Unison is good for synchonizing machines - I use it to sync my laptop with my desktop. It is bi-directional, unlike rsync. On Friday 03 October 2008 11:06:04 am Adam Monsen wrote: > On Thu, 2008-10-02 at 16:59 -0500, Andy Schmid wrote: > > I'm looking for some advice on backing up data on a Linux workstation. > > > > I have looked around a bit, but most software suites seem way too > > large and complex for what I need (e.x. Amanda). Does anyone know of > > a simpler solution to use for routine backups? > > If you would like to try a GUI, Simple Backup is very cool: > http://sbackup.sf.net/ > > If you prefer something on the command line, I agree with the other > posters that some type of rsync-based solution is optimal. It helps to > have a wrapper around rsync, IMHO. > > To this end, I've had equal success with rsnapshot > ( http://rsnapshot.org/ ) and rdiff-backup > ( http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/ ). Both are a little tricky to > configure at first, but after a short time looking over their decent > documentation, you'll have a consistent, efficient, reliable backup > solution. Backups are directly accessible, meaning: no need for a > special "restore" tool for the simple case of restoring the most recent > backed-up version of a file or directory. rsnapshot has one important > limitation: you cannot push backups to a remote server. The backup > server *must* have rsnapshot installed. I've also heard great things > about dirvish, but never tried it myself. > > Tips on rsnapshot: http://adammonsen.com/post/269 > > I don't have anything written up about rdiff-backup, but the > configuration is even simpler than rsnapshot. Here's how I use it: > > rdiff-backup --include-globbing-filelist /etc/to_backup \ > user at remote.backup.host::/backups/backupname > rdiff-backup --remove-older-than 60D \ > user at remote.backup.host::/backups/backupname > > These two shell commands are in /etc/cron.daily/mybackup . > > Here is the content of /etc/to_backup: > > -------------------------8<------------------------- > /etc > /home/user > - /* > ------------------------->8------------------------- > > This just backs up my homedir and /etc. I forget why the third line is > necessary, but I just remember that it definitely is necessary. :) > > Other random hints: > * I would not recommend backupninja > ( http://riseuplabs.org/backupninja/ ) ... it is naught more than an > overly complex set of shell scripts. YMMV, of course. It was > particularly frustrating to try and get it working on Fedora due to > dependencies on particular software revisions, but it worked slightly > better on Ubuntu. > > * I was very excited about DIBS > ( http://directory.fsf.org/project/DIBS/ ), but was never able to get a > decent working solution. > > * I use Ubuntu, and installing any/all of the backup software I've > mentioned in this email is a simple matter of "sudo apt-get install X" > > * If you want your backups to be encrypted, you might try duplicity > ( http://duplicity.nongnu.org/ ). I instead opted for full control of > the remote backup server, and having the backup medium fully encrypted. > > * My content to be backed up is around 50GB. It's hard to get enough > bandwidth via a home DSL or cable modem connection to come up with a > viable offsite backup solution. I would instead consider using a couple > of external USB drives and always having one offsite. A friend of mine > always had one backup drive at work, and one at home. > > * My memory is hazy, but I believe some or all of the solutions I've > mentioned require rsync to be installed on the backup server. > > * Don't forget to do test restores! > > Good luck!