Backup with rsnapshot

prepare install from backport

If the package is only in the backport, you will have to use that: Using_a_backport

install

apt-get install rsnapshot

edit, tabs instead of spaces

This is important: USE TABS BETWEEN COLUMNS!

• use tabs where the other lines indicate they use tab, spaces will not work
• if you use vim to edit rsnapshot.conf, put the following into your .exrc

:autocmd BufRead rsnapshot.conf set noexpandtab

or use

set list
set noexpandtab

and then use "tab" instead of "space" where you see tabs (^I).

prepare ssh to other servers IF NEEDED

If you want to backup other servers, you will need to connect with ssh to them. Prepare a ssh-key without password, add the public version of it to the authorized_keys of the other system's correct user and create/modify a ~/.ssh/config which allows to ssh into the other system with a simple command like

ssh server-wiki

where user, port, identity file and ServerAliveInterval are all set in the config file already.

Example:

Host *
    ServerAliveInterval 15
    IdentityFile        ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Host server-wiki
        HostName        wwww.your-super-cool-server.com
        Port            22
        User            root

Host server-games
        HostName        games.your-super-cool-2nd-server.net
        Port            1022
        User            admin

setup

• edit /etc/rsnapshot.conf
• enable cmd_cp
• enable cmd_du

cmd_du /usr/bin/du

• enable the schedule

interval    hourly  6
interval    daily   7
interval    weekly  4
interval    monthly 3

• add directories to backup

backup  /etc/       localhost/
backup  /var/www/home/  localhost/

• add script to use to generate files which you want to backup

backup_script   /root/bin/backup_my_db localhost/dbbackup/

• create the db-backup script, in this case /root/bin/backup_my_db

#!/bin/bash
mysqldump -u<USER> -p'<PASSWORD>' --all-databases   > mysql_backup.sql

• or instead of scripting, use multiple exec commands:

backup_exec ssh server-wiki "rm -rf /var/db-dump/"
backup_exec ssh server-wiki "mkdir /var/db-dump/"
backup_exec ssh server-wiki "mysqldump -uroot -p'YourPassword' wiki_1 > /var/db-dump/mysql_backup-wiki-1.sql"
backup_exec ssh server-wiki "mysqldump -uroot -p'YourPassword' wiki_2 > /var/db-dump/mysql_backup-wiki-2.sql"
backup server-wiki:/var/db-dump/ server-wiki/

And make always sure to use tabs between columns.

cronjobs

• enable the cronjobs

0 */4 * * * /usr/bin/rsnapshot hourly
50 23 * * * /usr/bin/rsnapshot daily
40 23 * * 6 /usr/bin/rsnapshot weekly
30 23 1 * * /usr/bin/rsnapshot monthly

ssh backup of remote sites

• enable ssh at all

cmd_ssh /usr/bin/ssh

• set the parameters if you really need to, prefer ~/.ssh/config
  • there is no need to give "-F /home/backup/.ssh/config" or "-F /root/.ssh/config", it will be used automatically

ssh_args -o BatchMode=yes -p 22

• • I have mine disabled

# ssh_args 

• create an entry for the backup like

 backup  root@your-remote-host-in-config-via-ssh-key:/etc/    your-remote-host/

• install rsync at the remote host

apt-get install rsync

• make sure the remote system has the needed hostkeys

ssh-keygen -A

• give absolute full paths for "IdentityFile" in your config

check

• check the config from the shell

rsnapshot configtest

This is what I use during creation of my backup script(s):

clear;rsnapshot configtest && rsnapshot -v hourly && echo ----- && du -hcs /var/cache/rsnapshot/*

example

#################################################
# rsnapshot.conf - rsnapshot configuration file #
#################################################
#                                               #
# PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING RULE:        #
#                                               #
# This file requires tabs between elements      #
#                                               #
#################################################

#######################
# CONFIG FILE VERSION #
#######################

config_version  1.2

###########################
# SNAPSHOT ROOT DIRECTORY #
###########################

# All snapshots will be stored under this root directory.
#
# snapshot_root /var/cache/rsnapshot/
snapshot_root   /var/rsnapshot/

# If no_create_root is enabled, rsnapshot will not automatically create the
# snapshot_root directory. This is particularly useful if you are backing
# up to removable media, such as a FireWire or USB drive.
#
#no_create_root 1

