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.TH BACKUPNINJA 1 "October 10, 2005" "riseup" "backupninja package"
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.SH NAME
BACKUPNINJA \- A lightweight, extensible meta-backup system
.br
.I
"a silent flower blossom death strike to lost data."
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B "backupninja [ \-h ] [ \-d ] [ \-n ] [ \-t ] [ \-f filename ] [ \-\-run filename ]"
.br
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B Backupninja
allows you to coordinate system backups by dropping a few
simple configuration files into /etc/backup.d/. Most programs you
might use for making backups don't have their own configuration file
format. Backupninja provides a centralized way to configure and
coordinate many different backup utilities.
.PP
.SH FEATURES
.IP - 2
easy to read ini style configuration files.
.IP -
you can drop in scripts to handle new types of backups.
.IP -
backup actions can be scheduled.
.IP -
you can choose when status report emails are mailed to you (always, on warning, on error, never).
.IP -
console-based wizard (ninjahelper) makes it easy to create backup action configuration files.
.IP -
passwords are never sent via the command line to helper programs.
.IP -
in order to backup a db or sql database, you cannot simply copy database files. backupninja helps you safely export the data to a format which you can backup.
.IP -
works with Linux-Vservers.
.B Backup types include:
.IP - 2
secure, remote, incremental filesystem backup (via rdiff-backup). incremental data is compressed. permissions are retained even with an unpriviledged backup user.
.IP -
basic system and hardware information.
.IP -
encrypted remote backups (via duplicity).
.IP -
safe backup of MySQL, PostgreSQL, OpenLDAP, and subversion databases.
.IP -
burn CD/DVDs or create ISOs.
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.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-h, \-\-help
Show summary of options
.TP
.B \-d, \-\-debug
Run in debug mode, where all log messages are output to the current shell.
.TP
.B \-f, \-\-conffile CONF_FILE
Use CONF_FILE for the main configuration instead of /etc/backupninja.conf
.TP
.B \-t, \-\-test
Run in test mode, no actions are actually taken.
.TP
.B \-n, \-\-now
Perform actions now, instead of when they might be scheduled.
.TP
.B \-\-run ACTION_FILE
Runs the action configuration ACTION_FILE and exits.
.SH CONFIGURATION
General settings are configured in /etc/backupninja.conf. In this file you
can set the log level and change the default directory locations. See \fBbackupninja.conf(5)\fP.
To preform the actual backup actions, backupninja processes each action configuration file in
/etc/backup.d according to the file's suffix. See \fBbackup.d(5)\fP.
.SH EXAMPLE USAGE
Backupninja can be used to implement whatever backup strategy you choose. It is intended, however, to be used like so:
.TP
First, databases are safely copied or exported to /var/backups. Often, you cannot make a file backup of a database while it is in use, hence the need to use special tools to make a safe copy or export into /var/backups.
.TP
Then, vital parts of the file system, including /var/backups, are nightly pushed to a remote, off-site, hard disk (using rdiff-backup). The local user is root, but the remote user is not privileged. Hopefully, the remote filesystem is encrypted.
.TP
In order for this to work (ie for diff-backup to run unattended), you must create ssh keys on the source server and copy the public key to the remote user's authorized keys file. For example:
root@srchost# ssh-keygen \-t rsa \-b 4096
root@srchost# ssh-copy-id \-i /root/.ssh/id_dsa.pub backup@desthost
Now, you should be able to ssh from user 'root' on srchost to user 'backup' on desthost without specifying a password. When prompted for a password by ssh-keygen, just leave it blank by hitting return. The "wizard" \fBninjahelper(1)\fP will walk you through these steps.
.SH FILES
.PD 0
\fB/usr/sbin/backupninja\fP main script
.br
\fB/etc/backupninja.conf\fP main configuration file; general options
.br
\fB/etc/cron.d/backupninja\fP runs main script hourly
.br
\fB/etc/logrotate.d/backupninja\fP rotates backupninja.log
.br
\fB/etc/backup.d\fP directory for configuration files
.br
\fB/usr/share/backupninja\fP directory for handler scripts
.br
\fB/usr/share/doc/backupninja/examples\fP example action configuration files.
.br
BACKUPNINJA was written by the riseup.net collective.