Skip to Main Content
Linux in a Windows World
book

Linux in a Windows World

by Roderick W Smith
February 2005
Beginner content levelBeginner
496 pages
16h 10m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Linux in a Windows World

Backing Up with Samba

One of the conceptually simplest network backup tools is Samba, the network file and printer sharing program described in Part II. Using Samba enables you to back up Windows computers using either client- or server-initiated backup procedures. You can also perform client-initiated backups of Linux and other non-Windows computers using Samba, although server-initiated backups of Linux systems are tedious when done with Samba.

Before proceeding further, you should understand the basic features and uses of Samba backups. These determine the advantages and disadvantages of using Samba as part of the backup picture. This chapter also presents two basic Samba backup scenarios: using a backup share for client-initiated backups and using smbtar for server-initiated backups.

Tip

The following pages presuppose at least some familiarity with Samba basics. If you know little about Samba, you should read Part II or at least Chapter 3 and Chapter 4.

Pluses and Minuses of Samba Backups

Samba is a Linux implementation of the SMB/CIFS protocol—the default file-sharing protocol for Windows. Although Samba is frequently considered a server package, it includes client tools. Thus, Samba can be used as part of either a client-initiated (using Samba server tools) or a server-initiated (using Samba client tools) network backup design.

SMB/CIFS supports common Windows filesystem metadata, but it provides limited support for Unix-style ownership, permissions, and other metadata. Thus, ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

Ubuntu Made Easy

Ubuntu Made Easy

Rickford Grant, Phil Bull
Ubuntu for Non-Geeks, 4th Edition

Ubuntu for Non-Geeks, 4th Edition

Rickford Grant, Phil Bull
Fedora Bible 2010 Edition: Featuring Fedora Linux 12

Fedora Bible 2010 Edition: Featuring Fedora Linux 12

Christopher Negus, Eric Foster-Johnson
Linux: Powerful Server Administration

Linux: Powerful Server Administration

Uday Sawant, Oliver Pelz, Jonathan Hobson, William Leemans

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596007582