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Page 1 / 34






Backup using OpenSource utilities
Daniel Steiner . Consultant . 24. Oct. 2008

1 Preface
This document presents an overview of the available Open Source backup softwares. It will show several
possibilities and alternative, in order to give you a feeling about the power of these Open Source solutions.

If you search for backup software on http://www.sourceforge.net, you get more than 700 results. This
demonstrates the large range of Open Source software for backup and recover purposes. The scope of this
document will of course be reduced and focuses on the most interesting softwares.

Most OpenSource backup utilities are based on Linux / Unix standard tools like tar, cpio, bzip2, gzip, ssh, rsync,
mt and mtx. Therefore an easy installation is always possible, indeed all these tools are part of Linux
distributions or other UNIX derivatives. This document describes only a few, but very useful applications.

The range of software varies between Enterprise level and very simple software applications. The chapter,
Software list, presents some important Open Source backup projects. From this list, We picked a few
applications to describe them more in deep:

BackupPC: Network backup server, which writes the backups to disk only

Bacula: Network backup server, which can handle tapes and tape
libraries

Monderescue: Disaster recovery tool, which can create directly bootable
medias

SystemRescueCD: Bootable CD, which contains a lot of tools for backup and
recover procedures

Installserver based recovery: It's also possible to restore using an installation system

Trivadis backup module: Perl script which collects partition, LVM and software raid
information and creates a partimage or compressed tar archive

rdiff-backup: Mirror application based on rsync

rsnapshot: Mirror application based on rsync




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2 Software list
2.1 Data backup
Below a not complete list of OpenSource backup utilities. Yellow marked tools are presented in this document:

Software Web URL Notes
BackupPC: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/info.html
Amanda: http://amanda.zmanda.com/
Bacula: http://www.bacula.org/
Cedar Backup: http://cedar-backup.sourceforge.net/
Cobian Backup: http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm Windows only! Delphi
rsnapshot: http://www.rsnapshot.org/
rdiff-backup: http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/
snapbackup: http://snapbackup.com/
lbackup: http://connect.homeunix.com/lbackup/doku.php?id=overview
synbak: http://www.initzero.it/products/opensource/synbak/
Restore: http://restore-backup.com/

2.2 Cloning or disaster:
Also not complete list of cloning or disaster OpenSource software:

Software Web URL Notes
CDBkup: http://cdbkup.sourceforge.net/
partimage: http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page
SysrescuCD: http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page
Clonezilla: http://clonezilla.sourceforge.net/
CloneIt: http://www.ferzkopp.net/joomla/content/view/12/14/
FOG (Freee Ghost): http://freeghost.no-ip.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Mondoarchive: http://www.mondorescue.org/, ftp://ftp.mondorescue.org/
snapbackup: http://snapbackup.com/

2.3 Network mirroring software
To mirror over network or locally. This list also not complete, shows only Open Source software:

Software Web URL Notes
Unison: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/index.html
Dirvish: http://www.dirvish.org/
rsync: http://www.samba.org/rsync/


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3 Backup scenarios
To understand which backup application can be used for which requirement, a short presentation of the
different backup scenarios are shown in this chapter. The backup differs a lot depending on the requirements of
the service level agreements. Sometimes, it's enough to backup user and application data only. But, if the
availability of a service must be guaranteed, a short restore time is required also for the operating system
(Recovery Time Objective).

3.1 Data backups
Only user, OS configuration and application data is saved. This backups can be done periodically (scheduled).

3.2 Operating system backups
All operating system relevant data, like boot parameters or kernel relevant setting, are part of this backup type.
Those backups can be part of data backups, so you also can schedule them.


Picture 2: Operating system backups
Picture 1: Data backups

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3.3 Data restores
Data restore means, the Operating system has already been restored. If the backup contains operating system
data, it can only be restored, after the operating system itself has been restored using disaster recovery software,
see next chapter.

