1rsnapshot(1) rsnapshot-tools rsnapshot(1)
2
6 rsnapshot - remote filesystem snapshot utility
7
9 rsnapshot [-vtxqVD] [-c cfgfile] [command] [args]
10
12 rsnapshot is a filesystem snapshot utility. It can take incremental
13 snapshots of local and remote filesystems for any number of machines.
14 Local filesystem snapshots are handled with rsync(1). Secure remote
16 connections are handled with rsync over ssh(1), while anonymous rsync
17 connections simply use an rsync server. Both remote and local transfers
18 depend on rsync.
19 rsnapshot saves much more disk space than you might imagine. The amount
21 of space required is roughly the size of one full backup, plus a copy
22 of each additional file that is changed. rsnapshot makes extensive use
23 of hard links, so if the file doesn't change, the next snapshot is
24 simply a hard link to the exact same file.
25 rsnapshot will typically be invoked as root by a cron job, or series of
27 cron jobs. It is possible, however, to run as any arbitrary user with
28 an alternate configuration file.
29 All important options are specified in a configuration file, which is
31 located by default at /etc/rsnapshot.conf. An alternate file can be
32 specified on the command line. There are also additional options which
33 can be passed on the command line.
34 The command line options are as follows:
36 -v verbose, show shell commands being executed
38 -t test, show shell commands that would be executed
40 -c path to alternate config file
42 -x one filesystem, don't cross partitions within each backup point
44 -q quiet, suppress non-fatal warnings
46 -V same as -v, but with more detail
48 -D a firehose of diagnostic information
50
52 /etc/rsnapshot.conf is the default configuration file. All parameters
53 in this file must be separated by tabs. /etc/rsnapshot.conf.default can
54 be used as a reference.
55 It is recommended that you copy /etc/rsnapshot.conf.default to
57 /etc/rsnapshot.conf, and then modify /etc/rsnapshot.conf to suit your
58 needs.
59 Long lines may be split over several lines. "Continuation" lines must
61 begin with a space or a tab character. Continuation lines will have
62 all leading and trailing whitespace stripped off, and then be appended
63 with an intervening tab character to the previous line when the
64 configuration file is parsed.
65 Here is a list of allowed parameters:
67 config_version Config file version (required). Default is 1.2
69 snapshot_root Local filesystem path to save all snapshots
71 include_conf Include another file in the configuration at
73 this point.
74 This is recursive, but you may need to be careful about paths
76 when specifying which file to include. We check to see if the
77 file you have specified is readable, and will yell an error if
78 it isn't. We recommend using a full path. As a special case,
79 include_conf's value may be enclosed in `backticks` in which
80 case it will be executed and whatever it spits to STDOUT will
81 be included in the configuration. Note that shell meta-
82 characters may be interpreted.
83 no_create_root If set to 1, rsnapshot won't create
85 snapshot_root directory
86 cmd_rsync Full path to rsync (required)
88 cmd_ssh Full path to ssh (optional)
90 cmd_cp Full path to cp (optional, but must be GNU
92 version)
93 If you are using Linux, you should uncomment cmd_cp. If you are
95 using a platform which does not have GNU cp, you should leave
96 cmd_cp commented out.
97 With GNU cp, rsnapshot can take care of both normal files and
99 special files (such as FIFOs, sockets, and block/character
100 devices) in one pass.
101 If cmd_cp is disabled, rsnapshot will use its own built-in
103 function, native_cp_al() to backup up regular files and
104 directories. This will then be followed up by a separate call
105 to rsync, to move the special files over (assuming there are
106 any).
107 cmd_rm Full path to rm (optional)
109 cmd_logger Full path to logger (optional, for syslog
111 support)
112 cmd_du Full path to du (optional, for disk usage
114 reports)
115 cmd_rsnapshot_diff Full path to rsnapshot-diff (optional)
117 cmd_preexec
119 Full path (plus any arguments) to preexec script (optional).
121 This script will run immediately before each backup operation
122 (but not any rotations). If the execution fails, rsnapshot will
123 stop immediately.
