QUESTION (BRIEF):
Can anyone recommend an automatic backup solution for a Linux desktop computer (I currently run Kubuntu)? The catch, for me, is that my backup disks for my entire household live in an old Mac Pro tower (running macOS High Sierra) that is living a second life as a backup/media server, so (ideally) the solution needs to allow backups from Linux to a macOS server over SMB. My ideal solution would allow me to clone my Linux system/boot drive, and then any other internal volumes I have in the desktop machine, (my habit is to store all of my personal documents and media on drives that are separate from the system disk) on an automated, multiple times per day schedule.


BACKGROUND:
I'm slowly preparing a big switch from macOS to Linux (so I'm a Linux noob). My current daily driver is a hackintosh tower that I've been dual booting into Linux over the past few months so that I can learn the Linux ecosystem (I have a long way to go). Most of what I need to make the switch is in place, but I haven't worked out an automated backup system yet. I'm spoiled by the convenience of Apple's time machine, which I currently use to back up all of the Macs in my house to the old Mac Pro. I'd like to use this Mac Pro server to store backups of my new Linux system as well, as I have lots and lots of storage space available there (and if there is ever an emergency like a fire, I only need to grab this one single machine as I run screaming from the house : ) I've been doing a lot of internet research on the topic and much of what I'm coming up with is above my current skill level. I was hoping, before I dive in and just start trying things out, that I might be given a nudge in the right direction.

Thank you everyone for any suggestions!

Welcome.

One way would be to use rsync to copy from your computer to your backup server. If you mount the file system over SMB you can do it from directory to directory, just like if they were both local. Or you can use rsync directly over SSH, if you turn on SSH in your backup server.

Either way, it would be some variation like this:

The second example will work from anywhere in the world, as long as the destination is accessible and you are able to log in via SSH.

All that is scriptable. rsync can even do incremental backups similar to TimeMachine, if configured to do so.

If you want something fancier, ready-made, and (in my opinion) harder, then you can look at Bacula, Amanda, BackInTime or others.

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I always suggest rsnapshot in threads with these questions. It's a perl wrapper over rsync with an easy-to-use configuration file. It will even create and install the necessary cron jobs, if desired. https://rsnapshot.org

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Howdy!

There are so many backup solutions and almost all of them are meant to be networked. Even the lonely cp/tar.gz to nc can be used.

Peek at these lists maybe for some ideas. Any backup plan is better than none usually.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BackupYourSystem
Generally use distro ideas I'd think.

http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/1...ckup-solutions

https://www.ubuntupit.com/free-open-...are-for-linux/

Also in that are some advanced file/partition systems that have built in data security.

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Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions! Again, all the solutions I was coming across in my Google quest appeared to require a major beef up of my admin skills. It was nice to get some opinions before choosing a solution to dive in and play with.

I ultimately dove in with rsnapshot. From what I can tell so far, it is a more robust solution, for my purposes, than even Time Machine was. I get incremental backups, with the ability to revert to previous versions of files, like Time Machine, without everything being locked up in a proprietary black box. Instead the whole backup is accessible via a file manager. Love it! I had to learn a lot to set this up, but I'm glad I did it. A major snag in my setup was that my client computer is not always powered on and accessible to the backup server - I had to figure out how to write a script to check and make sure that the client is available before initiating rsnapshot. Not a hard thing, in the end, but something that, previously, seemed above my pay grade. Also had to learn Apple's launchd system. Good learning experience all around.

Thank you, again, everyone!

If they are on the same LAN or if your router can trigger, and if the machine supports it, then you could use Wake-on-LAN and have the backup script wake up the other computer when it needs to. However, it would take a bit of work to have it figure out whether or not it should put it back to sleep after the backup is completed.

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I'm glad that rsnapshot helped.
I use it on my "client" 'puter (this one) to pull from the production server...so if the client's not up, the backup doesn't happen...so as long as the local power company is working, I get a backup every night.
(I've 3 windows 'puters and this Linux box running 24x7, plus a couple of iPads and iPhones. That, plus the A/C on 100+ degree days keep the local power company very happy with me.)

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