Full details with apps and scripts at http://www.physics.unc.edu/~stephen/on-demand-backuppc/
I'll add this to the wiki when I have time. Cheers, Stephen -- Stephen Joyce Systems Administrator P A N I C Physics & Astronomy Department Physics & Astronomy University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Network Infrastructure voice: (919) 962-7214 and Computing fax: (919) 962-0480 http://www.panic.unc.edu If it wasn't backed up, then it wasn't important. On Tue, 9 Oct 2007, Stephen Joyce wrote: > Hi, > > I needed a way for to conveniently backup my users' laptops. Some of these > are rarely, if ever, on our LAN. So, I implemented an on-demand backup > solution using Unison (rsync like directory sync util with gui) and > BackupPC. > > laptop ---------> "cache" disk -------------> "archive" disk > ^ ^ > | | > Unison on- BackupPC checks > demand over for new files in > SSH tunnel cache hourly > > When a user initiates an on-demand backup via unison, the connection is > over SSH (fewer potential firewall issues). After Unison finishes, a flag > is set on the cache disk to indicate to BackupPC that fresh files exist. > BackupPC checks for this "freshness flag" instead of performing a ping of > the client. If new/fresh files exist on the cache, then an rsync based > backup is performed (of the host's directory of the cache disk) and the > flag removed. (There's a lot more logic and checks to prevent simultaneous > operations that I'm omitting here.) > > This setup allows mobile users to backup and restore files from the most > recent backup (the one on the cache disk) using the Unison gui. If an older > version of a file is needed, the user can log into the BackupPC server's > CGI and retrieve it from a prior backup. > > This provides a near-optimal solution, I think, for laptop backups. The > very first backup of a laptop may take a few minutes if there is a lot of > data (so should occur on the local LAN if possible), but future backups for > most users take under 5 minutes! > > If anyone is interested in my exact setup (pre and post dump scripts, > backuppc config, client backup script, etc) please let me know. If there's > sufficient interest I'll clean them up a bit, removing the site-specific > bits, and post them to the web. > > Cheers, Stephen > -- > Stephen Joyce > Systems Administrator P A N I C > Physics & Astronomy Department Physics & Astronomy > University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Network Infrastructure > voice: (919) 962-7214 and Computing > fax: (919) 962-0480 http://www.panic.unc.edu > > Don't look back. The lemmings are gaining on you. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. > Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. > Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. > Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ > _______________________________________________ > BackupPC-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users > http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ > > > -- > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ _______________________________________________ BackupPC-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
