Box Backup is an open source UNIX backup system that operates automatically online.
Box Backup is a fantastic backup system for UNIX that is completely free to use. One of the key features of this software is that all backed-up data is stored on the server in files on a filesystem. This means that no tape or archive devices are used. Additionally, the server is trusted only to make files available when they are required, and all data is encrypted to ensure optimal security.
To use the software, you simply need to run a backup daemon on the systems that you want to back-up. This daemon will automatically copy encrypted data to the server when it notices changes, and only changes within files are sent to the server. Thus, it operates much like rsync.
Old versions of files on the server are stored as changes from the current version. This behavior is similar to that of tape, and old versions and deleted files can still be accessed.
Furthermore, there are several backup behaviors to choose from, optimized for document or server backup. Best of all, Box Backup is designed to be easy and cheap to run a server. It is a portable implementation, and RAID has been implemented in userland for reliability without complex server setup or expensive hardware.
In the latest release of Box Backup, there have been several key improvements. The diffing algorithm has been highly optimized for speed, and several bugs have been fixed. Solaris support has also been added, and portability improvements have been made, including a new autoconf based build.
Xattrs are now supported on Linux and Darwin, which allows for the backing up of resource forks under Mac OS X. Finally, there are several experimental features included in this release, including keep-alive on long diffing operations, saving state for non-server use, a native Win32 port, and support for MinGW and MSVC under Win32.
To use the software, you simply need to run a backup daemon on the systems that you want to back-up. This daemon will automatically copy encrypted data to the server when it notices changes, and only changes within files are sent to the server. Thus, it operates much like rsync.
Old versions of files on the server are stored as changes from the current version. This behavior is similar to that of tape, and old versions and deleted files can still be accessed.
Furthermore, there are several backup behaviors to choose from, optimized for document or server backup. Best of all, Box Backup is designed to be easy and cheap to run a server. It is a portable implementation, and RAID has been implemented in userland for reliability without complex server setup or expensive hardware.
In the latest release of Box Backup, there have been several key improvements. The diffing algorithm has been highly optimized for speed, and several bugs have been fixed. Solaris support has also been added, and portability improvements have been made, including a new autoconf based build.
Xattrs are now supported on Linux and Darwin, which allows for the backing up of resource forks under Mac OS X. Finally, there are several experimental features included in this release, including keep-alive on long diffing operations, saving state for non-server use, a native Win32 port, and support for MinGW and MSVC under Win32.
What's New
Version 0.10: N/A