takes less than an hour to reinstall, so the time issue is not a major
concern. The home user will want to backup any configuration files that
have been altered, keep an archive of any files that have been
downloaded, and keep an archive of any data files created while using
any applications. Unless the home user has a special project in which
constant backups are useful, a weekly backup is probably adequate. The
home user will likely use a consumer-focused online cloud service like
Dropbox, an external hard drive, or other removable media for backups.
Small office—Many small offices tend to use the same strategy as home
users but are more likely to backup critical data daily and use manually
changed tape drives. If they have a tape drive with adequate storage, they
will likely have a full system backup as well because restoring from the
tape is quicker than reinstalling from CDs. They also might be using CD-
RW or DVD writers for backups. Although they will use scripts to
automate backups, most of it is probably done by hand. This category is
also moving to online cloud services for backup as technology is
becoming more mature and less expensive.
Small enterprise—Here is where backups begin to require higher-end
equipment, such as auto-loading tape drives with fully automated
backups. Commercial backup software usually makes an introduction at
this level, but a skillful system administrator on a budget can use one of
the basic applications discussed in this chapter. Backups are highly
structured and supervised by a dedicated system administrator. You
might have guessed that small enterprises are also moving their backups
to online cloud services.
Large enterprise—Large enterprises are the most likely candidates for
the use of expensive, proprietary, highly automated backup solutions. At
this level, data means money, lost data means lost money, and delays in
restoring data means money lost as well. These system administrators
know that backups are necessary insurance and plan accordingly. Often,
they own their own online, distributed cloud systems, with multiple
redundant data centers in geographically diverse locations.Does all this mean that enterprise-level backups are better than those done by
a home user? Not at all. The “little guy” with Ubuntu, can do just as well as
the enterprise operation by investing more time in the process. By examining
the higher-end strategies in this chapter, therefore, we can apply useful
concepts across the board.
This chapter focuses on local-level activities, not the cloud-services activities
that are based on techniques like those listed here, but combined with
networking and cloud- service-specific additional details. This chapter also