What are my options for new backup server?

Hi there.

My main server is an Odroid HC2 (with a 14TB Hard drive), running OMV5.

I realised that I needed a backup server and put together the following, with parts that I had lying around:

ATX Xigmatec Tower Case

MSI mATX board with i3-2105

2x4GB Ram

400w Antec PSU

Storage: 6TB HDD, 2TB HDD, 2TB HDD, 500GB HDD

OS: Running off a 16GB USB Stick (OMV5)

I have currently set the server up, so it wakes up to do backups (with the RSnapshot plugin) and then go back to sleep again.

My current issues with this are as follows:

1. Size - The Xigmatec case is huge and I do not really have the room for it.

2. Power

I wanted the backup server to use as little power as possible as very little changes on a daily basis, as far as the main server goes.

I did not want to leave the server on all the time as this would be a waste of electricity.

I then experimented with hibernating but then realised that this is going to really hit the wears on my USB stick.

I settled on suspend to RAM but then realised that, firstly, this does not save as much power as I perhaps would have liked. Secondly, every time the server wakes up, it has to spin up four hard drives in any event, which is using power.

Ultimately, in light of the above, I realised that the obvious way forward is to just buy something ARM-based and get rid of the x86 system altogether.

What options are there out there can deal with 4 HDDS of storage? I stumbled across a device called the Helios4, which seemed perfect, but have noted that they are no longer producing it.

Thanks guys.

I hope I am not overlapping too much with a prior thread

Beitrag

RE: Automatically waking server for RSnapshot backups and then sending it back to sleep again

For shutting down my Linux computer I use a simple script like that (will also work in OMV):
(Quelltext, 5 Zeilen)

It checks every 15 minutes if there is a process called rsync, lftp or dd running. If not then shutdown a computer.
It has to be run as root or sudo ./scriptname.sh (will ask for password).

Obviously name or processes listed above and time (15 mins) can be edited for your needs.

greg77

26. Januar 2022

but where is the wakealarm plugin? - I cannot seem to find it.

One thing that did occur to me was the amount of data that I am actually backing up - I had a look and it looks like only 1TB (most of the rest is recorded TV which is not worth backing up).

I am now wondering whether my single 6TB hard drive would suffice for backups. I could instead buy another HC2 - or perhaps an HC4 (i.e. stick in the 6TB hard drive and one of the 2TB),

I suppose it all boils down to whether an ARM device is really going to save me much electricity here - i.e. my back up server rarely changes much, so will probably only be on for 10 minutes per night.

It might be worth sticking with my current server but use a 60GB for the OS - that way, I can put the system in hibernation mode.

Brilliant - I have just had one of those lightbulb moments.

Part of the reason I was confused was because I literally had no idea that a PC could wake itself up from having been shutdown - I though it could only do that from hibernate.

I tried the above command and it worked perfectly - shutdown my PC and got it to wake up ten minutes later.

As discussed on my earlier thread, if RSnapshot automatically runs at 2am, I just need to ensure that the server is awake a few minutes before.

Just a few further questions if that is OK:

1. I found the wake alarm option, as mentioned, within the Autoshutdown plugin (sorry - I though it was a separate plugin).

If I set a wake up alarm via this method, is there any difference between this and the code method above (or are they exactly the same)?

2. I did some messing around and realised that the BIOS itself can have the PC wake at a certain time (which could also be just before 2am). What are the differences and pros/cons of using this method rather than via the OS?

3. I was worried about using a USB stick for my server as I thought it would have to go to hibernation each time and thus put lots of unnecessary writes to the stick.

As I am now going to shutting my PC down, instead of hibernating, is this no longer an issue?