Arch Linux

occam

Member

From: Melbourne, Australia

Registered: 2005-01-16

Posts: 82

Backup to local ftp server

I have recently bought an ASUS RT-N13U, which is a wireless router with an USB port to which I have attached an external hard disk.
This is to be used to make files available to all computers on the network, but I would also like to use it for automated backups. However, the commands and backup software available on Arch do not seem to handle ftp. For instance "cp -u" works well with source and destination on the same computer - but does not seem to cope with ftp:// designations.  rsync seems to require an rsync server which the RT-N13U cannot help with.  kbackup cannot yet handle remote servers (according to available documentation), and so on and so on,,

What I want to do is to run (as a cron job):
1. establish an ftp connection (machine, username password)
2. run an equivalent to cp -u on certain directory trees
3. optionally, generate a report on what has been backed up
4. disconnect from the ftp server

Of course, making full backups (even automatically) is not a problem, but has anyone some idea on how to get incremental backups?

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Moduli non sunt multiplicandi praeter necessitatem

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Backup to local ftp server

Is ftp your only option? samba or nfs would be better.

Assuming it is, you can mount your ftp share as a drive, and then use any backup app. curlftpfs or lftpfs will do that for you.

occam

Member

From: Melbourne, Australia

Registered: 2005-01-16

Posts: 82

Re: Backup to local ftp server

As far as I know, the RT-N13U can be a printer server or ftp server - there is nothing in the documentation that indicates that it can be made into a SAMBA or NFS server.
lftpfs says it is read-only, but curlftps may well be the solution. I will experiment with that.
Thanks!

Last edited by occam (2010-12-19 09:55:32)

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Moduli non sunt multiplicandi praeter necessitatem

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Backup to local ftp server

You may be interested in trying DD-WRT - the relevant wiki page for your router is here.

occam

Member

From: Melbourne, Australia

Registered: 2005-01-16

Posts: 82

Re: Backup to local ftp server

I checked it out - but my router is the B1 variant.

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Moduli non sunt multiplicandi praeter necessitatem