[Web4lib] Library Web - Backup Plan and Server Setup

[Micah Stevens]

You might check out VMWare's offerings. The virtual machine provides the 
services and actual hardware behind the scenes can be 
added/removed/broken as the case may be and it will not affect the 
virtual system. It's a great idea, although I have only minimal 
experience with it at this point. I just ordered a license for the VMX 
server.

www.vmware.com

You can setup apache to auto-failover too and cluster the database 
server. (MySQL will cluster, not sure what you're using for Drupal)

Backup wise, any sort of clustering solution combined with a RAID system 
for your disks should manage your risk reasonably for the local data, 
but a remote backup would be smart as well. This can be set up via a 
cron job, but it's a failsafe, and is not quick to restore without some 
sort of automation in place. I've used AMANDA for tape backups over a 
network, or you can just  set up a restore script if need be in the file 
system.

I hope that helps somewhat, I know it's pretty general.
-Micah

On 02/07/2007 10:34 AM, Jonathan Blackburn wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> (**please excuse the cross-posting**)
>
> I am looking for help on coming up with the most optimal "configuration" of
> server hardware for our library.
>
> I work as the Web Librarian for a University Library, wher we are currently
> re-evaluating the backup plan for our webservers.
>
> This (primarily) includes 2 LAMP machines:
>
> 1. One hosting our main website, which is powered by the open-source CMS
> Drupal
>
> 2. An "auxilary" webserver (still in its infancy), which hosts important but
> slightly-less "mission critical" functions like our Libraries' blogging
> platform (WPMU).
>
> Any possible hardware limitations have yet to be decided, but we have at
> least 2 new machines (yet to be installed) to work with right now . . .
>
> Our desired set-up would support:
>
> 1. Frequent backups (daily - best practices here welcomed?)
>
> 2. Failover with "minimal intervention" - We are specifically worried about
> nights and weekends when there may not be staff immediately available to
> troubleshoot problems.
>
> 3. Convenient method for copying over changes from development environment
> to production - These include software upgrades and settings changes that
> may require restart and/or possible downtime.
>
> As you may have guessed, load balancing is much less of an issue, though I
> would certainly not ignore any performance improvement tips you chose to
> offer.  
>
> Any thoughts?  I am very interested in how others of you have set up your
> servers to promote optimum redundancy and active development.
>
> We have some ideas ourselves, but I am intentionally "casting the net wide"
> to see what others of you out there have done.
>
> Thanks,
> Jon 
>
>
> Jonathan Blackburn
> AIM/E-mail: jblackbu at mailer.fsu.edu
>
>
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