3.4 Operating system or disaster recoveries
If you have to recover a crashed server, for example loss of all data on operating system disk or hardware
damage, you will have to follow this scenario. The procedure to recover such a server is usually divided in
several steps:

1. If needed, installation of new hardware
2. Installation of a mini operating system
3. Recovering of operating system relevant data
4. Recovering of user and application data

Pict
ure 3: Data restores
Pi
cture 4: Operating system or disaster recoveries

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4 BackupPC


BackupPC is a high-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up Linux, Windows PC's and laptops to a
server's disk. BackupPC is highly configurable and easy to install and maintain. It can be used for daily, weekly
or monthly periodic backups.

Because the costs of disks and raid systems, it is now practical and cost effective to backup servers directly onto
local storage on a backup server. But, if you want to save your data for a long time, you should plan to backup
these data to tapes. BackupPC provides you a very reliable, flexible backup solution, if you don't need to
backup the data on tapes. If you need to backup the saved data on tape you have a lot of choices, if you want to
use OpenSource software.


Category Data backups
Tools used rsync, samba, ssh, nfs or tar
Gui Web based (Apache / perl)
Requirements Apache, Perl, rsnyc, samba, tar, gzip, bzip2, ...
Schedule able Yes, internal
Configuration /etc/BackupPC, or Webgui

Picture 5: BackupPC, exemplary

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4.1 Features
A powerful web (HTTP/CGI) user interface allows administrators to view log files, configuration, current
status and allows users to initiate and cancel backups, browse and restore files from backups
Different backup mechanism are available (tar, scp, rsync, ...)
Incremental backups possible
A clever pooling scheme minimizes disk storage and disk I/O. Identical files across multiple backups of
the same or different PCs are stored only once resulting in substantial savings in disk storage and disk
I/O
Optional compression support further reducing disk storage. Since only new files (not already pooled)
need to be compressed, there is only a modest impact on CPU time
Supports mobile environments where laptops are only intermittently connected to the network and have
dynamic IP addresses (DHCP)
Flexible configuration parameters allow multiple backups to be performed in parallel, specification of
which shares to backup, which directories to backup or not backup, various schedules for full and
incremental backups, schedules for email reminders to users and so on. Configuration parameters can
be set system-wide or also on a per-PC basis
Users are sent periodic email reminders if their PC has not recently been backed up. Email content,
timing and policies are configurable
Tested on Linux, Freenix and Solaris hosts and Linux, Win95, Win98, Win2000, WinXP clients.
Detailed documentation

4.2 Advantages
No client-side software is needed. The standard smb protocol is used to extract backup data on
Windows clients. On Linux clients, tar over ssh/rsh/nfs is used to backup the data.
Easy to use web interface
Good backup status informations in the web interface
A full set of restore options is supported, including direct restore (via smbclient, tar, or rsync/rsyncd) or
downloading a zip or tar file

4.3 Disadvantages
No tape backup is possible
Setup of UNIX clients needs UNIX and SSH knowledge
Backup storage cannot be on different file systems, because of using hard links
Uses quite a lot of CPU resources (rsync)

4.4 Backup
Usually backups are executed in specified time slots, but, if a server was not reachable for a longer time period,
the backup is started immediately after BackupPC recognizes the client in the network. Using BackupPC, you do
not schedule the backup at a specified time, you can define a time slot, when the backup should be usually
done. Following variables control the backup time slots:

$Conf{WakeupSchedule}: In which time period should be the backup started? Can be defined generally
or by individual clients.
$Conf{BlackoutPeriods}: What time of day without a normal backup. Normally defined generally, but
you can define this also for individual clients.



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Status of backups can be reviewed in the web interface:



It's also possible to start backups manually in the web interface. Just select the client and click on the
corresponding backup button (Start Incr Backup or Start Full Backup), see Picture 7 next.


Picture 6: Overview of backups in BackupPC webinterface

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4.5 Recovery
The restore is also quite easy, like the backup. Everything can be done in the web interface.

