Topic: Im stumped, help me with RSYNC please

[Zephirus79]

Hey everyone, I got a fresh install of SME 7.1 which I have already put users/groups/ibays and all the other "starting" stuff you need to do to it.   Here is my goal...

I have about 100 windows computers in which I want to RYSNC the "my documents" folder and the outlook .pst file to the SME server as a backup.  

As I understand it, SME can do RSYNC out of the box so that just leaves me with the windows clients...  

I have tried to use a program called Deltacopy but the only way I can get this to work is if I install the server AND the client on each of the windows boxes.    I set the server up with a virtual directory called backup which points to the Q drive.   The Q drive is mapped through windows to the ibay folder I want to use.    Then the client will work.    I don't know if I am doing this right or not since in my mind, you should be able to just install the client and sent it right to SME.  

Any ideas?  Or maybe a better solution?   I am NOT a linux genius and I have never compiled anything in my life so please be very detailed in your responses.  

Thank you for your time.

[jfarschman]

Zephi,

  I have a couple of suggestions.  There is a program called cygwin that works pretty well.  I like the implementation here itefix.no/cwrsync/ which runs on windows and enables you to use rsync.  Then you can create a script in linux that will automatically poll and sync all available boxes.

  Seems like a hassle?  It probably is.  You should consider Making your SME into a backup server that can selectively restore and do all kinds of other cool things.

  I have used "backuppc" and been very happy with it.  With the new MS Vista it's very helpful to keep files in "My Documents" because Micro$oft finally figured out that file indexing would be a good idea.  Anyway, this is pretty straightforward.  It does require some configuration up front, and the documentation (last time I used it) was spotty.  Still a great program.
BackupPC
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=36877.0

There is something called AFFA.  I haven't tried it, but it should work.  Perhaps someone could tells us more about AFFA and why it's cool:
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=36499.0

[p-jones]

You may like to take a look at FreeNAS. I have used that with DeltaCopy client.

I am currently playing with backuppc. Took me a while to nail it, it is quite complex. Also it's logic is reversed to most backup systems in that it "pulls" the backups from the PC where as many systems would have the PC "push" the backup to the server. Means each PC needs to be set up as an RSYNC or SMB server and the server becomes the client. (security implications ??).This caused me a few issues with Deltacopy and I had to remove it completely before I could make progress. Its starting to look real good though.

I am not so sure that SME supports RSYNC out of the box though. If it does I have never suceeded to get it working. Search the forums using Rsync as the search word and see what you can learn.

[jfarschman]

Hey,

  SME does support rsync out of the box.  There is not additional software necessary and it's a brilliant way to move files around.  One thing you almost always have to configure is a trust relationship between the two boxes.

  rsync doesn't let you use password embedded in scripts... you have to build a trust relationship where the two machine (SME and other) share encryption keys.  This key will have to be created for the appropriate user and in linux, this should almost never be root... however.... most people will use root anyway without any regard for security.

Use the "ssh-keygen -trsa" command to make the key and then have a look at this:

http://www.hitechsavvy.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=142

I think the one difference may be the authorized_keys file possible doesn't have a 2 on the end.

Hope this helps.

[MSmith]

I've been approaching this issue from the other end, by using Robocopy (available for free as part of the Windows 2003 Resource kit, here:  http://tinyurl.com/4k28b and works well on XP) as a scheduled task.  

I'm also using the free pfbackup utility, also available from Microsoft, and setting that to back up the pst file(s) to a folder within the My Documents hierarchy so I don't have to back up the pst separately.

You can automate the procedure with a startup or scheduled script that references the %userprofile% and %username% environment variables.  For instance, let's assume you have a server drive s: and a folder named backups.

robocopy "%userprofile%\desktop" "s:\backups\%username%\desktop" /XF *.lnk /MIR
robocopy "%userprofile%\my documents" "s:\backups\%username%\documents" /MIR

This will copy all desktop items excluding shortcuts and system icons (because you know how users like to keep files & folders on their desktops ...) and the entire My Documents hierarchy.  

Backuppc would be a better solution for keeping versions of files, but I've not made the time to delve into its mysteries yet.