BackupPc

Setup

• apt-get install apache2 backuppc libfile-rsyncp-perl
• add to /etc/aliases

backuppc: root

If you use a dedicated disk or partition:

• prefer reiserfs over ext3 to avoid any inode shortage problem.
• mount it with "noatime" for better performances
• If you've to move an existing setup, move /var/lib/backuppc to the dedicated partition but preserve hardlinks (use cp -a), then create /var/lib/backuppc symlink

To create/change http passwords:

 htpasswd /etc/backuppc/htpasswd backuppc

To create a new user:

htpasswd /etc/backuppc/htpasswd user

add to /etc/aliases

user: user@email.com

To prepare backuppc to access the hosts:

su - backuppc
ssh-keygen -t rsa -N 

For a full restoration from scratch, see the backuppc paragraph in HardDrives

Whenever you change the config files, be sure to have the proper permissions:

chown backuppc:www-data /etc/backuppc/*
chmod go-rwx /etc/backuppc/*pl

Apache2

ln -s /etc/backuppc/apache.conf /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/backuppc

Add a host for backup

• add it to /etc/backuppc/hosts
• create a file such as /etc/backuppc/<host>.pl with the same name and with variables from config.pl that you want to adapt for your host
• scp /var/lib/backuppc/.ssh/id_rsa.pub root@<host_to_backup>:
• on the host:
  • mv id_rsa.pub ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
  • prepend the line in authorized_keys by sth like
    from="<my_backup_server>"
    so that only the backup host can log with this key.
  • install a ssh server if not yet done
  • install rsync
• Try once as user backuppc to log as root on your host, first to accept the fingerprint, second to check if you are in without prompt for pwd

To invert tunnelling (if from behind a firewall)

• On the host:
  • ssh -R 2222:localhost:22 <backup_server>
    Make it passwordless with keys
  • To make it automated: install autossh
    Add somewhere in the startup scripts:
    su <my_local_user> -c 'autossh -N -f -M 29001 -R 2222:localhost:22 <backup_server>' &
  • Or in /etc/network/interfaces
    up su <my_local_user> -c 'autossh -N -f -M 29001 -R 2222:localhost:22 <backup_server>' &
    down su <my_local_user> -c 'killall autossh'
• On the server:
  • backuppc ~/.ssh/config:
    • Host <host_to_backup_as_said_to_backuppc>
    • ~HostName <localhost or ip_pub for vservers>
    • Port 2222

Tips

When upgrading to rsync 2.6.7 on the clients you could face some problems.
This is due to a different interpretation of the option --devices
Use -D instead for sth compatible with all rsync versions.
Change it in config.pl and other host config files: $Conf{RsyncArgs} and $Conf{RsyncRestoreArgs}
cf http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_id=10176480&forum_id=503