script to back up data?
 

Hi.. I've got a RHEL4 machine set up running Samba (to be used as a backup/storage server).. I've set up Samba IDs for everyone on my team. Everyone can map a drive and copy data to/from their home directories with no problems.. My question is, is there a somewhat simple way to set up some kind of script that the users can pick what directories/files on their laptops they want to backup, and it automatically copy the directories/files to their home directories on the linux box?

I've played around with setting it up as a domain controller and setting a batch job, but it's gonna be to hard to get everyone on my team set up that way, so i'm looking for another alternative..

edit: to clarify, the drives are being mapped from XP to linux.. and i want the script (or however it can be done) to be executed from XP..

Well, if you really want to have the thing run under Windows, there's a pretty easy to use Windows program named "SyncBack". http://www.2brightsparks.com/ If you dig around on the website you'll find a free version amongst the various "for sale" versions. They try to hide it a bit, but it's there if you search.

Rather than the above, I would recommend that you tell your users to create a special directory, copy everything they want backed up to it, and share it with an obvious sharename like "BACK_ME_UP". Then from your Linux box, crawl your network looking for things to backup. That way you increase reliability (you're using Linux for the work, not Windows), and you're also cutting down on support costs (you don't have to go to all those Windows PC's and fix your user's misconfigurations of SyncBack).