rsync tutorial please?

[ashley194]

I'm having a really tough time trying to backup my Sabayon installtion to my spare 80GB HDD. Have heard a lot about rsync, but can't seem to make head or tail of the advice already posted on the internet. Anyone like to write a short tutorial on how to setup rsync, please?

Thanks

[voxiac]

I've found this page to be very informative on how to do backups with rsync:
http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/
I actually use the method desribed there in my homebreewed backup script, just with slight modifications (and those are made quite hackishly ).

[Fitzcarraldo]

I would recommend that you invest in a copy of Scot Granneman's "Linux Phrasebook", a pocket book which lists for GBP 10.99 / USD 14.99 and is widely available (If you cannot find it in a bookshop, Amazon also stock it). It's the most user-friendly little guide to Linux I've come across, and the guy has a knack of making things easy to understand, with lots of examples. He has a good section on rsync and I used it to help me set up a Desktop Config File and shell script to back up my $HOME to an external USB HDD. Too much to explain via a forum, so invest in the book 'cause it should help you with many Linux commands and tricks. If I remember correctly, it got a 10/10 rating from Linux Format magazine a few months ago, which is why I bought it. I keep it to hand on my desk.

[Man, the publisher ought to pay me a commission!]

[ashley194]

Hi Fitzcarraldo,
The version of Linux Phrasebook I've found on Amazon was published '22 Jun 2006', is that the latest version you've got

Thanks

[Fitzcarraldo]

Yep, that's the one.

[ashley194]

Bought a copy of Linux Phrasebook on Amazon.co.uk this morning for £6.99

Thanks for all the advice

[Fitzcarraldo]

Hope you find it helpful.

He tells you how to set up a crontab to launch rsync automatically if you want. But, if you want to, you could put the rsync command directly into a Desktop Config File (shortcut) to run it manually and easily without typing anything. Alternatively, you could put the rsync command into a shell script in, say, your home directory and use a Desktop Config File on your Desktop to run the shell script. If you want to see an example of setting up a Desktop Config File to run a shell script, have a look at my post in the following thread:

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=10519

If you just want to run one rsync command, just type the rsync command directly into the Command box under the Application tab of the Desktop Config File. That's how I did it to start with, but I changed later to using the Desktop Config File to run a shell script so that I could put several rsync commands in the same shell script and also automatically create a file recording the date and time when I made the backup. I have two Desktop Config Files on my Desktop with nice icons: "Backup_1" and "Backup_2" and I use them alternately so that I don't screw up my backup unintentionally. Each shell script creates a text file on my desktop which tells me when they were last run. Of course you can do these things all sorts of different ways, but that was the way I wanted to do it. Have fun.

[WarraWarra]

Cool thanks just what the doctor ordered LOL.
I was so frustrated with the 1920's type telegraph line ftp client in both windows / linux that it freaked me so I ended up looking into rsync out of necesaty just to be able to transfer from 1 remote website to another remote website some files as not all has FXP queing for this / some ftp software.

Now to find a gui for rsync.

PS> If you guy's need to have online space for backups it costs about $69 per year for 300gb or more with 1000gb per month or more transfers , I should still have most of that website hosting company's info here. " hostmonster / starlogic " think is the 2 best for the price. This beats the usb / esata hd backup especially if traveling but not sure how secure it is.
Most of them is linux based and should be able to rsync too.

Anyone found a good backup how-to site / link so we can build a proper backup before installing guide. Maybe something that would work for both win / lin backups. I ran into a brick wall with this.
Thanks

[Fitzcarraldo]

Re a GUI for rsync, check out grsync WarraWarra, it's in Portage.