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Step 4Remote backups
Remote backups can be done using rdump, scp, or custom software.
Most hosting companies provide (for a fee) nightly backups. I HIGHLY recommend this if you value your data. I've had two dedicated servers crap out on me from two different hosts. Although these backups are typically stored on a separate drive, they are usually in the same building, so if something happens to the building (which is unlikely, but definately possible), then you're SOL. This is why I recommend making your own off-site (relative to the system being backed up) backup as well as local, nightly backups. Please note that I had to add the .txt extension to upload the script (you can remove this).
Because the company hosting my remote machine performs nightly `tar` backups, I decided to just copy these files to a local machine on a nightly basis. I've written a PHP-driven (because that's what I know) shell script that bascially syncs a remote system's backup files with a local copy. It downloads new files, (optionally) re-downloads backup files that have discrepencies in filesizes, and removes local copies that don't exist on the remote system. This saves bandwidth, time, and storage space. It's basically just a `diff` wrapper for `scp`. The source can be found at the bottom of this page. If you use it, be sure to chmod it to have execute permission (chmod u=+rx fetchbackups). I recommend having the operator user run this script (chown operator fetchbackups).
Alternative remote backup methods include using `scp` on an entire directory, using `rdump`, or, as clievers pointed out, using `rsnapshot` or `backuppc`. If you don't have root access to your remote server, some of these methods might not be possible, and `scp` often requires a lot of time and bandwidth.
Most hosting companies provide (for a fee) nightly backups. I HIGHLY recommend this if you value your data. I've had two dedicated servers crap out on me from two different hosts. Although these backups are typically stored on a separate drive, they are usually in the same building, so if something happens to the building (which is unlikely, but definately possible), then you're SOL. This is why I recommend making your own off-site (relative to the system being backed up) backup as well as local, nightly backups. Please note that I had to add the .txt extension to upload the script (you can remove this).
Because the company hosting my remote machine performs nightly `tar` backups, I decided to just copy these files to a local machine on a nightly basis. I've written a PHP-driven (because that's what I know) shell script that bascially syncs a remote system's backup files with a local copy. It downloads new files, (optionally) re-downloads backup files that have discrepencies in filesizes, and removes local copies that don't exist on the remote system. This saves bandwidth, time, and storage space. It's basically just a `diff` wrapper for `scp`. The source can be found at the bottom of this page. If you use it, be sure to chmod it to have execute permission (chmod u=+rx fetchbackups). I recommend having the operator user run this script (chown operator fetchbackups).
Alternative remote backup methods include using `scp` on an entire directory, using `rdump`, or, as clievers pointed out, using `rsnapshot` or `backuppc`. If you don't have root access to your remote server, some of these methods might not be possible, and `scp` often requires a lot of time and bandwidth.
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