Month: August 2011

Improving the backup systems…

D'Arque Bishop

One of the most important things you can do with your computers is to make sure that the data is backed up. I’ve been rather anal about it over the past several years; I’ve seen enough hard drives go belly-up that I don’t trust their reliability, and if a drive goes without any redundancy, the data is lost. However, over the past year or two, I’ve been rather concerned about a particular flaw in my own backup systems here.

My main server uses AMANDA to back up its data. When I first bought the machine that would become my main server, it had an HP DDS3 12/24 GB tape drive installed. I managed to acquire a set of DDS3 tapes, researched tape backup software (and eventually settled on AMANDA), and got a system up and running. It ran pretty well for several years, but a while ago, I came to a bit of a realization: I was storing the tapes right next to the server. If anything happened that would knock out the server, there’s also a chance the tapes would be affected. That wouldn’t be good. In addition, when I’m on vacation, I can’t ask people housesitting to change the tapes for me. In other words, there are going to be points where backups would not get done. That definitely needed to change.

Fortunately, I had been doing some research, and the latest versions of AMANDA supported using “virtual tapes” on a hard drive. A friend of mine had a spare hard disk he was no longer using and donated to the cause (thanks Mike!), so I installed it in the server, upgraded AMANDA, and set up the virtual tapes on the new hard drive. It took a couple of false starts, but eventually I got the backups working properly. That solved the problem of swapping tapes.

Of course, the fact that the hard drive with the backups is on the same server as the actual data doesn’t solve the backup location problem. :-) Fortunately, a friend of mine out of state was willing to let me mirror the data on his own server. I just wrote a replication script, and once that was in place, the AMANDA data and virtual tapes got copied over to his server every morning. The only downfall I had there was that I had originally used rdist to handle replication, and rdist will not copy files larger than 2 GB. I ended up switching over to rsync for that.

Of course, the other system I need to back up regularly is my main desktop PC. Until sometime this year, I used Microsoft’s SyncToy to back up my most important data on it (namely, my media collection) to a network location. However, while at MicroCenter a few months back, I saw that they were selling docks for internal hard drives. The dock plugs into your PC via either USB or eSATA (SATA for external drives), and you take an internal SATA hard drive and plug it into the dock like a video game cartridge. I bought a dock and plugged it into my PC using eSATA. I then took a spare 320 GB hard drive I had laying about, and put it in the dock. From there, I set Windows Backup to backup my data to the drive. It was simple and effective, really.

However, once I got the server’s offsite backups done, I realized I pretty much should do the same with my main PC. I resolved then to just take the backup drive to work and leave it there during the work week. However, as I said before, I tend to be anal. In this case, I wouldn’t want the data on that drive to be accessible to people at the office. I’m not saying I don’t trust my coworkers, mind you. :-) However, it’s my nature to make sure all avenues are closed. So, I decided to put a TrueCrypt file container on the drive big enough to take up all of the disk space, and put the backup in there.

However, I encountered two problems. The first was the fact that due to the nature of how Windows 7 does backups, if I moved the backup, all of the previous file versions would be lost. I really didn’t need the previous versions anyway, so I figured “what the hell” and blew away the backup to start fresh. The second problem was the one that really irked me: Windows Backup does not recognize TrueCrypt volumes mounted as drives as legitimate backup locations. After brainstorming for a bit, I finally decided to share the TrueCrypt volume over the network, and told Windows Backup to connect to it that way. Once I did that, backups were running fine…

… or they would have been, had I remembered that one of the directories being backed up had a 200 GB VHD file in it that I didn’t really need backing up. Oops.

Once that was taken care of, though, the backup worked perfectly. I’ll be taking the drive to the office with me tomorrow morning, and it’ll stay there until the next backup needs to be run.

All in all, though, I’m happy. My data is being backed up, and in both cases it’s being stored off-site where if anything happens to the original machines, the data itself will be safe elsewhere. I realize many will consider what I did going a little overboard, but then I’m an IT geek. That’s kind of what I do. :-) It’s good practice, and I highly recommend everyone make sure they backup their data… even if it’s just to an external hard drive. :-)

Refocusing on exercise, and finally learning a basic skill.

D'Arque Bishop3 Comments

Well, it appears that I’ve gotten lax with my exercising.

