Rebuilding Our DIRTIEST Server - Remote Backup Server Build Log
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Check out kiwico.com for 50% off your first month of any crate! For the last two or so years, our main editing server Whonnock has had no remote backup, meaning in the event of a natural disaster, it's very possible we could lose all of our data. Today, we fix that problem, rebuilding the most disgusting server we've ever owned into a remote backup solution. Discuss on the forum: linustechtips.com ► GET MERCH: lttstore.com ► AFFILIATES, SPONSORS & REFERRALS: lmg.gg ► PODCAST GEAR: lmg.gg ► SUPPORT US ON FLOATPLANE: floatplane.com FOLLOW US ELSEWHERE --------------------------------------------------- Twitter: twitter.com Facebook: @LinusTech Instagram: @linustech TikTok: @linustech Twitch: twitch.tv MUSIC CREDIT --------------------------------------------------- Intro: Laszlo - Supernova Video Link: youtube.com iTunes Download Link: itunes.apple.com Artist Link: soundcloud.com Outro: Approaching Nirvana - Sugar High Video Link: youtube.com Listen on Spotify: spoti.fi Artist Link: youtube.com Intro animation by MBarek Abdelwassaa @mbarek_abdel Monitor And Keyboard by vadimmihalkevich / CC BY 4.0 geni.us Mechanical RGB Keyboard by BigBrotherECE / CC BY 4.0 geni.us Mouse Gamer free Model By Oscar Creativo / CC BY 4.0 geni.us
Rebuilding Our DIRTIEST Server documents the process of transforming a long neglected, dust-covered server into a functional remote backup solution. The video opens with the team's candid reaction to the state of Auntie Dale, the aging backup hardware, which has sat unused and filthy next to the main Whonnock storage server. They acknowledge the risk of having no offsite backup for critical data and outline the plan to salvage what they can from the old hardware while integrating it into a robust, remote backup workflow. The crew discusses the weighing of power efficiency versus practicality, given the historical power consumption of the machine and the data center hosting, and they commit to cleaning and refurbishing the hardware rather than discarding it. Through the build, the team emphasizes the goal of achieving a concrete 3-2-1 backup strategy, ensuring the offsite copy is resilient against disasters, and preparing the system to automatically handle backups without heavy manual intervention. The segment then shifts to the hardware teardown and reconstruction: dust removal, reseating components, adding modern drives, and upgrading firmware and IPMI, all while maintaining the signature LTT humor and camaraderie. By the middle portion, they configure Unraid as the primary storage platform and demonstrate the parity and drive health checks, highlighting the system's capacity to protect data with redundancy and simple expansion. In the later stages, the team explains the rsnapshot-based backup workflow, illustrating how snapshots reduce storage usage via de-duplication and hard linking, and how hourly backups can be retained with a structured retention policy. The video concludes with a demonstration of a test backup scenario, showing real-time transfer speeds over a gigabit link and confirming that the offsite backup is ready to support Whonnock data. They reflect on the significance of achieving a reliable offsite backup for the first time in years, reinforce the value of automation, and tease future Whonnock updates and related content, all while acknowledging sponsor KiwiCo and the ongoing LTT community engagement.
Topics · technology · data-storage · server-hardware · backup-strategies · hardware-refurbishment · diy-build · cloud-and-network-storage · software-tools
Questions answered
- What is the main objective of rebuilding Auntie Dale into the remote backup server?
- The goal is to create a reliable offsite backup for Whonnock data using a 3-2-1 backup strategy, with automated backups via rsnapshot to reduce the risk of data loss.
- What software architecture drives the offsite backups in this build?
- Unraid provides the local storage backbone, and rsnapshot, based on rsync, handles automated snapshots with deduplication and a defined retention policy.
- How does the video describe parity protection in Unraid?
- Unraid stores parity information on dedicated drives, enabling protection against data loss if up to two drives fail in the array.
- What are the hardware considerations and goals discussed for this refurb project?
- They balance practicality and power usage, refurbish dusty hardware, install modern drives, update firmware, and plan for scalable storage that can expand as needed.