I'm just after some advice with using NFS or SCP for a remote database backup using a cron job. I have a script running on my database server that backs up
the database and copies it to another server. From the other server I
then tar the backup to a tape drive connected to it. My first option is
to use an empty dsa key so I can scp without a password, Within the
script I can also ssh into the other server and run the tar command.
The second option is to have an NFS share on the other server and copy
the backup to that directory. However this means that I can't remotely
run a tar command, and I would need a cron job on both servers.

I would like to run everything in one script, but would it be better to use
NFS? Internal security isn't a big issue, and I can't connect the tape
drive directly to the database server.

Any advice would be helpful.

Cheers

Chris

I vote for scp with public key authentication

Actually neither... use rsync.. more powerful, options and better most likely to use for moving files like such.

Well, scp with public key auth but how?

By assigning empty dsa keys between the two servers.

I would use rsync with ssh and an empty passphrase.

rsync -auvze ssh username@other_server:/place/to/get/the_file local_file

then tar it off, and do some clean up.

I think I'm going to use NFS seems the easiest option, especially I need to document this well enough for Windows users to understand.

Cheers

Chris

As trickykid and scissors recommended, rsync over ssh is a good option. If you don't like using empty keys for authentication, then you can use ssh-agent to store the keys.