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OffsiteNetManager

Jump To: Support > KB > Backup > OffsiteNetManager

Configuring a NetManager for offsite backup

Configuring a NetManager to be backed up off-site is pretty simple. Create /etc/netmanager/rsync.conf with the following contents:

# This is a space-separated list of items in the following format:
# <path to be backed up>
# You can include a number of special items:
# You can include a number of special items:
# %MAIL = Email inboxes
# %USERS = User home areas
# %SETTINGS = NetManager settings
# %MYSQL = MySQL databases dumped as SQL
# %CALENDARS = Shared Calendars
# %sharename = Samba share called 'sharename'
# Default: backup="%MAIL %USERS %CALENDARS %SETTINGS"
#
backup="%MAIL %USERS %CALENDARS %SETTINGS"

host="dobackup.ptlnet.com"
user="suppliedusername"
port="443"
compress="y"
delete="y"
previous="~/previous/%DATE"
skip=""
# proxy="proxyIP:Port"

Note that the file is the same as that used by NetManager when backing up to NetManager backup server. A few more options need to be supplied though. The options compress, delete and previous are similar to those described in the documentation for runrsync. The program assumes that port 443 is allowed out through your firewall; if not, you'll need to set proxy to your proxy server and port (an example line is shown commented out above).

The backup itself is a push operation unlike when backing up to on-site backup server. The backup is performed by running runrsync with the -o flag, i.e.

netmanager 1# runrsync -o

As discussed in the main documentation, you may use -l (along with the -o flag) to simply list the areas to be backed up:

netmanager 1# runrsync -ol
/usr/export/home as home
/usr/mail as mail
/etc as settings
/usr/staffshare as StaffDocs
/usr/shared as Shared
netmanager 2#

As with the on-site backup, certain filetypes can be excluded. The mechanism to configure these is the same as in the main documentation, notably the skip="" line and /etc/netmanager/externalbackup.exclude files. Skipping pushing large videos, etc. off-site will reduce the amount of data storage required.

The backup process uses ssh to connect to the remote server and so ssh keys must be created with the ssh-keygen command:

netmanager 1# ssh-keygen -t rsa
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/root/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
7e:cd:09:2f:ce:67:e3:7f:8e:52:cc:df:fb:cb:08:9f root@netmanager
netmanager 2#

The id_rsa.pub file will need to be provided to Precedence for installation on the Remote Safeguard backup service. Normally, Precedence will configure the NetManager for the backup and so you will not need to do this yourself.

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Page last modified on May 24, 2023, at 09:28 AM by sborrill