Brand New Software Mysql Snapshots On Freebsd
Admin wrote:
I read a lot about MySQL backups using LVM Snapshots on Linux, WAFL Snapshots on NetApp and more recently ZFS Snapshots. But did you know you can do the same under FreeBSD?
FreeBSD has had snapshot capability since around 2001 allowing administrators to take a frozen 
image of a filesystem at a given instant in time with minimal impact on the server / filesystem. So how does this help with MySQL Backups?
If like me you have loads of space on your database volume and often find yourself making frequent risky modifications to your databases, a snapshot can save you loads of time and headaches by creating a point in time marker that you can fallback on if needed.
Snapshots provide the following benefits:
- Efficient - Only as blocks in the active filesystem are modified and written to new locations on disk does the snapshot begin to consume extra space.
- Fast - It takes about 30 seconds to create a snapshot of an 8Gb filesystem. Of that time 25 seconds is spent in preparation; filesystem activity is only suspended for the final 5 seconds of that period.
- Reliable - FreeBSD ensures that no disk write activity can take place during the setup of the snapshot (typically less than a second). The result is a consistent replica.
If you are running MySQL on FreeBSD, snapshots can certainly help improve your backup strategy. So how do you get started?
Well if you head over to the Wiki you’ll find a detailed guide to creating your first snapshot, but before you click that link there is another new FreeBSD feature that you may not be aware of - Security Event Auditing.
Protecting your data requires more than just regular backups and the security auditing feature in FreeBSD 6.2+ can help assist with the logging of activity on your MySQL server.
Based on Sun’s published Basic Security Module (BSM), the de facto industry standard for auditing, FreeBSD Security Event Auditing provides reliable, fine-grained, and configurable logging of a variety of security-relevant system events, including logins, configuration changes, and file and network access. These log records can be invaluable for live system monitoring, intrusion detection, and postmortem analysis.
At the moment the stable release of FreeBSD will require a Kernel compile to enable audit capability, but future releases should have audit enabled in the generic kernel. You never know by the time FreeBSD 7.0 is available I may have figured out a way to audit MySQL logins using auditd. 
If your feeling brave you can download the latest monthly snapshot of the upcoming FreeBSD 7.0 release and put auditing to the test.
Right - I’m off to get a working NetUnit jar ready for the end of the week - I hope
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