[CentOS] Securely backing up Linux machines to NAS?

[Glenn]

At 10:42 PM 9/11/2009, you wrote:
>I have been tasked with having a Buffalo Terastation Pro 2 NAS box,
>likely to be connected to a Linux box via samba, be the storage device
>to back up mostly Ubuntu and Centos systems.  The trick is, the
>machines to be backed up need to do so in an automated fashion and
>make a secure, encrypted connection to my Linux box hosting the NAS.
>The NAS does have SSL enabled for web admin access, though the same
>login credentials are used to authenticate the Linux host via samba to
>the NAS.
>
>So what are the simplest options to back up the Linux hosts?   rsync
>does come to mind, but how to do so securely from each host?   I'd
>consider something via ssh, but that would mean an interactive login,
>and encrypting individual files on the hosts is not an option.
>
>NFS is also available on the NAS, but considering the security
>concerns, I will not use that, nor do I want to enable any more
>services on the linux machines being backed up than necessary, meaning
>samba is not an option, unless it remains the ONLY one.
>
>I ONLY plan to use samba to mount the NAS to my Linux server, unless
>someone comes up with a more secure method, or even away to negate the
>need of the Linux server and permit the hosts to back up directly to
>the NAS...
>
>Ideas are welcome.
>
>Thanks.
>
>Scott

Scott,

http://www.jms1.net/code/rsync-backup.shtml

Cheers!