Saving Data on a Backup Server (Linux)

This manual explains how to automatically back up and restore your data on a backup server. The shell script example below also explains how to use IONOS FTP Storage as a backup server.

Please adjust the backupXX.pureserver.info, BACKUP USERNAME and BACKUP PASSWORD accordingly.

Create backups with a shell script

• Create the .netrc file as root. Set the rights for only root to be able to view and edit the file.
  [root@host ~]# touch /root/.netrc
  [root@host ~]# chmod 600 /root/.netrc
  In /root/.netrc add the following entries:
  machine backupXX.onlinehome-server.info
  login BACKUP USERNAME
  password BACKUP PASSWORD
  
  macdef backup
  put $1 $2
  put $1.md5 $2.md5
  quit

• The backup archive will be saved on the server before the backup. This should be done in /home :
  [root@host ~]# mkdir /home/backup
  [root@host ~]# chmod 700 /home/backup

• The backup script itself is stored in /root/bin/simple-backup.sh. Please create the /root/bin directory if it does not already exist.
  [root@host ~]# mkdir /root/bin
  Create the backup script and save it to /root/bin/simple-backup.sh.
  #!/bin/sh
  
  # Name of the backup file
  BACKUP_FILE="backup.tar.gz"
  
  # temporary location of the backup archive
  BACKUP_TMP="/home/backup/"
  
  # full path to the backup
  BACKUP=${BACKUP_TMP}${BACKUP_FILE}
  
  # directories to be backed up
  # in this example these are the customer web sites and emails
  BACKUP_DATA="/home/htdocs /var/spool/mail"
  
  # hostname of the backup server
  BACKUP_SERVER="backupXX.pureserver.info"
  
  # old UMASK backup
  UMASK=`umask`
  
  umask 0077
  tar --exclude=${BACKUP} -czf ${BACKUP} ${BACKUP_DATA} 2>/dev/null
  md5sum ${BACKUP} > ${BACKUP}.md5
  echo "\$ backup ${BACKUP} ${BACKUP_FILE}" | pftp ${BACKUP_SERVER} >/dev/null
  rm -f ${BACKUP} ${BACKUP}.md5
  umask ${UMASK}
  In the line BACKUP_SERVER="backupXX.onlinehome-server.info enter the hostname of the backup server.

• Give the script the correct rights:
  [root@host ~]# chmod 700 /root/bin/simple-backup.sh

• You can set up a cronjob to automate the backup. To do so, create the file /etc/cron.d/simple-backup then enter the cronjob for a daily backup in the following form:
  MINUTE HOUR * * * root /root /root/bin/simple-backup.sh
  For MINUTE (0-59) and HOUR (0-24) set the desired time for the backup.

Restore backup file

You can, for example, copy the backup from the backup server back to your server and then unpack it as follows:
[root@host ~]# curl ftp://BACKUP-USERNAME:BACKUP-PASSWORD@backup443.onlinehome-server.info/backup.tar.gz > backup.tar.gz

[root@host ~]# tar -xvf backup.tar.gz