Simple Backup Solutions

A bundle of scripts, that contain few simple solutions for backup, which I'm using within my Ubuntu installations.

Incremental backup using Rsync

• This solution perfectly fits to 'desktop' systems, when you want easy access to your backup files and their history.

• It is based on this nice answer, provided by PerlDuck on Ask Ubuntu SE, where are provided detailed explanations.

• There are two files:

  • incremental_backup - this is the main (bash) script. I would place it in /usr/local/bin to be accessible as shell command system wide.

  • incremental_backup_cron - this a (sh) script desingned to be placed in /etc/cron.{daily,hourly,weekly}/.

• Installation on fly (without using git):

  sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/incremental_backup https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metalevel-tech/simple-backup-solutions/master/incremental_backup
  sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/incremental_backup
  
  sudo wget -O /etc/cron.daily/incremental_backup_cron https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metalevel-tech/simple-backup-solutions/master/incremental_backup_cron
  sudo chmod +x /etc/cron.daily/incremental_backup_cron

Portable backup using Tar and 7zip

• This solution perfectly fits to 'server' systems, when you want small and portable backups.

• It is based on this answer of mine on Ask Ubuntu SE, where are provided detailed explanations.

• There are two files:

  • portable_backup - this is the main (bash) script. I would place it in /usr/local/bin to be accessible as shell command system wide.

  • portable_backup_cron - this a (sh) script desingned to be placed in /etc/cron.{daily,hourly,weekly}/.

• Installation on fly (without using git):

  sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/portable_backup https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metalevel-tech/simple-backup-solutions/master/portable_backup
  sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/portable_backup
  
  sudo wget -O /etc/cron.daily/portable_backup_cron https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metalevel-tech/simple-backup-solutions/master/portable_backup_cron
  sudo chmod +x /etc/cron.daily/portable_backup_cron

LXC remote backup

• This solution is designed for systems running LXD, where you manage remote LXC containers over a forwarded SSH/LXD connection and want dated local snapshots of each container along with the host LXD configuration.

• What the script does:

  • Starts a local SSH forward service (sshfwd-cvps.service) if the LXD API port (8443) is not yet reachable.
  • Waits until the remote LXD is accessible and a known test container is visible.
  • Exports every container on the remote LXD host to a dated .tar.gz file in the local backup directory.
  • Dumps the remote LXD init configuration via SSH to a dated .yaml file.
  • Rsync-pulls any additional backup files from the remote host's backup directory.
  • Purges local backup files older than 14 days.

• One file:

  • lxc-remote-backup.sh - edit the variables at the top of the script to match your environment, then run it manually or schedule it via cron / systemd timer.

• Key variables to configure:

  Variable	Description
  BACKUP_DIR	Local directory where exports are stored
  SSH_HOST	SSH host alias for the remote server
  REMOTE_LXD	LXD remote name (as registered with lxc remote add)
  TEST_LXC_CONTAINER	A container name used to verify the connection
  REMOTE_BACKUP_DIR	Path on the remote host to rsync from

• Installation on fly (without using git):

  sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/lxc-remote-backup https://raw.githubusercontent.com/metalevel-tech/simple-backup-solutions/master/lxc-remote-backup.sh
  sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/lxc-remote-backup

References

• Restore LXC via remote instance by Spas Z. Spasov (pa4080)
• SSH Persistent Tunnel by Spas Z. Spasov (pa4080)

Notes

• How to rsync multiple source folders - on Unix & Linux
• Make "rm" move files to trash instead of completely removing them - on WEB UPD8
• Command to move a file to Trash via Terminal - on Ask Ubuntu
• How to compare two dates in a shell - on Unix & Linux
• Exhaustive list of backup solutions for Linux - on GitHub