4 ms·

> ZFS is a file system, and has serious limitation when used as a backup tool. But it's definitely the best as it knows everything that happened on the filesys

> ZFS is a file system, and has serious limitation when used as a backup tool. But it's definitely the best as it knows everything that happened on the filesystem unlike any other tools that require entire scanning of the repo directories on every run. You can read how zfs performs better than a rsync run. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/12/rsync-net-zfs-replication-to-the-cloud-is-finally-here-and-its-fast/?amp=1 https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/12/rsync... Also, you can even take database backup as a file system snapshot which is far easier than any other database backup which isn't always simple. > basically self host your ZFS system, which is costly and error prone How is this so? Just run Ubuntu, install zfs userland and it works or just use rsync.net (not affiliated but can't find a better service that accepts zfs send). Don't try on RH based distro as its support is pretty bad on zfs.

aborsy 5y ago
I run ZFS on my systems including with Ubuntu (the support has recently come out of experimental, in Ubuntu 22.04, and it’s pretty good with Zsys). It’s a superb file system, but to use ZFS send, you need: a RAID server (ideally with ECC RAM), and another mirror in a different place for replication. So, two TrueNAS servers, for instance. It costs in hardware and electricity, and sysadmin maintenance time. Restic and Borg are portable. You can send to, and recover from, any cloud provider for cheap. There is rsync.net for ZFS, it requires minimum 1TB and it’s still more expensive than alternatives (because they have to assign to you RAM and some CPU too). If you have a ZFS backup system, use that. Ordinary people might be better off with a tool that works with any cloud storage.
- mekster 5y ago
  Just to get started, all you need is a 2GB Ubuntu instance that is $10/mo or pick rsync.net with zfs capability which gives you 1TB for $25/mo. If you want easy fast backup, even hobbyist shouldn't overlook zfs. Besides, Borg doesn't work with any cloud providers but only can go against ssh servers. You can also use Hetzner than rsync.net for this.

aborsy 5y ago

I run ZFS on my systems including with Ubuntu (the support has recently come out of experimental, in Ubuntu 22.04, and it’s pretty good with Zsys). It’s a superb file system, but to use ZFS send, you need: a RAID server (ideally with ECC RAM), and another mirror in a different place for replication. So, two TrueNAS servers, for instance. It costs in hardware and electricity, and sysadmin maintenance time. Restic and Borg are portable. You can send to, and recover from, any cloud provider for cheap. There is rsync.net for ZFS, it requires minimum 1TB and it’s still more expensive than alternatives (because they have to assign to you RAM and some CPU too). If you have a ZFS backup system, use that. Ordinary people might be better off with a tool that works with any cloud storage.

mekster 5y ago
Just to get started, all you need is a 2GB Ubuntu instance that is $10/mo or pick rsync.net with zfs capability which gives you 1TB for $25/mo. If you want easy fast backup, even hobbyist shouldn't overlook zfs. Besides, Borg doesn't work with any cloud providers but only can go against ssh servers. You can also use Hetzner than rsync.net for this.