#################################
# EXTERNAL PROGRAM DEPENDENCIES #
#################################

# LINUX USERS:   Be sure to uncomment "cmd_cp". This gives you extra features.
# EVERYONE ELSE: Leave "cmd_cp" commented out for compatibility.
#
# See the README file or the man page for more details.
#
cmd_cp      /bin/cp

# uncomment this to use the rm program instead of the built-in perl routine.
#
cmd_rm      /bin/rm

# rsync must be enabled for anything to work. This is the only command that
# must be enabled.
#
cmd_rsync   /usr/bin/rsync

# Uncomment this to enable remote ssh backups over rsync.
#
cmd_ssh /usr/bin/ssh

# Comment this out to disable syslog support.
#
cmd_logger  /usr/bin/logger

# Uncomment this to specify the path to "du" for disk usage checks.
# If you have an older version of "du", you may also want to check the
# "du_args" parameter below.
#
cmd_du      /usr/bin/du

# Uncomment this to specify the path to rsnapshot-diff.
#
#cmd_rsnapshot_diff /usr/bin/rsnapshot-diff

# Specify the path to a script (and any optional arguments) to run right
# before rsnapshot syncs files
#
#cmd_preexec    /path/to/preexec/script

# Specify the path to a script (and any optional arguments) to run right
# after rsnapshot syncs files
#
#cmd_postexec   /path/to/postexec/script

# Paths to lvcreate, lvremove, mount and umount commands, for use with
# Linux LVMs.
#
#linux_lvm_cmd_lvcreate /sbin/lvcreate
#linux_lvm_cmd_lvremove /sbin/lvremove
#linux_lvm_cmd_mount    /bin/mount
#linux_lvm_cmd_umount   /bin/umount

#########################################
#     BACKUP LEVELS / INTERVALS         #
# Must be unique and in ascending order #
# e.g. alpha, beta, gamma, etc.         #
#########################################

interval    hourly  6
interval    daily   7
interval    weekly  4
interval    monthly 3

#retain alpha   6
#retain beta    7
#retain gamma   4
#retain delta   3

############################################
#              GLOBAL OPTIONS              #
# All are optional, with sensible defaults #
############################################

# Verbose level, 1 through 5.
# 1     Quiet           Print fatal errors only
# 2     Default         Print errors and warnings only
# 3     Verbose         Show equivalent shell commands being executed
# 4     Extra Verbose   Show extra verbose information
# 5     Debug mode      Everything
#
verbose     2

# Same as "verbose" above, but controls the amount of data sent to the
# logfile, if one is being used. The default is 3.
# If you want the rsync output, you have to set it to 4
#
loglevel    3

# If you enable this, data will be written to the file you specify. The
# amount of data written is controlled by the "loglevel" parameter.
#
logfile /var/log/rsnapshot.log

# If enabled, rsnapshot will write a lockfile to prevent two instances
# from running simultaneously (and messing up the snapshot_root).
# If you enable this, make sure the lockfile directory is not world
# writable. Otherwise anyone can prevent the program from running.
#
lockfile    /var/run/rsnapshot.pid

# By default, rsnapshot check lockfile, check if PID is running
# and if not, consider lockfile as stale, then start
# Enabling this stop rsnapshot if PID in lockfile is not running
#
#stop_on_stale_lockfile     0

# Default rsync args. All rsync commands have at least these options set.
#
#rsync_short_args   -a
#rsync_long_args    --delete --numeric-ids --relative --delete-excluded

# ssh has no args passed by default, but you can specify some here.
#
#ssh_args   -p 22

# Default arguments for the "du" program (for disk space reporting).
# The GNU version of "du" is preferred. See the man page for more details.
# If your version of "du" doesn't support the -h flag, try -k flag instead.
#
#du_args    -csh

# If this is enabled, rsync won't span filesystem partitions within a
# backup point. This essentially passes the -x option to rsync.
# The default is 0 (off).
#
#one_fs     0

# The include and exclude parameters, if enabled, simply get passed directly
# to rsync. If you have multiple include/exclude patterns, put each one on a
# separate line. Please look up the --include and --exclude options in the
# rsync man page for more details on how to specify file name patterns.
#
#include    ???
#include    ???
#exclude    ???
#exclude    ???