I had set an exercise routine for myself in lieu of going to the gym. What I used to do was wake up early in the morning, and spend a half-hour on the elliptical in my home office. While it was regular exercise, there were a couple of disadvantages. The first was that I wasn’t watching what I was eating, and so I’d be caught snacking, having desserts, and eating generally fattening foods. It didn’t help that I wasn’t drinking as much water as I should. The second was that the amount of time I was spending on the elliptical wasn’t coming anywhere near to what I did when I went to the gym, and I was missing out on weight training to boot.

The final straw came when I realized I needed to buy new pants, and that I needed to go a size higher on club shirts. Something needed to be done.

This week, I’ve started on a new regiment. I’ve cut out most snacks and desserts. Desserts will be relegated to a single splurge night a week. I’ve also started drinking far more water than I did before. I’ve also been eating less red meat. As far as exercise goes, I’m going to the gym four times a week. My routine consists of sixty minutes on a stationary bike (set to random hill), weight training on specific body areas (three sets of twelve reps on each machine), and abdominal crunches (three sets of twenty). I’m hoping the combination of more exercise plus a slightly better diet will help me shed some weight before the wedding date. I don’t want to look too fat for the pictures. :-)

I’m also hoping that another thing I’m doing will help in getting the weight down. One thing I’ve never been very open about (unless I absolutely had to) was the fact that I couldn’t swim. Rather, I could fake it a little, but attempts to formally teach me as a child never went anywhere. I couldn’t tread water, and I definitely didn’t feel comfortable trying to swim. Let’s not even talk about how I’d react when in the deep end of a pool…

The problem with that is that Jennifer LOVES the water, and would live in it full-time if she could. As a result, I don’t feel like I can properly join in when she does things like go to the pool, because I’m not that comfortable with it. It’ll get worse as time goes on, as she loves to do things like snorkeling, and I’d simply not be able to take part.

It’s not fair, so I’ve decided to do something about it. I’m taking swimming lessons twice a week.

We found the place I go to, The Aquatic Academy, through our friend Julie. We had gone there for water aerobics, and the teacher gave me a few pointers on swimming while I was there. I was impressed enough where I’ve been going back for proper lessons. So far I can now tread water (though I’m out of shape enough where I can’t keep it up for long), actually do breast strokes and front crawls, and can swim underwater. I’ve even been able to open my eyes underwater. That’s huge, because the last time I tried was when I last had lessons in my childhood, the water burned and stung my eyes so badly I’ve associated having my eyes open underwater with pain ever since. I’ve been happy with my progress, as has Jennifer.

I think I’ll be learning how to dive at the next lesson. That’s one skill that I’ve always been envious of others for, because as fun as it looks, in the past I would have panicked being in the deep end of the pool. As for now, well… I’m definitely looking forward to it, though it remains to be seen how I’ll react in the deep end. We’ll see, I suppose. :-)

In the end, though, even if I wasn’t doing well at learning, it’s not a lost cause. It’s extra exercise for me, and it’s definitely getting me more used to being in the water. I’m definitely hoping I’ll get to the point where I can do all the same water things Jennifer likes to do… and maybe by that point, I’ll be slimmed down and in better shape where I can enjoy it to its fullest. :-)

Two years and counting.

D'Arque Bishop

It’s hard to believe it’s been two years. On one hand, it seems like a long time. On the other hand, it seems like we’ve always known each other.

A lot has happened in those two years. We’ve been on numerous vacations together, especially to places I never thought I would go visit like New Orleans, Colorado, and Disney World. We’ve been to places and events that I normally would not, like Pac-Man Fever Fridays at Joystix, concerts like Depeche Mode, and plays/musicals in the theatre district. I even moved in with her over a year ago.

To top it off, we’re getting married in a couple of months. Wow.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything, either. It’s amazing how in sync we are, to the point where on more than one occasion we’ve been known to speak simultaneously or come up with the same ideas independently. It’s also great how much she puts up with my geekiness; my home office now is a testament to it, with gaming and sci-fi posters and memorabilia scattered all over the place. :-)

To celebrate our anniversary, we went back to where we had our first date: BJ’s in Pearland. Afterwards, we stopped by a redbox to pick up Source Code; after trading anniversary cards at home, we watched the movie. :-)

Happy anniversary, honey. Here’s hoping the next fifty or so years are as fun as the first two. :-)