[CentOS] Initial backup prior to daily rsync backups

Thu Jul 16 15:13:20 UTC 2009
Jeff Gregor <cpbecket at berkshire.net>

David Fix wrote:
> Simple...  :)  Just rsync to the external drive, then rsync from the 
> drive to your local server.  :)
>
> --
> David Fix
> Senior Systems Administrator
> Mr. X Inc.
> 35 McCaul Street, Ste. #100
> Toronto, ON  M5T 1V7
> T:  (416) 595-6222, x 241
> F:  (416) 595-9122
> E:  davidf at mrxfx.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeff Gregor" <cpbecket at berkshire.net>
> To: centos at centos.org
> Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2009 10:52:46 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: [CentOS] Initial backup prior to daily rsync backups
>
> I have a few CentOS 5.3 servers out at remote sites that connect over a
> satellite link (a painfully slow satellite link). There's a time period
> in the wee hours of the morning when the satellite provider doesn't
> stiff me for bandwidth, and when the link is generally idle, where I
> want to use rsync to back up files to my local server. I've got rsync
> working in in combination with cron and ssh, and that process works fine.
>
> The problem is getting the initial copy of the files over to the local
> server so that rsync can just deal with files changed during the day
> (there tend to not be too many changes -- mostly office-type documents,
> few pictures, that sort of thing, so limited bandwidth is not a
> problem). If I run rsync now, however, it is trying to copy over all the
> files since none exist on the local servers, and by my calculations
> copying that 160gb worth of data should be done some time in
> mid-February, 2010.
>
> I can make the 4-hour round trip out to the remote site with a USB hard
> drive and copy the files that way, but my concern is how to get the file
> structure, timestamps, permissions, etc copied exactly from the remote
> server > USB drive > local server so that rsync can run most efficiently
> (and not have to do a compare on every single file the first time it 
> runs.)
>
> So the question is, how do I copy the files from the remote server back
> to my local server in a way that will allow rsync, once the copy is
> complete, to start dealing just with the daily changes in the most
> efficient way possible?
>
> Thanks!
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>   
In the words of Homer J. Simpson.... Do'h!
What a simple and obvious solution.... I was probably over-thinking 
things again.

Thanks!