# The include_file and exclude_file parameters, if enabled, simply get
# passed directly to rsync. Please look up the --include-from and
# --exclude-from options in the rsync man page for more details.
#
#include_file   /path/to/include/file
#exclude_file   /path/to/exclude/file

# If your version of rsync supports --link-dest, consider enabling this.
# This is the best way to support special files (FIFOs, etc) cross-platform.
# The default is 0 (off).
#
#link_dest  0

# When sync_first is enabled, it changes the default behaviour of rsnapshot.
# Normally, when rsnapshot is called with its lowest interval
# (i.e.: "rsnapshot alpha"), it will sync files AND rotate the lowest
# intervals. With sync_first enabled, "rsnapshot sync" handles the file sync,
# and all interval calls simply rotate files. See the man page for more
# details. The default is 0 (off).
#
#sync_first 0

# If enabled, rsnapshot will move the oldest directory for each interval
# to [interval_name].delete, then it will remove the lockfile and delete
# that directory just before it exits. The default is 0 (off).
#
#use_lazy_deletes   0

# Number of rsync re-tries. If you experience any network problems or
# network card issues that tend to cause ssh to fail with errors like
# "Corrupted MAC on input", for example, set this to a non-zero value
# to have the rsync operation re-tried.
#
#rsync_numtries 0

# LVM parameters. Used to backup with creating lvm snapshot before backup
# and removing it after. This should ensure consistency of data in some special
# cases
#
# LVM snapshot(s) size (lvcreate --size option).
#
#linux_lvm_snapshotsize 100M

# Name to be used when creating the LVM logical volume snapshot(s).
#
#linux_lvm_snapshotname rsnapshot

# Path to the LVM Volume Groups.
#
#linux_lvm_vgpath   /dev

# Mount point to use to temporarily mount the snapshot(s).
#
#linux_lvm_mountpath    /path/to/mount/lvm/snapshot/during/backup

###############################
### BACKUP POINTS / SCRIPTS ###
###############################

# LOCALHOST
backup  /home/      localhost/
backup  /etc/       localhost/
backup  /root/      localhost/
#backup /usr/local/ localhost/

#backup /var/log/rsnapshot      localhost/
#backup /etc/passwd localhost/
#backup /home/foo/My Documents/     localhost/
#backup /foo/bar/   localhost/  one_fs=1,rsync_short_args=-urltvpog
#backup_script  /usr/local/bin/backup_pgsql.sh  localhost/postgres/
# You must set linux_lvm_* parameters below before using lvm snapshots
#backup lvm://vg0/xen-home/ lvm-vg0/xen-home/

# wiki
backup  your-wiki:/etc/    server-wiki/
backup  your-wiki:/home/   server-wiki/
backup  your-wiki:/var/www/    server-wiki/
backup  your-wiki:/var/lib/mediawiki/  server-wiki/
backup_exec ssh your-wiki "rm -rf /var/db-dump/"
backup_exec ssh your-wiki "mkdir /var/db-dump/"
backup_exec ssh your-wiki "mysqldump -uroot -p'your-password' wiki_your_name_1 > /var/db-dump/mysql_backup-wiki-your-name-1.sql"
backup_exec ssh your-wiki "mysqldump -uroot -p'your-password' wiki_your_name_2 > /var/db-dump/mysql_backup-wiki-your-name-2.sql"
backup_exec ssh your-wiki "tar zchf /var/db-dump/your-name-1-images.tgz -C / var/www/wiki.your-wiki-1/images/"
backup_exec ssh your-wiki "tar zchf /var/db-dump/your-name-2-images.tgz -C / var/www/wiki.your-wiki-2/images/"
backup  your-wiki:/var/db-dump/    server-wiki/

# mail
backup  your-mail:/etc/    server-mail/
backup  your-mail:/home/   server-mail/

# EXAMPLE.COM
#backup_exec    /bin/date "+ backup of example.com started at %c"
#backup root@example.com:/home/ example.com/    +rsync_long_args=--bwlimit=16,exclude=core
#backup root@example.com:/etc/  example.com/    exclude=mtab,exclude=core
#backup_exec    ssh root@example.com "mysqldump -A > /var/db/dump/mysql.sql"
#backup root@example.com:/var/db/dump/  example.com/
#backup_exec    /bin/date "+ backup of example.com ended at %c"

# CVS.SOURCEFORGE.NET
#backup_script  /usr/local/bin/backup_rsnapshot_cvsroot.sh  rsnapshot.cvs.sourceforge.net/

# RSYNC.SAMBA.ORG
#backup rsync://rsync.samba.org/rsyncftp/   rsync.samba.org/rsyncftp/