Select date of the backup to restore, just click on the Backup# link to select it:

Select data (files and folders) to restore:

Pi
cture 7: Available backup for restore in BackupPC webinterface
Picture 8: Select files and folder to restore in BackupPC

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Restore it:


For example a resulting Tar archive looks like this, tar tf ...:
tar tf restore.gtar
./apache2/
./apache2/conf.d/
./apache2/conf.d/inst_server.conf.in

Picture 9: Restore options in BackupPC

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5 Bacula

Bacula provides the system administrator with a robust, well documented and seriously maintained backup
solution comparable to enterprise backup frameworks. The backup catalog is stored in a Database. Bacula is a
set of programs which allow the system administrator to manage backup, recover, and verify backup sets across
a network of computers of different kinds. Bacula can also run entirely upon a single computer and can backup
to various types of media, including tape and disk.
In technical terms, it is a network Client/Server based backup program. Bacula is quite easy to use and efficient.
For instance by offering many advanced storage management features that make it easy to find and recover lost
or damaged files. Due to its modular design, Bacula is scalable from small single computer systems to systems
composed of hundreds of computers located over a large network.

Category Data backups
Tools used Programm Language C++
Gui QT4 Gui, console based Gui
Requirements MySQL or Postgress DB, mtx for librarys
Schedule able Internal scheduler for automatic and simultaneous job execution
Configuration Internal configuration files


Picture 10: Bacula, exemplary

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5.1 Features
A central server and catalog with distributed backup
All components communicate via the network and are deployed separately.
Internal scheduler for automatic and simultaneous job execution with priorities.
Interactive restore of one or more files from:
current backup
prior backup of time and date
list of files/directories to restore
restore by JobId
...
Simple administration with consoles (command line, GUI, and web)
Labeled Volumes, to prevent accidental overwriting
Support for ANSI / IBM labels
Machine independent Volume data format - extensible
Support for Unicode on Win32; UTF-8 on Unix
Python interpreter for user event (job start, end, ...) scripting
Rescue CDROM for bare metal recovery.
Hardware Features
Backups can span multiple volumes
Multiple backups (jobs, clients, OSes) per volume
Supports most tape drives with configurable Device resources
Support for multiple drive autochangers (libraries)
Supports tape barcode readers
Extensive Pool and Volume library management
Rapid restoration of individual files (one user reported 4 to 6
hours with tar and 3 to 4 minutes with Bacula!)
Security Features
Daemon authorization with CRAM-MD5
Director and Storage daemon can be run non-root
MD5, SHA1, ... signatures for each file
CRC checksum for each Volume block
Restricted consoles and tray-monitors
Communications (TLS) encryption
Data (PKI) encryption
Tripwire like intrusion detection (Verify)

5.2 Advantages
very good support of platforms, operating systems and hardware
functionality comparable to enterprise backup solutions
robust
easy to use
excellent documentation
no license costs

5.3 Disadvantages
initial configuration not easy
5.4 Backup
scheduler for automatic and simultaneous job execution

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5.5 Recovery
fast recovery possible through the GUI and informations from the catalog

For more detailed information about Bacula, please consult the Bacula documentation of Roman Gchter on
http://www.trivadis.com/de/know-how-community/download-area.html

Picture 11: Bacula scheduler in action

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6 Mondorescue

Mondorescue is a disaster recovery solution. It supports Linux (i386, x86_64, ia64) and FreeBSD (i386). It's
packaged for multiple distributions (RedHat, RHEL, SuSE, SLES, Mandriva, Debian, Gentoo).

It supports tapes, disks, network and CD/DVD as backup media, multiple filesystems, LVM, software and
hardware Raid.

Category Baremetal backups (Disaster)
Tools used mkisofs, cdrecord, syslinux, gzip, bzip2, ...
Gui ncurses based gui (command line)
Requirements CD writing tools, syslinux, mindi, gzip, bzip2, ...
Schedule able Yes, via cron
Configuration none


Picture 12: Mondorescue, exemplary

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6.1 Features
Automatic system rescue backup through crontab
The images can be created directly on running servers
The backup can be written directly to CD, DVD, local disk or network drive
Created boot image uses the same kernel as the original system, so you shouldn't have problems with
drivers
Interactive restore mode, this is very useful for restores on different systems
Multiple Linux distributions supported

6.2 Advantages
Very easy to handle backup procedure
Could be used to clone servers
Differential backups are possible

6.3 Disadvantages
Sometimes, it does not properly restore without using interactive mode, if you have complex disk
configuration like LVM or software RAID setups
Not all messages a are coherent
Restore is not that simple like a backup

6.4 Backup
To backup, you can choose between two possibilities:

1. Interactive backup with a ncurses based gui (only in console!)
2. Command line, you must enter all needed options as parameters in the command line!

