Member Avatar for ITPT

I want a software that can give a back up of any client computer, from my server
is there ? what software?
and I want a software that I know any change in client PC OS (or HardWare changes !!!),by each client user
I want to see this changes in my server
please help
thank you for your help

Edited by ITPT
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A concise, practical approach for a Linux server that must (a) back up Windows clients and (b) report OS/hardware changes per client.

Use three components: a Linux-hosted Active Directory–compatible domain (so Windows machines can be centrally managed), a client/server backup system that supports file and image backups from Windows clients to a Linux server (with compression/deduplication), and an inventory/CMDB that records hardware + software snapshots and shows diffs over time. (wiki.samba.org)

Implementation sketch (minimal steps)

  • Provision Samba 4 as an AD-style domain controller on the Linux box and join the Windows clients to that domain so you can push policies and installers. (wiki.samba.org)
  • Install a server-side backup product on Linux and the matching Windows agent on each client; configure file and periodic image backups with compression and retention on your HDD storage. Automate agent deployment with Group Policy or the inventory tool’s deployment mechanism. ()
  • Run an inventory agent (or a small scheduled script) on each Windows client that captures hardware and OS information and posts the snapshot back to the central inventory/GLPI interface; use the inventory tool to show change history and trigger alerts when attributes differ. (ocsinventory-ng.org)

Lightweight inventory example (PowerShell)

  • Run as a scheduled task on clients; write JSON to a shared location or POST to an HTTPS endpoint.
    $sys = Get-CimInstance Win32_ComputerSystem
$bios = Get-CimInstance Win32_BIOS
$cpu = Get-CimInstance Win32_Processor | Select-Object -First 1
$report = [PSCustomObject]@{
Host = $sys.Name; Vendor = $sys.Manufacturer; Model = $sys.Model;
Serial = $bios.SerialNumber; CPU = $cpu.Name; Collected = (Get-Date).ToString("o")
}
$report | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 4 | Out-File C:\Temp\hw-inventory.json -Encoding UTF8

    (Use Get-CimInstance / CIM cmdlets rather than legacy WMI for modern PowerShell; secure credentials and transport before sending.) (learn.microsoft.com)

Notes and best practices

  • Test restores regularly (a backup is only useful if you can restore).
  • Keep an off-site copy or replica and define retention/quotas so the HDD doesn’t fill.
  • If you need enterprise features or vendor support, consider full-featured open-source backup suites as an alternative. (bareos.com)

This ties together the incremental/central ideas mentioned earlier by and the custom detection suggestion from while keeping an AD-like user/device management layer for your Windows clients as asked by .

Recommended Answers

All 9 Replies

Member Avatar for Hiroshe

You'll probably need to implement your own mechanism for looking at hardware changes.

You'll want to look at various incrmental backup solutions, or implement your own. Are you storing the backups on an hdd? A tape? Optical disks? Do you need encryption? Compression?

Member Avatar for mike_2000_17

There are quite a few pieces of software that can do that.

Own nice option is to just use rsync. This software is easy to automate (e.g., bash script / cron job), and provides many useful options and features. It's an incremental backup tool, meaning that each time (e.g., each night / week) you do the rsync'ing between the client and server, it compares the file-systems (files, file-sizes, folders, etc.) to find any discrepancies between them, and then it transfers only the data needed to bring them back in sync. There are also options for security (ssh), compression, etc. This is my go-to utility for backups. You can also do dry-runs (with the --dry-run option) to simply process the file-systems to know what has changed, without actually performing the sync'ing operation.

For full image backups, you can also use dd over a network, but that's not incremental, meaning that it will require a lot of bandwidth.

Another option is to rely on some journaling file-system for your clients, or better yet, on a copy-on-write file-system such at btrfs. With a file-system like that, the incremental changes made to the partition are recorded as an integral part of the file-system, with options to move back and forth in time and send the diffs over networks. Btrfs is essentially the Unix/Linux equivalent of Apple's Time Machine/Capsule.

If you want to check for changes in the hardware of your clients, you should be able to pick that up on standard pseudo-files (like the /proc or /var). You can also check for differences in installed software by using the package management logs, or other system logs. You might have to write some simple scripts and parsers if you want to automate those tasks, but that's what a system administrator is paid for, after all, isn't it?

Member Avatar for vps9.net

Can you please be more specific with your question.

Member Avatar for ITPT

Hi again
thank you @mik 2000 17 :)
for changes in clients mmmmmm.... in windows server we have directory service or in the other words we have active directory.
in short
I want somthing like it

Edited by ITPT
Member Avatar for HITMANOF44th

how about FOG ?

Member Avatar for JeoSaurus

ITPT: Check out R1Soft (Idera Server Backup) or Crashplan. I don't know of any one piece of software that will do backups AND notify you of hardware changes on the client side, but if you want incremental or continuous backups scheduled from a central server, R1Soft is a good choice. It's cross-platform too, so you can use it on Windows or Linux.

Member Avatar for ITPT

Hi again thank you for your help
1)

how about FOG ?


what is FOG and why u think it can be a solution for my problem?(for backup)
2)
I want a directory sevice but i have a problem:
my sever is linux base and my client is windows bace!

3)

Are you storing the backups on an hdd? A tape? Optical disks? Do you need encryption? Compression?


I can stor the bachups on hdd
and I don't need encryption but compression is necessary

Member Avatar for Hiroshe

If you want to back up files, you can always use Tars incremental backup system and stream it though xz. (see info tar and info xz)

Member Avatar for Viola71

Need to back up virtual machines, databases and email servers on-premises or offsite? AhsayOBM (Ahsay Online Backup Manager) is the client-side backup application that you need!

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