Rsync Setup

Step 1

Log in to your server through SSH, telnet, or another shell access method.

Step 2

Create an RSA encryption key for use with the SSH transport. You may check if a key already exists by executing the following command:

# cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

If the file already exists, you may skip to step 3. Otherwise, create a key with the ssh-keygen utility:

# ssh-keygen -t rsa -N '' (note: these are two single quotes)

Step 3

Copy your RSA encryption key to our backup system.

# scp ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub yourusername@ourserverip:.ssh/authorized_keys

Step 4

You may now test rsync by copying a small directory, such as /etc:

# rsync -avz -e ssh /etc yourusername@ourserverip:server1

If you receive any error messages, please contact technical support at http://www.tristarbackup.com/support.php. Otherwise, congratulations on configuring rsync to work with our system. You can now add rsync as a daily cron job, as outlined in step 5.

Step 5

If you are using Plesk Server Administrator, you can access crontab entries through the System menu under Services. Add a new task as root. Choose a Minute (0-59) and Hour (0-23) for the script to run each day. For Day of the Month, Month, and Day of the Week, just type a wildcard (*). Command will be in the format listed below.

If you are using cPanel/WHM, you'll need to add a crontab entry manually through the shell. As root, execute the following command (variations listed
below):

#crontab -e
Add the lines suitable for your needs:
Back up entire server:
rsync -avz --exclude=/proc -e ssh / yourusername@ourserverip:server1

Back up home directories:
rsync -avz -e ssh /home yourusername@ourserverip:server1

Back up specific users:
rsync -avz -e ssh ~bob ~bill ~sarah yourusername@ourserverip:server1

Press ESC and type :wq to save.

You have now successfully configured your backups..