[Web4lib] Off-site backups and scripted SCP/SFTP

[Tyson Tate]

On 7/25/06, Joerg Messer <joerg.messer at ubc.ca> wrote:

> Another popular approach is to use RSYNC.

I just realized that my reply to the the original poster only went to
the poster and not to the list.

Here's my original reply:


On 7/25/06, Keith D. Engwall <kengwall at catawba.edu> wrote:
> I'm curious as to whether anyone is using commercial off-site backups and if so, what service they are using.
>
> We've got about 5GB (mostly from our LIS), and would prefer to use SFTP or SCP with keys (because of scripts).

I'm not too familiar with using SFTP with keys, but I do know that the
best way I've found to run off-site backups is to use rsync over ssh.
Google for "rsync" and "rsync ssh" and you'll find a lot of useful
information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rsync
http://www.jdmz.net/ssh/

rsync is great for backing up over a network because it updates only
what needs to be updated, instead of transfering 5gb (in your case)
every time you run the backup. I use it on my home machine to backup
roughly 80gb of data to an external hard drive and it's never failed
on me yet.

And, of course, remember to check the validity of your backups now and then.

- Tyson Tate