backupninja/man/backupninja.1

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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 filesytem 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 \fBbackupnina.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
.TP
Backupninja can be used to impliment 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:
.br
root@srchost# ssh-keygen -t dsa
.br
root@srchost# ssh-copy-id -i /root/.ssh/id_dsa.pub backup@desthost
.TP
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
.PD

.SH SEE ALSO
.BR ninjahelper (1), 
.BR backupninja.conf (5), 
.BR backup.d (5), 
.br
.SH AUTHOR
BACKUPNINJA was written by the riseup.net collective.