiple hosts. It is flexible, reliable, and robust. It makes use of native Linux dump to help the backup process. Amanda has different applications for client and server.
Arkeia
This one is a well-known tool in the backup market. If you have enough cash with you, and you want the best enterprise level backup system for your Linux system, you should certainly try Arkeia. And in case you’re wondering what the price is- it starts off at $1300. Its price should give you an idea that these guys are serious. Though Arkeia says that it’s meant for small and middle level businesses, I think it’s perfect for large organizations as well.
Box Backup
This one is quite different than the others. It is not only completely automatic, but it also makes use of encryption techniques to make sure your backups are secure. It runs both server and client daemons. Connections are secure, since Box Backup authenticates clients using SSL certificates. Though it is command line based, but you can use it easily. It has configured data directories and any new data that is found after scanning is uploaded to the designated server. It has three components that you have to install: backup server daemon (bbstored), client daemon (bbackupd), and restore and query tool (bbackupquery).