124 cmd_postexec
126 Full path (plus any arguments) to postexec script (optional).
128 This script will run immediately after each backup operation
129 (but not any rotations). If the execution fails, rsnapshot will
130 stop immediately.
131 linux_lvm_cmd_lvcreate
133 linux_lvm_cmd_lvremove
135 linux_lvm_cmd_mount
137 linux_lvm_cmd_umount
139 Paths to lvcreate, lvremove, mount and umount commands, for use
141 with Linux LVMs. You may include options to the commands also.
142 The lvcreate, lvremove, mount and umount commands are required
143 for managing snapshots of LVM volumes and are otherwise
144 optional.
145 retain [name] [number]
147 "name" refers to the name of this backup level (e.g., alpha,
149 beta, so also called the 'interval'). "number" is the number of
150 snapshots for this type of interval that will be retained. The
151 value of "name" will be the command passed to rsnapshot to
152 perform this type of backup.
153 A deprecated alias for 'retain' is 'interval'.
155 Example: retain alpha 6
157 [root@localhost]# rsnapshot alpha
159 For this example, every time this is run, the following will
161 happen:
162 <snapshot_root>/alpha.5/ will be deleted, if it exists.
164 <snapshot_root>/alpha.{1,2,3,4} will all be rotated +1, if they
166 exist.
167 <snapshot_root>/alpha.0/ will be copied to
169 <snapshot_root>/alpha.1/ using hard links.
170 Each backup point (explained below) will then be rsynced to the
172 corresponding directories in <snapshot_root>/alpha.0/
173 Backup levels must be specified in the config file in order,
175 from most frequent to least frequent. The first entry is the
176 one which will be synced with the backup points. The subsequent
177 backup levels (e.g., beta, gamma, etc) simply rotate, with each
178 higher backup level pulling from the one below it for its .0
179 directory.
180 Example:
182 retain alpha 6
184 retain beta 7
186 retain gamma 4
188 beta.0/ will be moved from alpha.5/, and gamma.0/ will be moved
190 from beta.6/
191 alpha.0/ will be rsynced directly from the filesystem.
193 link_dest 1
195 If your version of rsync supports --link-dest (2.5.7 or newer),
197 you can enable this to let rsync handle some things that GNU cp
198 or the built-in subroutines would otherwise do. Enabling this
199 makes rsnapshot take a slightly more complicated code branch,
200 but it's the best way to support special files on non-Linux
201 systems.
202 sync_first 1
204 sync_first changes the behaviour of rsnapshot. When this is
206 enabled, all calls to rsnapshot with various backup levels
207 simply rotate files. All backups are handled by calling
208 rsnapshot with the "sync" argument. The synced files are stored
209 in a ".sync" directory under the snapshot_root.
210 This allows better recovery in the event that rsnapshot is
212 interrupted in the middle of a sync operation, since the sync
213 step and rotation steps are separated. This also means that you
214 can easily run "rsnapshot sync" on the command line without
215 fear of forcing all the other directories to rotate up. This
216 benefit comes at the cost of one more snapshot worth of disk
217 space. The default is 0 (off).
218 verbose 2
220 The amount of information to print out when the program is run.
222 Allowed values are 1 through 5. The default is 2.
223 1 Quiet Show fatal errors only
225 2 Default Show warnings and errors
226 3 Verbose Show equivalent shell commands being executed
227 4 Extra Verbose Same as verbose, but with more detail
228 5 Debug All kinds of information
229 loglevel 3
231 This number means the same thing as verbose above, but it
233 determines how much data is written to the logfile, if one is
234 being written.
235 logfile /var/log/rsnapshot
237 Full filesystem path to the rsnapshot log file. If this is
239 defined, a log file will be written, with the amount of data
240 being controlled by loglevel. If this is commented out, no log
241 file will be written.
242 include [file-name-pattern]
244 This gets passed directly to rsync using the --include
246 directive. This parameter can be specified as many times as
247 needed, with one pattern defined per line. See the rsync(1) man
248 page for the syntax.
249 exclude [file-name-pattern]
251 This gets passed directly to rsync using the --exclude
253 directive. This parameter can be specified as many times as
254 needed, with one pattern defined per line. See the rsync(1) man
255 page for the syntax.
