Yes, the Bitcoin.org Site and Forum were Down

[sirius]

An attacker could mess up the original file that is pulled by the backup servers, but I'm not too worried about that happening. Old backups can be stored for at least a week or two.

The server now makes daily backups automatically, but doesn't rsync them yet. Bzipped size about 50 MB.

[1715236020]

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[1715236020]

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[kiba]

How long will this process take?

[sirius]

How long will this process take?

Don't worry, not long

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

An attacker could mess up the original file that is pulled by the backup servers, but I'm not too worried about that happening. Old backups can be stored for at least a week or two.

Yes, but it is also easy to do automatic MD5/SHA1/SHA256 signing of every file. So this is a non-issue really.
Just add 5 more lines to backup script.

The server now makes daily backups automatically, but doesn't rsync them yet. Bzipped size about 50 MB.

Awesome. I can create a backup site myself easily.

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Also, here is the examplary RSYNC command to backup a folder of one server to another:

Code:

# rsync -rltgoDvzx root@server.1:/remote/backup/folder/path /path/to/local/backup/folder --inplace

If you want to check what will the command do, without actually executing it, add "-n" parameter, which will do a so-called DRY RUN:

Code:

# rsync -rltgoDvzx -n root@server.1:/remote/backup/folder/path /path/to/local/backup/folder --inplace

If the remote sever is on a different port than standard 22, then use this:

Code:

# rsync -rltgoDvzx -n root@server.1:/remote/backup/folder/path /path/to/local/backup/folder --inplace -e 'ssh -ax -c blowfish -p 40022'

This is also a dry run, no files will be transferred. 40022 is naturally the port number and blowfish is type of encryption used for connection (it's the fastest one for transferring files).

The "-rltgoDvzx" parameters will make rsync transfer entire directory recursively with all possible subdirectories, without files/dirs from other mounted volumes in the path.
Try # man rsync to see what all the options mean.

[sirius]

It's now making daily backups to remote servers. Thanks for help ShadowOfHarbringer.

[kiba]

Thanks for resolving this issue!

That mean that the senior develooper can redeploy to a different server with the backups, if neccesary. Right?

How many servers are serving as backup/mirror?

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

It's now making daily backups to remote servers. Thanks for help ShadowOfHarbringer.

No problem.
Are you planning to make some public site from which other people (such as myself) could download backups ?

I can setup a backup server too (and act as a mirror backup), as i rent a few servers in datacenters here and there.

You could probably setup a dedicated RSYNC server with bandwidth per user limit. There is even no need to give people SSH access actually.

[sirius]

Are you planning to make some public site from which other people (such as myself) could download backups ?

The database backups contain private stuff like password hashes (=passwords), PM's and email addresses, so we can't give them out. Only bitcoin.org admins (Satoshi, Gavin, me) have the access.

That mean that the senior develooper can redeploy to a different server with the backups, if neccesary. Right?

Yes. We'll make sure there are always backups available.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Are you planning to make some public site from which other people (such as myself) could download backups ?

The database backups contain private stuff like password hashes (=passwords), PM's and email addresses, so we can't give them out. Only bitcoin.org admins (Satoshi, Gavin, me) have the access.

Ah sure, forgot about that.
Well, there is always a possibility of cutting out all sensitive data from the database to make a public read-only forum backup (nobody will be able to login to it since it would contain no hashes, so just read-only).

But i guess that would be probably too much work.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Sirius, would you care to create a no-sensitive-data version of backups so everyone can backup it like wikileaks ?

[kiba]

So, how mirrors are backing up the forum db?

Is there a way to do a db dump of non-sensitives information?

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

So, how mirrors are backing up the forum db?

Is there a way to do a db dump of non-sensitives information?

There is a way, the question is if sirius has time or will to do it.

[kiba]

Er, how many mirrors are backing up the database?

[Gavin Andresen]

Er, how many mirrors are backing up the database?

The forum database is now being automatically compress, encrypted, and backed up to another of sirius' servers and to Amazon S3 every day (one per day, I don't delete the old backups, yet).

[Bruce Wagner]

Perhaps we should build a Forum-Backup capability into the standard bitcoin block chain..... so that a current backup of the entire forum database is embedded into the block chain.   

[fabianhjr]

And have my password hash included? No way!
EDIT: You can use google cache if it ever goes down btw.

[sirius]

Sirius, would you care to create a no-sensitive-data version of backups so everyone can backup it like wikileaks ?

Could be done, but not very high priority. We don't need Wikileaks-grade security measures yet.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Sirius, would you care to create a no-sensitive-data version of backups so everyone can backup it like wikileaks ?

Could be done, but not very high priority. We don't need Wikileaks-grade security measures yet.

Hey, nobody is in a hurry here.
I was just asking if You can do it at all.