The sys admin's daily grind: Backup2l
I'll Be Back
At his cozy home, sys admin Charly has always used rsnapshot to back up his data. Although things will be staying this way for server backups, he has found something more manageable for backing up the Kühnast family's desktop PCs.
Backups are inevitable, and that includes desktop PCs, even the ones at home. However, in my four walls, I do not need a professional enterprise backup warehouse, and I feel no genuine desire to pay the license fee for it. I back up everything on a small Synology NAS and the NAS, in turn, is backed up on two large USB drives.
On the NAS, I have shared a directory by the name of linbackup
; below that is a subdirectory for every machine to be backed up – a total of 14 right now. My children are obviously growing up and probably starting to hoard hardware. I really wonder who they take after. There is also a gamelauncher
directory; incidentally, this is where I back up the Windows partition.
Lately, the backup itself has been handled by backup2l [1], which I've tried out in the past few days as a lightweight alternative to rsnapshot [2]. Backup2l can be controlled by cron and creates a configurable number of incremental backups. Three parameters are responsible for this in the backup2l.conf
configuration file.
MAX_LEVEL=<3>
determines the number of levels, whereas MAX_PER_LEVEL=<8>
defines the number of incremental backups per level. In my case, backup2l creates hourly incremental backups; this is the lowest level, level 3. Once it has collected eight of them (MAX_PER_LEVEL
), backup21 creates a new level 2 backup, which saves all changes since the last level 2 backup. The level 3 backups are then deleted, and the process begins again (Figure 1).
Once backup21 has collected eight level 2 backups, it creates a new level 1 backup – this is a full backup. MAX_FULL
, the third parameter, lets you specify how many full backups can exist at the same time.
Save Yourself, If You Can
I use SRCLIST
to define exactly what backup2l backs up,
SRCLIST=(/etc /root /home /var/ /usr/local)
and I can define exceptions. Backup2l distinguishes between files (-name
) and directories (-path
). Several exceptions can be linked by using -o
:
SKIPCOND=(-path "*.nobackup*" -o-name "*.o")
I use BACKUP_DIR
to tell backup2l where to save the data:
BACKUP_DIR="/mnt/linbackup/funghi"
If the destination directory, as in my case, is a network drive, the user must of course ensure that it is mounted in good time. In this example, funghi
is the name of my Ubuntu test machine. All of my desktop Linux boxes are named after pizzas, and my servers are named after Scottish islands – in both worlds, there is no big risk that I will run out of names any time soon.
The backup2l.conf
file contains two sections, PRE_BACKUP
and POST_BACKUP
, where you can store shell commands that backup2l runs before and after performing the backup. You can use this approach to make sure that certain services are stopped during the backup.
Finally, I need to tell the tool that my part of the job is done – by flipping the UNCONFIGURED=0
switch to UNCONFIGURED=1
. It's good to know that Funghi, Tonno (tuna), and the others are out of danger.
Infos
- Backup2l: http://backup2l.sourceforge.net
- Rsnapshot: http://www.rsnapshot.org
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
So Long Neofetch and Thanks for the Info
Today is a day that every Linux user who enjoys bragging about their system(s) will mourn, as Neofetch has come to an end.
-
Ubuntu 24.04 Comes with a “Flaw"
If you're thinking you might want to upgrade from your current Ubuntu release to the latest, there's something you might want to consider before doing so.
-
Canonical Releases Ubuntu 24.04
After a brief pause because of the XZ vulnerability, Ubuntu 24.04 is now available for install.
-
Linux Servers Targeted by Akira Ransomware
A group of bad actors who have already extorted $42 million have their sights set on the Linux platform.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.