You could use rsync.
Listing one: make_snapshot.sh
#!/bin/bash
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# mikes handy rotating-filesystem-snapshot utility
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# this needs to be a lot more general, but the basic idea is it makes
# rotating backup-snapshots of /home whenever called
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
unset PATH # suggestion from H. Milz: avoid accidental use of $PATH
# ------------- system commands used by this script --------------------
ID=/usr/bin/id;
ECHO=/bin/echo;
MOUNT=/bin/mount;
RM=/bin/rm;
MV=/bin/mv;
CP=/bin/cp;
TOUCH=/bin/touch;
RSYNC=/usr/bin/rsync;
# ------------- file locations -----------------------------------------
MOUNT_DEVICE=/dev/hdb1;
SNAPSHOT_RW=/root/snapshot;
EXCLUDES=/usr/local/etc/backup_exclude;
# ------------- the script itself --------------------------------------
# make sure we're running as root
if (( `$ID -u` != 0 )); then { $ECHO "Sorry, must be root. Exiting..."; exit; } fi
# attempt to remount the RW mount point as RW; else abort
$MOUNT -o remount,rw $MOUNT_DEVICE $SNAPSHOT_RW ;
if (( $? )); then
{
$ECHO "snapshot: could not remount $SNAPSHOT_RW readwrite";
exit;
}
fi;
# rotating snapshots of /home (fixme: this should be more general)
# step 1: delete the oldest snapshot, if it exists:
if [ -d $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.3 ] ; then \
$RM -rf $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.3 ; \
fi ;
# step 2: shift the middle snapshots(s) back by one, if they exist
if [ -d $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.2 ] ; then \
$MV $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.2 $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.3 ; \
fi;
if [ -d $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.1 ] ; then \
$MV $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.1 $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.2 ; \
fi;
# step 3: make a hard-link-only (except for dirs) copy of the latest snapshot,
# if that exists
if [ -d $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.0 ] ; then \
$CP -al $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.0 $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.1 ; \
fi;
# step 4: rsync from the system into the latest snapshot (notice that
# rsync behaves like cp --remove-destination by default, so the destination
# is unlinked first. If it were not so, this would copy over the other
# snapshot(s) too!
$RSYNC \
-va --delete --delete-excluded \
--exclude-from="$EXCLUDES" \
/home/ $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.0 ;
# step 5: update the mtime of hourly.0 to reflect the snapshot time
$TOUCH $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.0 ;
# and thats it for home.
# now remount the RW snapshot mountpoint as readonly
$MOUNT -o remount,ro $MOUNT_DEVICE $SNAPSHOT_RW ;
if (( $? )); then
{
$ECHO "snapshot: could not remount $SNAPSHOT_RW readonly";
exit;
} fi;
and the second:
Listing two: daily_snapshot_rotate.sh
#!/bin/bash
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# mikes handy rotating-filesystem-snapshot utility: daily snapshots
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# intended to be run daily as a cron job when hourly.3 contains the
# midnight (or whenever you want) snapshot; say, 13:00 for 4-hour snapshots.
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
unset PATH
# ------------- system commands used by this script --------------------
ID=/usr/bin/id;
ECHO=/bin/echo;
MOUNT=/bin/mount;
RM=/bin/rm;
MV=/bin/mv;
CP=/bin/cp;
# ------------- file locations -----------------------------------------
MOUNT_DEVICE=/dev/hdb1;
SNAPSHOT_RW=/root/snapshot;
# ------------- the script itself --------------------------------------
# make sure we're running as root
if (( `$ID -u` != 0 )); then { $ECHO "Sorry, must be root. Exiting..."; exit; } fi
# attempt to remount the RW mount point as RW; else abort
$MOUNT -o remount,rw $MOUNT_DEVICE $SNAPSHOT_RW ;
if (( $? )); then
{
$ECHO "snapshot: could not remount $SNAPSHOT_RW readwrite";
exit;
}
fi;
# step 1: delete the oldest snapshot, if it exists:
if [ -d $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/daily.2 ] ; then \
$RM -rf $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/daily.2 ; \
fi ;
# step 2: shift the middle snapshots(s) back by one, if they exist
if [ -d $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/daily.1 ] ; then \
$MV $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/daily.1 $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/daily.2 ; \
fi;
if [ -d $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/daily.0 ] ; then \
$MV $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/daily.0 $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/daily.1; \
fi;
# step 3: make a hard-link-only (except for dirs) copy of
# hourly.3, assuming that exists, into daily.0
if [ -d $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.3 ] ; then \
$CP -al $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/hourly.3 $SNAPSHOT_RW/home/daily.0 ; \
fi;