256 include_file /path/to/include/file
258 This gets passed directly to rsync using the --include-from
260 directive. See the rsync(1) man page for the syntax.
261 exclude_file /path/to/exclude/file
263 This gets passed directly to rsync using the --exclude-from
265 directive. See the rsync(1) man page for the syntax.
266 rsync_short_args -a
268 List of short arguments to pass to rsync. If not specified,
270 "-a" is the default. Please note that these must be all next to
271 each other. For example, "-az" is valid, while "-a -z" is not.
272 "-a" is rsync's "archive mode" which tells it to copy as much
274 of the filesystem metadata as it can for each file. This
275 specifically does *not* include information about hard links,
276 as that would greatly increase rsync's memory usage and slow it
277 down. If you need to preserve hard links in your backups, then
278 add "H" to this.
279 rsync_long_args --delete --numeric-ids --relative
281 --delete-excluded
282 List of long arguments to pass to rsync. The default values
284 are
285 --delete --numeric-ids --relative --delete-excluded This
286 means that the directory structure in each backup point
287 destination will match that in the backup point source.
288 Quotes are permitted in rsync_long_args, eg --rsync-path="sudo
290 /usr/bin/rsync". You may use either single (') or double (")
291 quotes, but nested quotes (including mixed nested quotes) are
292 not permitted. Similar quoting is also allowed in per-backup-
293 point rsync_long_args.
294 ssh_args -p 22
296 Arguments to be passed to ssh. If not specified, the default is
298 none.
299 du_args -csh
301 Arguments to be passed to du. If not specified, the default is
303 -csh. GNU du supports -csh, BSD du supports -csk, Solaris du
304 doesn't support -c at all. The GNU version is recommended,
305 since it offers the most features.
306 lockfile /var/run/rsnapshot.pid
308 stop_on_stale_lockfile 0
310 Lockfile to use when rsnapshot is run. This prevents a second
312 invocation from clobbering the first one. If not specified, no
313 lock file is used. Make sure to use a directory that is not
314 world writeable for security reasons. Use of a lock file is
315 strongly recommended.
316 If a lockfile exists when rsnapshot starts, it will try to read
318 the file and stop with an error if it can't. If it *can* read
319 the file, it sees if a process exists with the PID noted in the
320 file. If it does, rsnapshot stops with an error message. If
321 there is no process with that PID, then we assume that the
322 lockfile is stale and ignore it *unless* stop_on_stale_lockfile
323 is set to 1 in which case we stop.
324 stop_on_stale_lockfile defaults to 0.
326 one_fs 1
328 Prevents rsync from crossing filesystem partitions. Setting
330 this to a value of 1 enables this feature. 0 turns it off. This
331 parameter is optional. The default is 0 (off).
332 use_lazy_deletes 1
334 Changes default behavior of rsnapshot and does not initially
336 remove the oldest snapshot. Instead it moves that directory to
337 _delete.[processid] and continues as normal. Once the backup
338 has been completed, the lockfile will be removed before
339 rsnapshot starts deleting the directory.
340 Enabling this means that snapshots get taken sooner (since the
342 delete doesn't come first), and any other rsnapshot processes
343 are allowed to start while the final delete is happening. This
344 benefit comes at the cost of using more disk space. The default
345 is 0 (off).
346 The details of how this works have changed in rsnapshot version
348 1.3.1. Originally you could only ever have one .delete
349 directory per backup level. Now you can have many, so if your
350 next (eg) alpha backup kicks off while the previous one is
351 still doing a lazy delete you may temporarily have extra
352 _delete directories hanging around.
353 linux_lvm_snapshotsize 2G
355 LVM snapshot(s) size (lvcreate --size option).
357 linux_lvm_snapshotname rsnapshot
359 Name to be used when creating the LVM logical volume
361 snapshot(s) (lvcreate --name option).