Very important: To make sure, the restore is working fine, you must test it, a wrong backup parameter can
make the restore unusable!

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6.4.1 ............................................................................................................................ Inter
active backup
For an interactive backup, just type mondoarchive:

Backup command, mondoarchive ...:
mondoarchive
Initializing...
See /var/log/mondoarchive.log for details of backup run.
Checking sanity of your Linux distribution
/sbin/mkfs.vfat
Filesystem 1048576-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/sda1 90036 4577 80886 6% /
Done.
Execution run ended; result=1
Type 'less /var/log/mondoarchive.log' to see the output log

Following steps and questions will occur during interactive backup:

Welcome screen, choose the media for the backup:

Where to store the ISO image?

Which compression level?

What's the maximum size of DVD or CDROM?

What name prefix for the backup archive?

What's should be included in backup?

What should be excluded from backup?

Should the written data be verified?

Picture 13: Mondorescue backup media options

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Execution?

Floppy disk creation always fails, but you can disable the creation using -F option?

Backup finished!


Picture 14: Mondorescue, catalog Picture 15: Mondorescue, boot and data disk
Picture 16: Mondorescue, filesystem backup Picture 17: Mondorescue, filesystem backup
progress

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6.4.2 ............................................................................................................................ Non
interactive backup
To start the non interactive backup, you must only execute one command. Depending the options you have
given, the backup will be done direct to CDROM, DVD, NFS share or local disk. mondoarchive creates in all
cases a bootable Disk, which can be booted for restore action. For further details about using mondoarchive,
please refer to the manual pages.

Backup command, mondoarchive ...:
mondoarchive -O -p ubuntu-t61 -i -N -E /backup -d /backup/ -s 4000m -F -G -l GRUB
Initializing...
See /var/log/mondoarchive.log for details of backup run.
Checking sanity of your Linux distribution
Disk /dev/dm-0 doesn't contain a valid partition table
Disk /dev/dm-1 doesn't contain a valid partition table
Disk /dev/dm-2 doesn't contain a valid partition table
Disk /dev/dm-3 doesn't contain a valid partition table
Disk /dev/dm-4 doesn't contain a valid partition table
Disk /dev/dm-5 doesn't contain a valid partition table
Disk /dev/dm-6 doesn't contain a valid partition table
Done.
BusyBox's sources are available from http://www.busybox.net
Making catalog of files to be backed up
---evalcall---1--- Making catalog of /

...

---evalcall---E---
Call to mkisofs to make ISO (ISO #1) ...OK
Done.
Done.
Writing boot+data floppy images to disk
No Imgs
---promptpopup---1--- No regular Boot+data floppies were created due of space constraints. However, you can burn
/var/cache/mindi/mondorescue.iso to a CD and boot from that.
---promptpopup---Q--- [OK] ---
--> Backup and/or verify ran to completion. However, errors did occur.
/var/cache/mindi/mondorescue.iso, a boot/utility CD, is available if you want it
Data archived OK.
See /var/log/mondoarchive.log for details of backup run.

6.5 Recovery
Very Important: You must take care about the following criteria's.

If you have LVM partitions, the nuke (full automatic) restore does not work properly! You need to
partition the first hard disk manually.

After partitioning, you need to reboot the server, before you can continue with the restore process. To
do so, you need to make a configuration save of the hard disk. Then you have to restore the server using
mondo. You must always use interactive mode to restore such a server.

Additionally during interactive restore mode, you must enter the configurations for /boot and swap
partitions. Just enter /boot without any size value, for the swap partition you must enter in the mount
point and also for the file system type setting swap.

After this you can restore the server. If you will be asked for erasing the disk, enter No to keep the
disk partitions.

On Ubuntu installations, you must edit the /etc/fstab and the grub configuration files to correct the disk
label information for all file systems. After the restore the UID's of the file systems are different.