# note: do *not* update the mtime of daily.0; it will reflect
# when hourly.3 was made, which should be correct.
# now remount the RW snapshot mountpoint as readonly
$MOUNT -o remount,ro $MOUNT_DEVICE $SNAPSHOT_RW ;
if (( $? )); then
{
$ECHO "snapshot: could not remount $SNAPSHOT_RW readonly";
exit;
} fi;
After creating the script to your needs add it to cron jobs.
crontab -e
add the following:
0 */4 * * * /usr/local/bin/make_snapshot.sh
0 13 * * * /usr/local/bin/daily_snapshot_rotate.sh
They cause make_snapshot.sh to be run every four hours on the hour and daily_snapshot_rotate.sh to be run every day at 13:00 (that is, 1:00 PM).
source: http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/
* * * * * command to be executed
- - - - -
| | | | |
| | | | ----- Day of week (0 - 7) (Sunday=0 or 7)
| | | ------- Month (1 - 12)
| | --------- Day of month (1 - 31)
| ----------- Hour (0 - 23)
------------- Minute (0 - 59)
If you want it to run hourly you would add a cron job for each hour.
Another possible option is using rsnapshot
Install rsnapshot (available in software center)
Configure rsnapshot and Specify Backup Source Directory
Open the /etc/rsnapshot.conf and uncomment the following lines.
# nano /etc/rsnapshot.conf
cmd_cp /bin/cp
cmd_ssh /usr/bin/ssh
cmd_du /usr/bin/du
cmd_rsnapshot_diff /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot-diff
logfile /var/log/rsnapshot
Define your destination backup directories in /etc/rsnapshot.conf as shown below. In this example,
/home – source directory that should be backed-up
localhost/ – destination directory where the backup will be stored. Please note that this directory will be created under /.snapshots/{internal.n}/ directory as shown in the last step.
nano /etc/rsnapshot.conf
backup /home/ localhost/
Test rsnapshot Configuration
Perform configuration test to make sure rsnapshot is setup properly and ready to perform linux rsync backup.
# rsnapshot configtest
Syntax OK
- Verify rsnapshot Hourly Backup Configuration
You can backup linux directories or files at various intervals. By default, the hourly and daily backups are configured.
Verify the hourly backup configuration.
# rsnapshot -t hourly
echo 6490 > /var/run/rsnapshot.pid
mkdir -m 0700 -p /.snapshots/
mkdir -m 0755 -p /.snapshots/hourly.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --delete --numeric-ids --relative --delete-excluded /home \
/.snapshots/hourly.0/localhost/
mkdir -m 0755 -p /.snapshots/hourly.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --delete --numeric-ids --relative --delete-excluded /etc \
/.snapshots/hourly.0/localhost/
mkdir -m 0755 -p /.snapshots/hourly.0/
/usr/bin/rsync -a --delete --numeric-ids --relative --delete-excluded \
/usr/local /.snapshots/hourly.0/localhost/
touch /.snapshots/hourly.0/
- Verify rsnapshot Daily Backup Configuration
Verify the daily rsnapshot cwrsync backup process is configured properly.
# rsnapshot -t daily
echo 6493 > /var/run/rsnapshot.pid
mkdir -m 0700 -p /.snapshots/
/.snapshots/hourly.5 not present (yet), nothing to copy
- Add Crontab Entry for rsnapshot
Once you’ve verified that the rsync hourly and daily backup configurations are setup properly in the rsnapshot cwrsync utility, it is time to set this puppy up in the crontab as shown below.
# crontab -e
0 */4 * * * /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot hourly
30 23 * * * /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot daily
source: http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2009/08/tutorial-backup-linux-using-rsnapshot-rsync-utility/
---- Bare Metal Recovery
I would use dd and tar to do baremetal recovery.
Backup important metadata:
# dd if-/dev/hda of=/backups/mbr bs=512 count=1
Backup the operating system:
# mkdir /backups
# mount nfsserver:/backups/<servername> /backups
# cd /
# tar cfz /backups/system.tar.gz --exclude /mnt --exclude /proc --exclude /backups
I personally would tend to take my system off-line if I wanted to make a baremetal restore file.