rsync and bqbackup / bqinternet - VPS backup

[fargoradio]

Question about rsync and bqinternet.

Just signed up with bqinternet.com for their remote backup solution. $5/mo for 10GB, $20/mo for 100GB. Just connected and backed up my /etc directory as a test. Pretty cool and easy to follow instructions.

When running rsync - am I backing up my mySQL databases at the same time or not? I'm guessing not. So I suspect I need to set up some type of mySQL dump to create a file that then gets backed up. Is that accurate?

Also, say I delete some files on my machine - does rsync then delete them on the remote server then next time it runs? Or do they stay there indefinitely and I need to do remote server clean up from time to time?

Thanks for any help with this!

Check this thread for more about rsync.

[lnxcode]

Originally Posted by fargoradio

Question about rsync and bqinternet.

Just signed up with bqinternet.com for their remote backup solution. $5/mo for 10GB, $20/mo for 100GB. Just connected and backed up my /etc directory as a test. Pretty cool and easy to follow instructions.

When running rsync - am I backing up my mySQL databases at the same time or not? I'm guessing not. So I suspect I need to set up some type of mySQL dump to create a file that then gets backed up. Is that accurate?

Also, say I delete some files on my machine - does rsync then delete them on the remote server then next time it runs? Or do they stay there indefinitely and I need to do remote server clean up from time to time?

Thanks for any help with this!

Check this thread for more about rsync.

I beleive that this will only copy, I don't think it will delete. However, you will need to double check by syncing and testing it out.

More then likely it only writes (sorry I forget the whole syntax for it), as I believe you would need to add "-d" for it to remove files that have been deleted as well.

So you should be all set.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by lnxcode

I beleive that this will only copy, I don't think it will delete. However, you will need to double check by syncing and testing it out.

More then likely it only writes (sorry I forget the whole syntax for it), as I believe you would need to add "-d" for it to remove files that have been deleted as well.

So you should be all set.

It does incremental backups, and does replace, so far as my direct testing has determined.

[lnxcode]

Originally Posted by Shazam

It does incremental backups, and does replace, so far as my direct testing has determined.

Yes, it should replace but it won't delete, which was the orginal question

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by lnxcode

Yes, it should replace but it won't delete, which was the orginal question

Actually it says:

"Rsync greatly improves efficiency when compared to traditional remote backup methods. By synchronizing only those files that have changed since the last backup, using rsync results in large bandwidth savings. When combined with on-the-fly compression, performing daily rsync backup can result in less data transfer than it would take to perform two backups using the .tar.gz method in a given month."

Synchronizing means changing, adding, deleting.

[fargoradio]

From Scott Burns at Remote Backup using Rsync or FTP:

As far as files that have been deleted, Rsync keeps them by default, unless you use the --delete option.

Let me say that for $5 a month - the guys at bqbackup.com have been great - answering my questions and their documentation is good too. I highly recommend them!

For those considering utilizing rsync, here are some more resources:

Homepage: rsync
Tutorial: Everything Linux - A Tutorial on Using Rsync
Documentation: rsync documentation

I've run into a couple issues where things are either timing out or connections are getting dropped - I'm going to play with it more today and see what's going on.