Detailed Rsync backup instructions are available
To begin, simply log in as root to your server using: shell access method (VPS Console, SSH, telnet, etc.) or control panel (Cpanel, Plesk, etc.)
If you do not have root access, log in to the account you will be using to perform backups.
Note: rsync requires read access to the files it is to back up. So, it is often executed as a root user. However, it may also work when executed from individual user accounts.
To log in to your VPS via Console.
Log in through SSH client tool on Linux Terminal.
Next, create an RSA encryption key
Create an RSA encryption key for use with the SSH transport. To check if a key already exists, run:
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub |
If the file already exists, you may skip it. Otherwise, create a key with the ssh-keygen utility:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -N '' |
(Note: these are two single quotes)
Then, copy your RSA encryption key to the VPS.NET backup system
It is possible to copy the key through the shell.
scp ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net:keys/DOMAIN_NAME |
ssh user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net mergekeys |
To make sure rsync is installed:
♦ For CentOS run:
yum install rsync |
♦ For Debian or Ubuntu:
apt-get install rsync |
Test rsync by copying a small directory, such as /etc:
rsync -avz -e ssh /etc user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net:DOMAIN_NAME/ |
Add rsync as a daily cronjob
For Plesk Server Administrator:
◊ Go to Services choose System menu
◊ Add a new task as root
◊ Specify 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 (*).
The command will be in the format listed below.
For Cpanel/WHM, it will be needed to add a crontab entry manually through the shell:
◊ Log in as root.
◊ To edit your crontab file, type the following command at the Linux shell prompt:
crontab -e |
Append the following entry:
15 20 * * * rsync -avz --exclude=/proc --exclude=/sys --exclude=/dev -e ssh / user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net:DOMAIN_NAME |
Ctrl + X to Save and close the file (it depends on Editor that is used by default for CRONTAB).
Various rsync configurations:
Backup entire server:
rsync -avz --exclude=/proc --exclude=/sys --exclude=/dev -e ssh / user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net:DOMAIN_NAME |
Bak up home directories:
rsync -avz -e ssh /home user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net:DOMAIN_NAME |
Back up specific users:
rsync -avz -e ssh ~bob ~bill ~sarah user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net:DOMAIN_NAME |
View backup files/folders on Rsync backup server
SSH access has been permitted only from your vps.
Log in as root to your server
- shell access method (SSH)
Log in to your Rsync backup server via SSH.
User name for rsync backup is given on the top of the rsync backup instruction set.
ssh user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net |
Type bash for getting “bash” shell
$ bash [user@rsync1 /usr/home/user]$ |
View/List your files and directories.
Use “ls” command for listing your folders and files.
Also use -ltr option for listing long listing format, sort by modification time and reverse order while sorting.
[user@rsync1 /usr/home/user]$ ls -ltr |
drwx------ 2 11166 11166 512 Jul 22 15:16 keys drwxr-xr-x 3 11166 11166 512 Jul 22 15:17 DOMAIN_NAME |
Then you can see your backup files and folders.
[user@rsync1 /usr/home/user]$ cd DOMAIN_NAME/ [user@rsync1 /usr/home/user/DOMAIN_NAME]$ ls -ltr |
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 86 11166 11166 6656 Jul 22 14:50 etc |
Type ‘exit’ or Ctrl + D two times for exiting from rsync server.
Restore a folder from Rsync backup
Log in as root to your server
To recover a file/folder from Rsync backup server. Use RSYNC or SCP commands.
scp -r user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net:source_file_or_folder destination_folder |
Or
rsync --progress -avz user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net:source_file_or_folder destination_folder |
For example, If you want to recover a file called hosts from /etc folder to destination /tmp from your Rsync backup.
scp -r user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net:/usr/home/user/DOMAIN_NAME/etc/hosts /tmp/ |
rsync --progress -avz user@rsync1.cloudkeeper.net:/usr/home/user/DOMAIN_NAME/etc/hosts /tmp/ |