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Linux backup: The Complete Documentation

• This category contains 12 Papers
• The last paper was added on 2007-03-26 (YYYY-MM-DD)

Automate backups on Linux

Published on 2004-07-08, by Carlos Justiniano, ©IBM.

The loss of critical data can prove devastating. Still, millions of professionals ignore backing up their data. While individual reasons vary, one of the most common explanations is that performing routine backups can be a real chore. Because machines excel at mundane and repetitive tasks, the key to reducing the inherent drudgery and the natural human tendency for procrastination, is to automate the backup process. If you use Linux, you already have access to extremely powerful tools for creating custom backup solutions. The solutions in this article can help you perform simple to more advanced and secure network backups using open source tools that are part of nearly every Linux distribution.

Backing up your Linux desktop with rsync

Published on 2004-09-21, by Brice Burgess, ©Open Source Technology Group, Inc..

This article explain how to use rsync to backup your computer to a drive attached to your system. You can use a removable drive, such as an external USB hard drive, so that you can store the backups in a safe place away from your working environment. First, make sure you have rsync by entering rsync --version at the command line. If you see rsync version 2.X.X protocol version X, you have it. If you see "command not found" or a similar message, you need to download and install rsync. Use your distribution's package management system to do this, or else download and install the source from the rsync Web site. Make sure your version is greater than 2.6.0.

Backup-With-MSDOS mini-HOWTO

Published on 1997-08-05, by Christopher Neufeld, ©Christopher Neufeld.

This HOWTO describes how to use a Linux-compatible tape drive installed on an MS-DOS machine to back up the filesystem of a Linux machine.

Build a Home Terabyte Backup System Using Linux

Published on 2005-11-29, by Duncan Napier, ©SSC Publications, Inc..

A terabyte-plus backup and storage system is now an affordable option for Linux™ users. This article discusses options for building and configuring an inexpensive, expandable, Linux-based backup server.

Easy Automated Snapshot-Style Backups with Linux and Rsync

Published on 2004-01-04, by Mike Rubel, ©Mike Rubel.

This document describes a method for generating automatic rotating "snapshot"-style backups on a Unix-based system, with specific examples drawn from the author's GNU/Linux experience. Snapshot backups are a feature of some high-end industrial file servers; they create the illusion of multiple, full backups per day without the space or processing overhead. All of the snapshots are read-only, and are accessible directly by users as special system directories. It is often possible to store several hours, days, and even weeks' worth of snapshots with slightly more than 2x storage. This method, while not as space-efficient as some of the proprietary technologies (which, using special copy-on-write filesystems, can operate on slightly more than 1x storage), makes use of only standard file utilities and the common rsync program, which is installed by default on most Linux distributions. Properly configured, the method can also protect against hard disk failure, root compromises, or even back up a network of heterogeneous desktops automatically.

How to regularly backup Windows XP to Ubuntu, using rsync

Published on 2007-02-10, by Justin, ©Justin.

Back in September I revived my MiniITX box to serve as a backup server. I set up BackupPC, ran it once, it seemed to work, and then ignored it for weeks. When I checked back, it hadn’t run successfully since. Ugh, I want backups to just work!

A few nights ago I decided to try again, this time dropping the constraint of not installing software on my laptop. Turns out I already had the building block I needed: rsync, installed in the form of Cygwin.

I began with these Rsync for Windows instructions, and everything went smoothly until the very end—rsync on Windows wasn’t connecting to rsync on Ubuntu. My gut told me rsync’s port 873 isn’t open on Ubuntu, but I had no idea how to open ports anymore. Luckily I found How to start rsync daemon at boot in the Ubuntu forums which told me exactly what I needed to know.

Introduction to Backing Up and Restoring Data

Published on 2002-02-16, by Jennifer Vesperman, ©Jennifer Vesperman.

This article provides an overview for backing up and restoring data, independent of operating system or system architecture. In this article, the author explores backup techniques as well as planning backups.

Linux Backups mini-FAQ

Published on 2000-10-07, by Karsten M. Self, Karsten M. Self.

Following are my general recommendations for system backups, with a strong focus toward an individual workstation or small network with relatively informal practices. I run Debian GNU/Linux, there will be some variants of file locations for other Linux distributions or proprietary Unices. Larger networks or server farms should probably look into a more structured system.

Linux Complete Backup and Recovery HOWTO

Published on 2004-04-29, by Charles Curley, ©Charles Curley.

Imagine your disk drive has just become a very expensive hockey puck. Imagine you have had a fire, and your computer case now looks like something Salvador Dalĩ would like to paint. Now what? Total restore, sometimes called bare metal recovery, is the process of rebuilding a computer after a catastrophic failure. In order to make a total restoration, you must have complete backups, not only of your file system, but of partition information and other data. This HOWTO is a step-by-step tutorial on how to back up a Linux computer so as to be able to make a bare metal recovery, and how to make that bare metal recovery. It includes some related scripts.

Open-Source Backups Using Amanda

Published on 2004-08-19, by Phil Moses, ©Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc..

This well tested network backup tool depends on standard tools such as dump, cron and GNU tar. Find out how to set up regular backups for your whole network.

Remote backup using ssh, tar and cron

Published on 2004-05-20, by madadmin, ©Mad Penguin.

Are you looking for a solution to backup your data to a remote location? While a solid backup solution such as Arkeia or TSM from IBM are nice from an enterprise point of view, simpler solutions are available from a home user's perspective. I will walk you through on you how you can backup your data to a remote server, using the default tools available on all linux systems. In a nutshell, we will use ssh capabilities to allow a cron job to transfer a tarball from you local machine to a remote machine. For the purpose of this tutorial, the local machine will be called "localmachine" (running slackware) and the remote server will be called "remoteserver" (slackware as well). The user will be joe (me). You will have to substitute those 3 with your own machines names and user.

Windows-to-Linux roadmap: Part 8. Backup and recovery

Published on 2003-11-11, by Chris Walden, ©IBM developerWorks.

IBM e-business architect Chris Walden is your guide through a nine-part developerWorks series on moving your operational skills from a Windows to a Linux environment. In this part, we take stock of what is on the system, and plan and implement regular backups with an eye to recovery as well as security. Linux is a stable and reliable environment. But any computing system can have unforeseen events, such as hardware failures. Having a reliable backup of critical configuration information and data is part of any responsible administration plan. There is a wide variety of approaches to doing backups in Linux. Techniques range from very simple script-driven methods to elaborate commercial software. Backups can be done to remote network devices, tape drives, and other removable media. Backups can be file-based or drive-image based. There are many options available and you can mix and match your techniques to design the perfect backup plan for your circumstances.