Using Subversion for Server Backups
Last month, I lost the template for Barry Bakes. I was ultimately to blame for it for 2 reasons:
- I had altered the default template without copying everything to a new folder.
- I had no server backups running.
After a few iterations, I came up with an ingenious way to use subversion and rsync to handle my backups and not waste megabytes every day from duplication. Also, this method doesn’t leave you with a folder full of backup folders. There are 2 folders, the svn repository and the rsync folder.
To do this, you must generate dsa or rsa keys for passwordless logins.
To set it up svn, you must do the following:
svn create /path/to/svn/repository rsync -azvv --progress server:/path/ /local/path/ cd /parent/of/local/path/ svn import folder file:///path/to/svn/repository -m 'Initial Import' rm folder -rf svn co file:///path/to/svn/repository
Note that everything in bold must be replaced with your specific values. Once that is done, run this shell script once a day to commit changes to subversion:
#/bin/sh /usr/bin/rsync -azvv --delete --progress server:/path/ /local/path/ cd /parent/of/local/path/ /usr/bin/svn status | /bin/grep '^?' | /bin/sed 's/^? /svn add "/g' | /bin/sed 's/$/"/g' | /bin/bash /usr/bin/svn status | /bin/grep '^!' | /bin/sed 's/^? /svn delete "/g' | /bin/sed 's/$/"/g' | /bin/bash /usr/bin/svn commit -m '`date +%Y-%m-%d`' /usr/bin/svn update
That will update and commit the changes to subversion. It comments the date in yyyy-mm-dd format for each commit. Plus, now you can checkout any date (revision) you want!
Happy Backup
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