Backup scheme

Our backup model is setup to have copies of everything we use, in several places, and easily restorable.

Goals

The goals we have in mind for our long-term backup system are as follows.

1. Nothing is stored only once. Everything has at least one redundancy.
2. Everything is stored in more than one location. In most cases this is exodus and somewhere else.
3. During normal (non-emergency) operation, everything is easily accessible.
4. Backups should be incremental where possible to protect against error code ID-10T. Keep working snapshots from the last hours, days, weeks, months and years.
5. Where possible, restoring from a failure should be fast. Transferring large amounts of data over a network across the world should be a last resort that never needs to happen.

Current system

The current setup (1/25/24) has the following repositories of information, backed up to the following places. None of the backups are incremental, all are mirrors synced regularly (most daily some weekly).

1. Server msgcnx
   1. msgcnxFiles- shared on the msgcnx LAN and used by local computers
      • Some folders (Teacher) are backed up to next.msgcnx.com on exodus
      • Backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/msgcnxFiles
   2. MediaWiki msgwiki
      • Database backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/databases on exodus
      • www backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/www on exodus
   3. ~/.scripts
      • Backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/scripts on exodus
   4. Moodle msgcnx- unused except as reference and source for test conversion
      • Database backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/databases on exodus
      • Data directory backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/moodledatacnx
   5. Moodle msgcgk
      • Database backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/databases on exodus
      • Data directory backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/moodledatacgk
   6. Moodle msghan
      • Database backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/databases on exodus
      • Data directory backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/moodledatahan
   7. Wordpress msgcnx.com
      • Database backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/databases on exodus
      • www backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/www/html on exodus
   8. Wordpress msghan.com
      • Database backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/databases on exodus
      • www backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/www/html on exodus
   9. Wordpress msgcgk.com
      • Database backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/databases on exodus
      • www backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/www/html on exodus
   10. Wordpress gegpak.com
       • Database not backed up
       • www backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/www/html on exodus
   11. Wordpress msgdel.com
       1. No known backup
   12. Wordpress msgdeh.com
       1. No known backup
   13. OneDrive- Gradekeeper files from CGK, VTE, HAN and CNX
       • Backed up to /media/cnx/backup_from_cnx/oneDriveBackups
       • No longer necessary as grades are on Populi now
2. Server msgvte
   1. msgvtefiles- shared on webdav.msgvte.com and used by VTE teachers
      • Backs up to /media/vte/backup_from_vte on exodus
      • Syncs to next.msgvte.com on exodus
      • Backs up to a local daily and weekly disk
   2. Wordpress msgvte.com
      • Database backed up to /media/vte/backup_from_vte/databases on exodus
      • www backed up to /media/vte/backup_from_vte/www on exodus
      • Backs up to a local daily and weekly disk
   3. Moodle msgvte
      • Database backed up to /media/vte/backup_from_vte/databases on exodus
      • Data directory backed up to /media/vte/backup_from_vte/moodledatavte
      • Backs up to a local daily and weekly disk
   4. Public_HTML_MSGVTE
      • Backed up to /media/vte/backup_from_vte on exodus
      • Backs up to a local daily and weekly disk
   5. ~/.scripts
      • Backed up to /media/vte/backup_from_vte/scripts on exodus
      • Backs up to a local daily and weekly disk
3. Server exodus
   1. /media/education/yearbook
      1. Unknown source. This is the only backup, and is currently coming from somewhere
   2. /media/education/personalBackups
      1. Backups of a personal Demoss computer
   3. /media/nextcloud
      1. Nextcloud data directory of all campuses
      2. Contains msgcgk, msgcnx, msgdeh, msgdel, msgeducation, msghan, msgvte, walt, gegpak
      3. Many campuses do not use, nor even know that this exists
      4. No known complete backups. Portions are stored elsewhere for edge access but not all.

How the current system holds up against our goals:

1. Some things are not redundant (Nextcloud data, some wordpress)
2. Everything that is backed up is backed up to an external location. Some things are still living only on exodus and couple things only on msgcnx
3. msgcnxFiles can only be fully easily accessed on the msgcnx LAN. Not a big issue, most commonly used things are on nextcloud as well.
4. The closest thing we have to any incremental backups are the daily and weekly backups on vte. Even these are full clones updated regularly, and not snapshots.
5. VTE could restore very quickly in case of a hardware fault due to immediately accessible local backups. CNX and EXO would both be in trouble and would require long distance data transfer from each other. In case of a location failure, such as robbery or natural disaster, all servers would require long distance recovery.