Backup folders in Linux over rsync to Freenas disk

Goal: Backup your home partition or what ever folder you like to your network attached folder on freenas system over rsync.

• Preparation - your freenas system should be properly configured, accessible over network and cifs/smb is working on it.

• First test - try to access your smb share over dolphine or some other file manager.

• Create folder which you will use to mount your samba share:

  $ mkdir /mnt/freenas

• Important part is to properly configure your mount point so ordinary user can mount it each time when needed and not just root user. This is important so your backup home files will preserve correct permission

  Edit your /etc/fstab and add next lines

  //192.168.1.10/backup1          /mnt/freenas            smbfs   users,noauto    0       0

  or if you are using newer distro (like Kubuntu 12.10) then you need to use cifs file system

  //192.168.1.10/backup1          /mnt/freenas            cifs    users,noauto    0       0

  where 192.168.1.10 is my freenas machine local ip. Then reload mount table

  $ sudo mount -a

• Now you can mount this folder like a regular user - this is important so your backup home files will preserve correct permission

  $ mount /mnt/freenas

• We are now ready lets execute rsync command

  rsync -azv --delete --log-file=/tmp/rsync-backup.txt /home/user/ /mnt/freenas/home_user/

  Where rsync options are

  • a - archive flag, so timestamps, permissions... will be preserved
  • z - use compression when transfering files
  • v - be verbose
  • --delete - deletes files from target that are not there in a source directory.
  • --log-file=file - specify log file

Thats it.

Resources

• http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/09/rsync-command-examples/
• http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2007/03/08/howto-mounting-without-sudo/
• http://www.freenas.org/