362 linux_lvm_vgpath /dev
364 Path to the LVM Volume Groups.
366 linux_lvm_mountpath /mnt/lvm-snapshot
368 Mount point to use to temporarily mount the snapshot(s).
370 backup /etc/ localhost/
372 backup root@example.com:/etc/ example.com/
374 backup rsync://example.com/path2/ example.com/
376 backup /var/ localhost/ one_fs=1
378 backup lvm://vg0/home/path2/ lvm-vg0/
380 backup_script /usr/local/bin/backup_pgsql.sh pgsql_backup/
382 Examples:
384 backup /etc/ localhost/
386 Backs up /etc/ to <snapshot_root>/<retain>.0/localhost/etc/
388 using rsync on the local filesystem
389 backup /usr/local/ localhost/
391 Backs up /usr/local/ to
393 <snapshot_root>/<retain>.0/localhost/usr/local/ using rsync
394 on the local filesystem
395 backup root@example.com:/etc/ example.com/
397 Backs up root@example.com:/etc/ to
399 <snapshot_root>/<retain>.0/example.com/etc/ using rsync
400 over ssh
401 backup example.com:/etc/ example.com/
403 Same thing but let ssh choose the remote username (as
405 specified in ~/.ssh/config, otherwise the same as the local
406 username)
407 backup root@example.com:/usr/local/ example.com/
409 Backs up root@example.com:/usr/local/ to
411 <snapshot_root>/<retain>.0/example.com/usr/local/ using
412 rsync over ssh
413 backup rsync://example.com/pub/ example.com/pub/
415 Backs up rsync://example.com/pub/ to
417 <snapshot_root>/<retain>.0/example.com/pub/ using an
418 anonymous rsync server. Please note that unlike backing up
419 local paths and using rsync over ssh, rsync servers have
420 "modules", which are top level directories that are
421 exported. Therefore, the module should also be specified in
422 the destination path, as shown in the example above (the
423 pub/ directory at the end).
424 backup /var/ localhost/ one_fs=1
426 This is the same as the other examples, but notice the
428 fourth column. This is how you specify per-backup-point
429 options to over-ride global settings. This extra parameter
430 can take several options, separated by commas.
431 It is most useful when specifying per-backup rsync excludes
433 thus:
434 backup root@somehost:/ somehost
436 +rsync_long_args=--exclude=/var/spool/
437 Note the + sign. That tells rsnapshot to add to the list
439 of arguments to pass to rsync instead of replacing the
440 list.
441 backup lvm://vg0/home/path2/ lvm-vg0/
443 Backs up the LVM logical volume called home, of volume
445 group vg0, to <snapshot_root>/<retain>.0/lvm-vg0/. Will
446 create, mount, backup, unmount and remove an LVM snapshot
447 for each lvm:// entry.
448 backup_script /usr/local/bin/backup_database.sh
450 db_backup/
451 In this example, we specify a script or program to run.
453 This script should simply create files and/or directories
454 in its current working directory. rsnapshot will then take
455 that output and move it into the directory specified in the
456 third column.
457 Please note that whatever is in the destination directory
459 will be completely deleted and recreated. For this reason,
460 rsnapshot prevents you from specifying a destination
461 directory for a backup_script that will clobber other
462 backups.
463 So in this example, say the backup_database.sh script
465 simply runs a command like:
466 #!/bin/sh
468 mysqldump -uusername mydatabase > mydatabase.sql
470 chmod u=r,go= mydatabase.sql # r-------- (0400)
472 rsnapshot will take the generated "mydatabase.sql" file and
474 move it into the <snapshot_root>/<retain>.0/db_backup/
475 directory. On subsequent runs, rsnapshot checks the
476 differences between the files created against the previous
477 files. If the backup script generates the same output on
478 the next run, the files will be hard linked against the
479 previous ones, and no additional disk space will be taken
480 up.
481 backup_exec ssh root@1.2.3.4 "du -sh /.offsite_backup"
483 optional/
484 backup_exec rsync -az /.snapshots/daily.0
486 root@1.2.3.4:/.offsite_backup/ required/
487 backup_exec /bin/true/
489 backup_exec simply runs the command listed. The second
491 argument is not required and defaults to a value of
492 'optional'. It specifies the importance that the command
493 return 0. Valid values are 'optional' and 'required'. If
494 the command is specified as optional, a non-zero exit
495 status from the command will result in a warning message
496 being output. If the command is specified as 'required', a
497 non-zero exit status from the command will result in an
498 error message being output and rsnapshot itself will exit
499 with a non-zero exit status.