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7 System rescue CD

SystemRescueCd is a Linux (Gentoo) system on a bootable CD-ROM which contains tools to recover or repair
your system. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin tasks on your computer, such as creating and
editing the partitions of the hard disk. It contains a lot of system utilities (parted, partimage, fstools, ...) and basic
tools (editors, midnight commander, network tools). It is very easy to use: Just boot the CDROM. The kernel
supports most of the important file systems (ext2/ext3, reiserfs, reiser4, xfs, jfs, vfat, ntfs, iso9660), as well as
network filesystems (samba and nfs).

Category Recovery CD
Tools used Gentoo Linux based bootable CD
Gui X11 is available
Requirements CD burner
Schedule able -
Configuration none


Picture 18: System rescue CD, exemplary

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7.1 Features
Boot able recovery environment
Includes all necessary tools to recover or repair a server
Also usable for Windows repair actions
Includes graphical tools like gparted, browser, ...
From version 1.0 on, chroot is now possible on 64bit servers

7.2 Advantages
Very flexible universal boot CDROM
X11 window based applications
PXE (network based booting via DHCP and TFTP server) network boot possible for versions above or
equal 1.0
Supports a lot of hardware and file system types

7.3 Disadvantages
Requires UNIX skills, because the most commands are command line based
Not bootable over network without significant changes of the ISO image for versions below 1.0



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7.4 Usage
Just insert the CDROM into drive and boot from it. When boot prompt is shown, you can switch between
different help screens using <CRTL> + <ALT> + F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6 and F7 keys.


It's possible to start X11 window session, to do so, start the wizard command. This lets you choose the type of
X11 configuration. To make sure the X11 server starts, choose Xvesa-cfg mode, in this mode you can select the
screen resolution. This mode is only available on 32-bit kernels.


Picture 19: System rescue CD boot welcome screen
Picture 20: System rescue CD application examples

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8 Installserver based recovery

An installserver is a service which provides the ability to auto install any client over network. Most Linux
support the automated installation of operating system. Trivadis recommends an installation through
installserver, if this possible. An installserver consists of the following standard network services:
DHCP server
TFTP server
DNS server
NFS, FTP, HTTP or HTTPS server
Any automatic installation mechanism, this is usually provided by the Linux distributions:
For Redhat based distributions: Kickstart
For SUSE based distributions: Autoyast
For Debian based distributions: Autoinstall (FAI)

To recover a server which was confronted with a disaster/failure (no hard disk or no data is accessible), you have
to install a new operating system, before you can restore any backup data. This is required, if you didn't perform
any disaster backup previously. In case, your installation was already an install server based installation, you can
install this system using the same autoyast or kickstart configuration file.

An automated recovery of the operating system is also possible, even if you didn't install the failed system from
installserver. But, in this case, you must collect the necessary configuration data previously from this system, see
Picture 22.
Note: This scenario does not include any backup functionality, it only helps to reactivate the operating system as
fast as possible. In case of required restore, you must use any backup software.

Category Bare metal backups (Disaster)
Tools used Kickstart, Autoyast, ...
Gui none (Satellite server is web based)
Requirements Linux server, Apache, FTP server, TFTP server, DHCP server, DNS server, ...
Schedule able no
Configuration Kickstart or Autoyast files

Picture 21: Installserver based recover, exemplary

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8.1 Features
Fast recovery option, an installation takes about 20 minutes
Customizable using scripts

8.2 Advantages
Very fast OS recovering
Flexible to restore on different architectures
Can be used for training or test center environments

8.3 Disadvantages
Scripting knowledge to make customized installations
Sometimes difficult because of PXE (network based booting via DHCP and TFTP server) booting



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8.4 Usage

8.4.1 ............................................................................................................................ Colle
cting configurations
If no kickstart or autoyast profile is available, you must create a new one from a template. For this, you need the
configuration of the server, you have to restore. You can collect this data using cfg2html, the Trivadis
Installserver documentation or you should have collected the data manually previously to the server crash. The
cfg2html package is available from updates or install server.
8.4.2 ............................................................................................................................ Auto
yast and kickstart
The next diagram shows an overview for the install server based recovery procedure:

Prerequisites:

