Basic Install

This process is relatively simple. It consists of unpacking the SysBackup package into a convenient location (we'll use /opt/sysbackup/ for this example, then setting-up two folder trees: one for configuration information and another for storage of backups. For this example we'll be using /etc/sysbackup/ to store the configuration files and /home/sysbackup/ to store the backups. Please refer to the sample directory listings on the right while reading the instructions below.

Once the setup is completed you will want to edit the sysbackup.conf configuration file to reflect your setup.

The last step in the process is to actually configure your backup jobs. See the existing job configuration files in the conf.d folder for detailed information about backup job configuration. See also the JOB-CONF file more details.

Quick Install

In fact the following process is so simple that a script called quick-install is available to do most of the work for you. Simply unpack the distribution tarball in an appropriate location (the examples here all use /opt/sysbackup/,) execute the /opt/sysbackup/quick-install utility and follow the instructions.

If you execute quick-install as root it will perform the setup described in this Basic Installation document. If you execute the script as a system user it will setup SysBackup to run in /home/<user>/sysbackup.

Let's get started

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1. Start by unpacking the SysBackup tarball into an appropriate folder. For this example we will use /opt/sysbackup/.
2. Next you will want to setup your configuration folders and files. For this example we will use /etc/sysbackup/.
3. Create a subfolder to hold any ssh key files that you might need in the future: /etc/sysbackup/keys.
4. Create a subfolder to hold the job configuration files: /etc/sysbackup/conf.d.
5. For now you can create a symlink from /etc/sysbackup/plugin.d to the /opt/sysbackup/plugin.d folder. This will ensure that your installation will load all the distribution plugins. In the future, when you update the distribution files in /opt/sysbackup your installation will load the updated plugins. Create this symlink in the usual way, ie: ln -s /opt/sysbackup/plugin.d /etc/sysbackup/plugin.d.
6. Create a folder for temporary storage. For this example we will use /home/sysbackup/temp.

   The underlying partition will require enough disk space to hold the largest tarball in your backupset. (Start with lots of disk space if possible. You can be more careful later.)

7. Create a storage folder for your daily backup rotation. By default the backup folders have the format <Backup Path>/<Host Name>/Rotation. Therefore, for this installation we will use /home/sysbackup/test.azertech.net/daily.

   Again, there is a disk space issue to consider when setting-up your backup procedure but you can deal with that issue later.

   One point to consider immediately: The files in the temp folder will be moved to the daily folder if you choose to keep a local copy of your backupset. Keeping the two folders on the same partition can reduce significantly the time it takes to complete a backup.

8. If you plan to keep weekly and monthly rotations you will need to create folders for those also. For now we will assume /home/sysbacup/test.azertech.net/weekly/ and /home/sysbackup/test.azertech.net/monthly.

   Available disk space is the main consideration yet again. Perhaps more important is the ability to use hardlinks between identical files in the daily, weekly and monthy rotations. You will use less disk space if you can keep all the backups - daily, weekly and monthly - on the same partition so that identical files can be hardlinked to save space.

9. You can now copy the main configuration file and start editing it: cp /opt/sysbackup/sysbackup.conf /etc/sysbackup/. The file contains comments that will help you to understand the various items that you need to configure.
10. SysBackup will log a limited amount of information to /var/log/sysbackup.log during each backup run. Create the log file as follows so that SysBackup can write to it:

    $ sudo touch /var/log/sysbackup.log
    $ sudo chmod 666 /var/log/sysbackup.log
    

    The chmod command above is only necessary if you plan on running sysbackup without root permissions.

    At the time of this writing there is no configuration option for changing the location of the log file - you will have to edit the code for now if you need to change the log file location.

This completes the software and folder setup. At this point the SysBackup script will run but it will not do much for you. To get the right results you need to configure the backup jobs that you want SysBackup to execute for you.

Look through the sample job configuration files in /opt/sysbackup/conf.d/ and symlink any that you think you can use, ie: ln -s /opt/sysbackup/conf.d/mailman.conf /etc/sysbackup/conf.d/mailman.conf. If you find one that you want to use but you see that you need to edit it you can copy it instead: cp /opt/sysbackup/conf.d/homedirs.conf /etc/sysbackup/conf.d/ and edit it for your purposes.

See the JOB-CONF file for information on the structure and meaning of these files.