BACKUPNINJA(1)							backupninja package						    BACKUPNINJA(1)

NAME

       BACKUPNINJA - A lightweight, extensible meta-backup system
       "a silent flower blossom death strike to lost data."

SYNOPSIS

       backupninja [ -h ] [ -d ] [ -n ] [ -t ] [ -f filename ] [ --run filename ]

DESCRIPTION

       Backupninja  allows  you  to  coordinate system backups by dropping a few simple configuration files into /etc/backup.d/. Most programs you
       might use for making backups don't have their own configuration file format. Backupninja provides a centralized way to configure and  coor-
       dinate many different backup utilities.

FEATURES

       - easy to read ini style configuration files.

       - you can drop in scripts to handle new types of backups.

       - backup actions can be scheduled.

       - you can choose when status report emails are mailed to you (always, on warning, on error, never).

       - console-based wizard (ninjahelper) makes it easy to create backup action configuration files.

       - passwords are never sent via the command line to helper programs.

       - in  order to backup a db or sql database, you cannot simply copy database files. backupninja helps you safely export the data to a format
	 which you can backup.

       - works with Linux-Vservers.

	 Backup types include:

       - secure, remote, incremental filesytem backup (via rdiff-backup). incremental data is compressed. permissions are retained  even  with	an
	 unpriviledged backup user.

       - basic system and hardware information.

       - encrypted remote backups (via duplicity).

       - safe backup of MySQL, PostgreSQL, OpenLDAP, and subversion databases.

       - burn CD/DVDs or create ISOs.

OPTIONS

       -h, --help
	      Show summary of options

       -d, --debug
	      Run in debug mode, where all log messages are output to the current shell.

       -f, --conffile CONF_FILE
	      Use CONF_FILE for the main configuration instead of /etc/backupninja.conf

       -t, --test
	      Run in test mode, no actions are actually taken.

       -n, --now
	      Perform actions now, instead of when they might be scheduled.

       --run ACTION_FILE
	      Runs the action configuration ACTION_FILE and exits.

CONFIGURATION

       General	settings  are  configured  in /etc/backupninja.conf. In this file you can set the log level and change the default directory loca-
       tions. See backupninja.conf(5).

       To preform the actual backup actions, backupninja processes each action configuration file in /etc/backup.d according to the file's suffix.
       See backup.d(5).

EXAMPLE USAGE

       Backupninja can be used to implement whatever backup strategy you choose. It is intended, however, to be used like so:

       First,  databases  are  safely  copied or exported to /var/backups.  Often, you cannot make a file backup of a database while it is in use,
       hence the need to use special tools to make a safe copy or export into /var/backups.

       Then, vital parts of the file system, including /var/backups, are nightly pushed to a remote, off-site, hard disk (using rdiff-backup). The
       local user is root, but the remote user is not privileged. Hopefully, the remote filesystem is encrypted.

       In  order for this to work (ie for diff-backup to run unattended), you must create ssh keys on the source server and copy the public key to
       the remote user's authorized keys file. For example:
	      root@srchost# ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096
	      root@srchost# ssh-copy-id -i /root/.ssh/id_dsa.pub backup@desthost

       Now, you should be able to ssh from user 'root' on srchost to user 'backup' on desthost without specifying a password. When prompted for  a
       password by ssh-keygen, just leave it blank by hitting return. The "wizard" ninjahelper(1) will walk you through these steps.

FILES

       /usr/sbin/backupninja	    main script
       /etc/backupninja.conf	    main configuration file; general options
       /etc/cron.d/backupninja	    runs main script hourly
       /etc/logrotate.d/backupninja rotates backupninja.log
       /etc/backup.d		    directory for configuration files
       /usr/share/backupninja	    directory for handler scripts
       /usr/share/doc/backupninja/examples	 example action configuration files.

SEE ALSO

       ninjahelper(1), backupninja.conf(5), backup.d(5),

AUTHOR

       BACKUPNINJA was written by the riseup.net collective.

riseup								 October 10, 2005						    BACKUPNINJA(1)