Normal daily backups of user data and operating system configurations
Periodic snapshots of system configuration, for example with cfg2html
Optionally, a script which collects all necessary data to build a autoyast or kickstart file

Backup environment:

Backup server which backups user and OS data daily (Bacula, BackupPC)
Configuration database which contains the collected configuration data (Web server)

Installserver:

Trivadis install server or similar
Configuration database with all collected autoyast and kickstart files

Picture 22: Installserver based recovery overview

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9 Trivadis backup module

The
Trivadis
backup
module
provides an
easy perl-
based
solution to
perform
backups
from a
running
server. The
script could
also be
used for full
backups, in
this case
you should
backup the
server from
a bootable
CD. The
script uses
standard
UNIX utilities, except you want to use partimage as the backup solution.

Category Bare metal backups (Disaster)
Tools used partimage or tar
Gui none (command line perl script)
Requirements Perl, partimage, tar, gzip, bzip2
Schedule able yes, via crontab
Configuration Command line options


Picture 23: Trivadis backup module, exemplary

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9.1 Features
Automatically creates a copy of all partition tables of all local disks
Auto select of all OS related partitions or Logical Volume Groups
Backups can be done using partimage or simple tar archives
partimage or compressed tar archive creation is possible
Stores the disk, LVM and software raid configuration in separate files

9.2 Advantages
Backups can be done onto a remote Server
Only standard Linux utilities needed, except you use partimage
Just one script to backup the server
Backups can be done on running server

9.3 Disadvantages
Script requirements must be resolved manually
Restore is only manually possible
No incremental or differential backups

9.4 Usage
The backup can be executed using one command. To display a short help, use -h or --help option:

BackupPartimage.pl -h:
Usage: BackupPartimage.pl [ -q ] [ --server <[login@]IP or hostname> ] [ --mbr </dev/mbr disk> ] [ --savepath <path for saves> ]
[ --vg <LVM volume group> [ --vg ... ] ] [ --part <partition> [ --part ... ] ] [ --remotepath <path on remote server> ]
[ --type <partimage|tar> ] [ --all ] [ --onlyconfig ] [ --defaults ] [ --ztype <bz2|gzip|none> ]
-q => quiet mode, no warnings will be printed.
--savepath => Where to save backups, default: '/data/backup'?
--all => All partition will be saved, if argument was given.
--onlyconfig => No tar or partimage backups will be done, only config of LVM, RAIDs and disks will be made.
--defaults => shows the script defaults and exits.
--ztype => zip format, allowed is bz2, gzip or none for uncompressed backups.

Note: If partimage binary, '/usr/sbin/partimage', was not found on system, script switches automatically to tar backups!
In case of any problems, try without '-q' option!!



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10 rdiff-backup

Using rdiff-backup it is possible to make full and incremental backups, but the same data occurs once only in
the backup archive. This means that the space in archive equals the size of the original (previous) data added to
the newly changed data on the system.

Category Data backups
Tools used rsync, ssh
Gui none (command line python script)
Requirements Python, librsync (dependency during installation of package)
Schedule able yes, via crontab
Configuration Command line options


Picture 24: rdiff-backup, exemplary

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10.1 Features
Incremental backups
Backups (from or) to remote servers
Doesn't waste space in the backup archives, the same data appears only once
Command-line tool

10.2 Advantages
Restore with the same script possible
Saves space, because of creating hard links for equal files

10.3 Disadvantages
Only command line tool available
Uses quite a lot of CPU resources (rsync)
For incremental backups it's necessary to create hard links, so only one file system is possible for the
archives



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10.4 Usage
In order to make remote backups or restores, rdiff-backup must be installed on both servers.

The syntax for remote folders is always like follows:
rdiff-backup user@host::/var user@host::/media/wmax1/rdiff/var

Note: Both, source and destination can be on remote servers. All commands are possible over a network
archive, if you use the proper syntax.

Backup (full): This example shows the backup command to backup /var into /media/wmax1/rdiff/var
folder.
Backup command, rdiff-backup ...:
rdiff-backup --exclude /var/log --exclude /var/tmp -exclude-sockets \
/var /media/wmax1/rdiff/var

Note: If you want to see, what's included in the backup, use v5 and -print-statistics option.

