[CentOS] OT - Linux NAS for Windows Environment

Tue Jan 31 22:07:46 UTC 2006
Troy Engel <tengel at fluid.com>

Benjamin Smith wrote:
> 
> We've combined our contractual requirement for nightly off-site backups and 
> snapshotting using Linux and rsync. I've put it together into a project 
> written in PHP that you're free to use: 
> 
> http://www.effortlessis.com/backupbuddy 

So here's a question from another direction regarding your project and
others that have this in common: is there a technical reason you can't
use a push mode to an rsync daemon, and require passwordless SSH instead?

At home I have a basic FC4 laptop hidden under the stereo that runs MPD
to stream music, and it doubles as a basic backup server (external USB
disk). This laptop has a static IP, but all others are on DHCP.

What makes sense to me is that the server runs rsyncd in a target mode,
something like:

  [laptop1]
    path = /mtn/usbdrive/backups/laptop1
    (other options...)

Then from the client, it simply runs the backup client indicating who
the server is and it's target, supplying the password (rsync
user at server1::laptop1 etc.). To me this seems a lot more architecturally
simple (and if you want SSH, you set it up after-the-fact as the
transport) and so forth.

Yet, no project (I can find, rdiff-backup would be nice) does this - is
there a reason? Why does everyone insist on dealing with SSH and keys?
(ignore the encryption benefit)

-te

-- 
Troy Engel | Systems Engineer
Fluid, Inc | http://www.fluid.com