From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 4 07:14:16 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1712B16A4DA for ; Mon, 4 Sep 2006 07:14:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from howie@thingy.com) Received: from mail.thingy.com (wotsit.thingy.com [212.21.100.67]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 4E21743D46 for ; Mon, 4 Sep 2006 07:14:14 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from howie@thingy.com) Received: (qmail 60270 invoked by uid 0); 4 Sep 2006 07:14:13 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO ?10.0.0.15?) (212.46.145.36) by wotsit3.thingy.com with SMTP; 4 Sep 2006 07:14:13 -0000 In-Reply-To: <20060904043500.GA8617@thought.org> References: <20060904043500.GA8617@thought.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v752.2) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Howard Jones Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2006 08:13:57 +0100 To: Gary Kline X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.752.2) Cc: FreeBSD Mailing List Subject: Re: time to come clean... . X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2006 07:14:16 -0000 On 4 Sep 2006, at 05:35, Gary Kline wrote: > > How can I automate the backup via rsync to other servers? If what you want is a backup to the disk on a remote system (rather than a tape drive or whatever), then have a look at rdiff-backup: http://www.howtoforge.com/linux_rdiff_backup It uses the rsync protocol for sending only changed blocks, but saves the sent data to one side as well to make a 'transaction log'. You end up with a full copy of the current data (as you would with rsync) and a command to construct any previous version by applying the changes in reverse as necessary. I run this on a couple of dozen machines, mostly freebsd, with no problems. For things like web servers and DNS, the increments are pretty much that day's logs, so it is quite effective at saving space/bandwidth. The actual software is in ports (sysutils/rdiff-backup, I think). It also has the benefit that no special actions are needed to restore a single file - you just grab what you want. Even if you don't fancy the software, the article also has the info you need to get a reasonably safe root SSH (limited by IP, and the command that can be run, AND the public key) going with public key authentication, which will help for rsync as well. Howie