Backup (incremental):
Backup command, rdiff-backup ...:
rdiff-backup --exclude /var/log --exclude /var/tmp -exclude-sockets \
/var /media/wmax1/rdiff/var

Note: The command for incremental backups is the same. The utility checks the destination first for an
existing backup, before it starts an incremental backup.

Show available backup (in time):
Backup command, rdiff-backup -l ...:
rdiff-backup -l /media/wmax1/rdiff/var
Found 1 increments:
increments.2008-03-28T14:16:04+01:00.dir Fri Mar 28 14:16:04 2008
Current mirror: Mon Mar 31 10:31:38 2008


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Compare: This example shows the compare between the current system (/var folder) and the backup
archive (/media/wmax1/rdiff/var).
Backup command, rdiff-backup --compare ...:
rdiff-backup --compare /var /media/wmax1/rdiff/var
hanged: lib/dhcp/dhclient.leases
changed: lib/init.d
changed: lib/init.d/daemons

...

new: log
new: log/Xorg.0.log
new: log/Xorg.0.log.old

...

deleted: tmp/rpm-tmp.851
This option is quite useful to check the changes between the (different) archives and the actual or given
time, see -compare-at-time 1D option. For further information, please consult the man page.

Restore: There are different ways to restore a file or folder from archive. Using rdiff-backup, or just
UNIX commands (like cp, scp, ...), if you need the newest backup to restore.
Backup command, rdiff-backup --restore-as-of <time> \
<archive file or folder> <restore location>:
rdiff-backup --restore-as-of 1D \
/media/wmax1/rdiff/var/log /var/log
This would restore a backup from the last day into original destination. It's also possible to redirect a
restore.

Remove any old backup from archive:
Backup command, rdiff-backup -remove-older-than <time> <archive>:
rdiff-backup --remove-older-than 2W /media/wmax1/rdiff/var
This would remove any backup older than 2 weeks. The restore does not create any directory for you. It
does not recursive restore directories, if you select files only!


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11 rsnapshot

The perl based rsnapshot is very similar to rdiff-backup, the main difference is the used scripting language.
Another important difference is that rsnapshot uses a configuration file to automate the backups through crontab.

Category Data backups
Tools used rsync, ssh
Gui none (command line perl script)
Requirements Perl, ssh, rsync, optionally logger, du, cp
Schedule able yes, via crontab
Configuration One file: /etc/rsnapshot.conf


Picture 25: rsnapshot, exemplary

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11.1 Features
Incremental backups
Automatic remove of older backups, see interval option in configuration
Fully crontab support (It creates a logfile, and works silently)
Configuration is done in one file

11.2 Advantages
Very good for automated backups
Customizable logger
Takes care using USB or external disks, see no_create_root option

11.3 Disadvantages
Not a lot of interactivity
Only in command line available
Uses quite a lot of CPU resources (rsync)
For incremental backups it's necessary to create hard links, so only one file system is possible for the
archives


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11.4 Usage

Configuration:
Only, tho most important settings are shown next.
Main and only configuration file of rsnapshot, /etc/rsnapshot.conf:
...

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

# All snapshots will be stored under this root directory.
#
snapshot_root /media/wmax1/bt

# 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

...

#########################################
# BACKUP INTERVALS #
# Must be unique and in ascending order #
# i.e. hourly, daily, weekly, etc. #
#########################################

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

...

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

# LOCALHOST
#backup /home/ localhost/
backup /etc/ localhost/

# Ubunto test laptop:
backup [email protected]:/etc ubuntu


snaphost_root:
This is the backup archive place, all backups will written here.
no_create_root:
If the backup archive is on a mountable drive, you can enable this option. If set and the drive is not
mounted, no creation of the root is forced, the script aborts.
interval:
In this example, four backups will be rotated, if hourly backup was called.
Seven backups will be rotated, if daily backup was called.
Four backup will be rotated, if weekly backup was called
Make sure, you configure the crontab properly:
Corresponding crontab:
0 */6 * * * /usr/bin/rsnapshot hourly
0 1 * * 1-6 /usr/bin/rsnapshot daily
0 1 * * 0 /usr/bin/rsnapshot weekly

backup:
All backups are defined with this directive. If no further option was given in command line, all this
backups are executed.

