Re: using a NetBSD host as an iSCSI target for OSX (time machine) (or other mechanisms)

[Andy Ruhl <acruhl%gmail.com@localhost>]

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 4:08 AM, Teemu Rinta-aho 
<teemu%rinta-aho.org@localhost> wrote:
> I would love to TM to network volumes also. However, all these
> "instructions" point out this:
>
> "On the Terminal, type âdefaults write com.apple.systempreferences 
> TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1â.
> This is the crucial thing"
>
> Well, to *me* it is crucial that I only back up to something that
> is officially _supported_ by Apple. Otherwise the whole point of
> using TM is wasted, I think, if there is a seed of uncertainty on the back
> of your mind whether it works 100% or just 99%. I don't want
> to play games with the backup system. And I don't want to lose the
> rights to blame Apple if something goes wrong! :-)
>
> So, I use only USB and Firewire disks at the moment. Maybe I
> try netatalk package when it gets updated to these new AFP
> commands required by TM.
>
> The short answer to the original question is that you can use USB/FW
> disks, Time Capsule or Mac Server. Everything else is not guaranteed
> to work, yet.

I'm not meaning to make this into an Apple discussion, but I have some
interest in this topic as well.

I tried to set up a network volume for my OSX 10.5 box to back up to,
but Time Machine would not find it. I guess that this is the reason:
(from the above FreeBSD link):

On the Terminal, type âdefaults write com.apple.systempreferences
TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1â. This is the crucial thing.

When I get time, I will try this. I have a fancy network storage
device (NAS?) that claims to support Time Machine through appletalk (I
think), but it claims to only do it with OSX 10.6, and I don't have
that. I assume they possibly relaxed some requirement for the Time
Machine volume in 10.6 or something?

Which is how it should be because backing up to a local USB or
firewire disk is not exactly a great idea when it comes to business
critical stuff... But then again, Apple doesn't seem like they care
about business critical stuff as far as I can tell. Time Machine is
really cool until you lose the storage disk, and at that point you're
wishing you used some networked backup solution.

Andy