NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

       backupninja [ -h ] [ -v ] [ -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  coordinate 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.

         Backup types include:

       - secure,  remote,  incremental  filesystem  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

       -V, --version
              Show backupninja version number

       -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 locations. 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.

EXIT VALUES

       0        success
       1        errors or warnings emitted during backup
       2        one or more backup actions failed
       3        syntax or usage error

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)