Backup Solutions for Small Tech Companies?

Brushfireb asks: "This has been hit on before, but given the cheap cost of hard drives, larger capacities and speed increases in possible storage (USB2, FIOS, etc) we though that an update would be really helpful. Here's the scenario: We are a small tech company and we have an assortment of workstations (Macs, Linux and Windows desktops), and servers (Web, Database, File, e-Mail, DNS, etc) that run on different Linux distributions. What advice or recommendations do Slashdot readers have for our needs that: won't break the bank; won't force us to take our servers down for an extended period of time (our servers must run 24/7); are reliable; and are easily to maintain. What are some typical mistakes that small tech companies make when it comes to backing up? What software and hardware do Slashdot readers use to accomplish these tasks in similar situations?"

Netbackup vs. scripts

[anonymo]

If you have money enough then Netbackup is a very nice solution: version handling, user-restore, fine-grain authentication of systems and users. User friendly interface, Scales excellent. There are modules for databases and different OS-es.
Not cheap at all. When the database dies, it's very difficult to revive it. I suggest having a stand-in copy just in case.

I tested about 10 more or less freeware programs like Amanda, afbackup, Arkeia etc. - and idn't liked any of them.
Basically I use 2 scripts on systems not on Netbackup:
1) 2-week cycle: Total bup on friday, incremental on weekdays, none on Sat-, Sundays. Local tape streamer or scp to another machine with large disk capacity and tape it from that one.
No user interaction, only sysadmin access. Two tapes or tape sets for week one and for week 2 or disk directory A and B.
90% of restore is within 2 weeks. Perfect for smaller, developer systems.
I use ufsdump, dump and/or gnu tar depending on OS and tasks. Written i shell script

2) Monthly cycle: Total bup once a month, incremental backup is a backup of all of the data that has changed since the last total backup weekly and daily incrementals from the nearest backup.
I use GNU tar with labeling, plain text listing files for search for versions via grep. Several shell scripts in crontab and an demand. Wheel users and sysadmin access only.
Data is stored for several months. Typical use smaller servers.

My most important advice: nobody get fired having a working backup!
So time after time evaluate you backups!
You must be sure that you can do Bare Metall Recovery at any time!
Live CDs are nice to have at hand!

Again: nobody will be fired having a working backup! If your boss thinks that you spent too much time on restore-practice tell him that in case you have not enough security to do a BMR will he write it down that this is on his account...

cross platform and free

[compwizrd]

http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]

Amanda

[Noksagt]

If you have knowledgable IT, Amanda [amanda.org] is nice--it will let you spend money on a nice tape changer and media, rather than expensive backup software that is often flakier than Amanda. If you don't have knowledgable IT, I'd actually say the next-best would be to out-source the backups.