Backing up of a RH8 server without root axx

p0 theed · 07-03-2003, 09:05 AM

Hey everyone.

our companies other location has a small network of about 6 or 7 windows computers running with a RH8.0 server... Each of the people down there have their own private space on the server. The one girl who does the inventory of the parts keeps everything important in her directory and everynight she's backing up only her directory to a CD.

What im trying to figure out is how she can back up everyones personal directories from her XP machine. She doesn't have root access and I was thinking that she could possibly login to the server through SSH and have access to those folders that way? I've never setup or used ssh so I'm not sure...

Does anyone have any ideas of how she could get access to these folders to back them up every night, without giving her root access to the whole server?

thanks

david_ross · 07-03-2003, 12:36 PM

Why not run a cron job (as root) that backs up the directories to a tar.gz file that can be placed in the persons home directory. This can then be picked up via samba and burnt to a CD. You could even password protect the file for extra security (ie she can't see peoples files)

p0 theed · 07-03-2003, 02:27 PM

i'll have to research cron job some but would it be possible to have the back up run at say 4pm everyday? can it be automated or would someone have to login as root and run the command?

p0 theed · 07-03-2003, 02:38 PM

Just did some reading on cron job / crontab and I think this would be the perfect solution.

david_ross · 07-03-2003, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by p0 theed
i'll have to research cron job some but would it be possible to have the back up run at say 4pm everyday? can it be automated or would someone have to login as root and run the command?

Yes cron is like Microsofts Task Scheduler you can use it to run a program/script when you want.

p0 theed · 07-03-2003, 03:26 PM

great thank you very much

p0 theed · 07-03-2003, 03:26 PM

just need to learn how to write a script

david_ross · 07-03-2003, 03:40 PM

If you only want one tar file then you won't need a script just a command in a crontab like:

Code:

* 16 * * * tar -cvzf /home/some_user/backup.tar.gz /home/another-user /home/some_one_else /var/www 2>&1 > /var/log/backup_last.log

Personnaly I would run the job at 2am or something when users will not be accessing files but that is up to you.

p0 theed · 07-03-2003, 03:46 PM

right the middle of the night is what i planned on doing, then she will be able to back up in the morning when she gets there.

and one tar file would be sufficient.

and i understand everything in that code except for the /var/www 2>&1.

could you tell me what that does?

david_ross · 07-03-2003, 03:49 PM

/var/www is just another directory you may wish to backup ie if you had a website etc (it was just an example)

2>&1 directs stderr (standard error stream) to stdout (standard output stream). In turn the standard output stream is output to a logfile containing the last backup job (just incase you have problems).

p0 theed · 07-03-2003, 03:58 PM

ah i gotcha.. Okay I'll try that out on monday and see what happens. Thanks for your help

Now its time to go enjoy the weekend

david_ross · 07-03-2003, 04:00 PM

Have a good weekend - post any problems you have and I'll see what I can do.

p0 theed · 07-07-2003, 08:05 AM

the 16 is the hours in military time correct?

bax · 07-07-2003, 09:18 AM

Just add 12 to any hour and you have it's military equivalent.
4+12=16

david_ross · 07-07-2003, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bax
Just add 12 to any hour and you have it's military equivalent.
4+12=16

Unless it is morning

Yes it is 16:00 hours - eg 4pm. Just use 4 for 4am.