Barracuda Backup through agent

[Hugo_vd_Kooij]

Just a short note on something I tested in my lab.

Barracuda has a backup appliance that uses a rather small agent on Linux. So I thought why not give a go and see what happens if you install the agent on a R80.10 SmartCenter.

Well it actually works like charm.

It may break at some point or TAC will be upset if I open a ticket and they spot the critter. But I can run a local backup daily and then get a full backup of my SmartCenter to the Backup Appliance.

I can browse for all the backup sets I want to:

Wether or not a backup agent will actually work on a SmartCenter propably depends a bit on the features. But the smaller and selfcontained the agent is the better your chances are.

[Vladimir]

Hugo,

Thank you for this post!

I have a client that is looking into alternative backup methods for their MDS.

Conceptual question: What is the downside of using VM snapshots/backups for SMC or MDS?

I am hesitant to recommend those, since I am not sure what the discrepancy in time of the server after recovery with that of the gateways will result in (i.e. will it affect SIC integrity, for instance).

On the other hand, Checkpoint snapshots should theoretically be subject to the same issues, yet those are supported.

I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on this subject.

[Hugo_vd_Kooij]

Personally I have never done snapshots. Colleagues who tested them with MDS were not enthousiasts.

GAIA config export is easy (show configuration).

For backup purposes I stick with the export tools most of the times.

I know MDS will be something you have to approach with caution. as it usually means that if you mess up you mess things up for a large number of gateways.

But I have no real recommendations for you. Someone else want to add theirs?

[Maarten_Sjouw]

When you want to make snapshot of a MDS you need to make sure to run a MDSSTOP before you do so.

This is the drawback of taking snapshots of the MDS, then it works just fine.