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We have some data collection machines running WinXP. After a new file is written, we would like to immediately copy the new file to network storage (a NetApp CIFS share) automagically.

We need realtime or near realtime copies generated (copy upon filehandle close would be fine -- these are not long-running system logs). Two commercial applications I've found so far are MirrorFile and IBM's Tivoli CDP. Are there any reliable open source programs or simple ways to get Shadow Copy to do something similar?

Bonus points if it runs as a service.

hurfdurf
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  • If you didn't need the data in quite realtime, rsync is the standard tool to do this. This question is similar to http://serverfault.com/questions/184677/windows-server-almost-real-time-directory-replication – Paul McMillan Oct 15 '10 at 22:25
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    Robocopy with /MON from that thread might be a better solution. I don't think the Windows version of rsync actively monitors file changes, nor does Unison. – hurfdurf Oct 15 '10 at 23:37

2 Answers2

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Off topic slightly, but might help someone else... if your data collection machines were running Windows Server and your network storage was Windows Server, you could setup a Windows Distributed Filesystem (DFS) and set it to replicate the contents between the servers automatically.

TessellatingHeckler
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We ended up going with MirrorFolder. It has tons of options, runs as a service, and requires no active login sessions for copying to occur. It has multiple options for copy-on-close, copy periodically, copy on shutdown, and others. It also allows for multiple methods of file comparison (whole file, timestamp, timestamp and size, etc.). Upon network loss, it "does the right thing" -- queues the files to copy until a network connection is re-established. It has more options than most people will ever need and has been working well for several months. A single computer license is currently $40.

hurfdurf
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