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You can test the configuration using rsnapsot configtest.

Backup:
Backup command, rsnapshot ...:
# rsnapshot -v hourly
echo 10406 > /var/run/rsnapshot.pid
/usr/bin/rm -rf /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.1/
/usr/bin/cp -al /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.0 /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.1
/usr/bin/rsync -ax --delete --numeric-ids --relative --delete-excluded /etc \
/media/wmax1/bt/hourly.0/localhost/
/usr/bin/rsync -ax --delete --numeric-ids --relative --delete-excluded \
--rsh=/usr/bin/ssh [email protected]:/etc \
/media/wmax1/bt/hourly.0/ubuntu
touch /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.0/
rm -f /var/run/rsnapshot.pid


Restore:
No restore option is actually included in the rsnapshot script. In case of restore, you must do this
manually! You can use scp, cp or rsync to restore any file or folder.

Logging:
If nothing else is configured, the logfile is in default location /var/log/rsnapshot.
Logfile example, /var/log/rsnapshot:
...

[01/Apr/2008:10:55:23] /usr/bin/rsnapshot -v hourly: started
[01/Apr/2008:10:55:23] echo 10204 > /var/run/rsnapshot.pid
[01/Apr/2008:10:55:23] /usr/bin/cp -al /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.0 /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.1
[01/Apr/2008:10:55:28] /usr/bin/rsync -ax --delete --numeric-ids --relative --delete-excluded /etc
/media/wmax1/bt/hourly.0/localhost/
[01/Apr/2008:10:55:28] touch /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.0/
[01/Apr/2008:10:55:28] rm -f /var/run/rsnapshot.pid
[01/Apr/2008:10:55:28] /usr/bin/rsnapshot -v hourly: completed successfully
[01/Apr/2008:11:05:40] /usr/bin/rsnapshot -v hourly: started
[01/Apr/2008:11:05:40] echo 10406 > /var/run/rsnapshot.pid
[01/Apr/2008:11:05:40] /usr/bin/rm -rf /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.1/
[01/Apr/2008:11:05:46] /usr/bin/cp -al /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.0 /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.1
[01/Apr/2008:11:05:51] /usr/bin/rsync -ax --delete --numeric-ids --relative --delete-excluded /etc
/media/wmax1/bt/hourly.0/localhost/
[01/Apr/2008:11:05:51] /usr/bin/rsync -ax --delete --numeric-ids --relative --delete-excluded --rsh=/usr/bin/ssh
[email protected]:/etc /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.0/ubuntu
[01/Apr/2008:11:06:11] touch /media/wmax1/bt/hourly.0/
[01/Apr/2008:11:06:11] rm -f /var/run/rsnapshot.pid
[01/Apr/2008:11:06:11] /usr/bin/rsnapshot -v hourly: completed successfully





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12 Conclusion
Depending on what kind of information/data needs to be backup, Open Source softwares offer serious and
reliable alternatives to closed-source products. If you need enterprise ready backup software, Bacula appears
to be the most serious candidate. Trivadis did a few Bacula installations on customer sites with very good
feedback.

However if no backup to tape is required, BackupPC can help a lot. In this case the backup server strategy
will be followed. Trivadis uses BackupPC as a part of its backup strategy since three years and advices this
solution to save all UNIX based clients with less than 100GB data.

rsnapshot or rdiff-backup can also be considered if only a few servers need to be backed up. Because both of
these tools use rsync for synchronization, they are quite reliable and proved it, in the practice.

Also for disaster/recover purposes, Open Source provides strong backup recovery solutions. We recommend
SystemRescueCD, mondoarchive or partimage which allow to design strong and reliable backup concepts. If
you have to recover a server, SystemRescueCD can be very flexible and is used by Trivadis since many years.


Bacula BackupPC mondorescue rdiff-backup rsnapshot partimage System-
RescueCD
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
OpenSource backup tools comparision
Reliability
Usability
Disaster backups
Data backups
Enterprise

Picture 1: OpenSource software comparision chart