500 Remember that tabs must separate all elements, and that there must
502 be a trailing slash on the end of every directory.
503 A hash mark (#) on the beginning of a line is treated as a comment.
505 Putting it all together (an example file):
507 # THIS IS A COMMENT, REMEMBER TABS MUST SEPARATE ALL ELEMENTS
509 config_version 1.2
511 snapshot_root /.snapshots/
513 cmd_rsync /usr/bin/rsync
515 cmd_ssh /usr/bin/ssh
516 #cmd_cp /bin/cp
517 cmd_rm /bin/rm
518 cmd_logger /usr/bin/logger
519 cmd_du /usr/bin/du
520 linux_lvm_cmd_lvcreate /sbin/lvcreate
522 linux_lvm_cmd_lvremove /sbin/lvremove
523 linux_lvm_cmd_mount /bin/mount
524 linux_lvm_cmd_umount /bin/umount
525 linux_lvm_snapshotsize 2G
527 linux_lvm_snapshotname rsnapshot
528 linux_lvm_vgpath /dev
529 linux_lvm_mountpath /mnt/lvm-snapshot
530 retain alpha 6
532 retain beta 7
533 retain gamma 7
534 retain delta 3
535 backup /etc/ localhost/
537 backup /home/ localhost/
538 backup_script /usr/local/bin/backup_mysql.sh mysql_backup/
539 backup root@foo.com:/etc/ foo.com/
541 backup root@foo.com:/home/ foo.com/
542 backup root@mail.foo.com:/home/ mail.foo.com/
543 backup rsync://example.com/pub/ example.com/pub/
544 backup lvm://vg0/xen-home/ lvm-vg0/xen-home/
545 backup_exec echo "backup finished!"
546
548 rsnapshot can be used by any user, but for system-wide backups you will
549 probably want to run it as root.
550 Since backups usually get neglected if human intervention is required,
552 the preferred way is to run it from cron.
553 When you are first setting up your backups, you will probably also want
555 to run it from the command line once or twice to get a feel for what
556 it's doing.
557 Here is an example crontab entry, assuming that backup levels alpha,
559 beta, gamma and delta have been defined in /etc/rsnapshot.conf
560 0 */4 * * * /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot alpha
562 50 23 * * * /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot beta
564 40 23 * * 6 /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot gamma
566 30 23 1 * * /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot delta
568 This example will do the following:
570 6 alpha backups a day (once every 4 hours, at 0,4,8,12,16,20)
572 1 beta backup every day, at 11:50PM
574 1 gamma backup every week, at 11:40PM, on Saturdays (6th day of
576 week)
577 1 delta backup every month, at 11:30PM on the 1st day of the month
579 It is usually a good idea to schedule the larger backup levels to run a
581 bit before the lower ones. For example, in the crontab above, notice
582 that "beta" runs 10 minutes before "alpha". The main reason for this
583 is that the beta rotate will pull out the oldest alpha and make that
584 the youngest beta (which means that the next alpha rotate will not need
585 to delete the oldest alpha), which is more efficient. A secondary
586 reason is that it is harder to predict how long the lowest backup level
587 will take, since it needs to actually do an rsync of the source as well
588 as the rotate that all backups do.
589 If rsnapshot takes longer than 10 minutes to do the "beta" rotate
591 (which usually includes deleting the oldest beta snapshot), then you
592 should increase the time between the backup levels. Otherwise
593 (assuming you have set the lockfile parameter, as is recommended) your
594 alpha snapshot will fail sometimes because the beta still has the lock.
595 Remember that these are just the times that the program runs. To set
597 the number of backups stored, set the retain numbers in
598 /etc/rsnapshot.conf
599 To check the disk space used by rsnapshot, you can call it with the
601 "du" argument.
602 For example:
604 rsnapshot du
606 This will show you exactly how much disk space is taken up in the
608 snapshot root. This feature requires the UNIX du command to be
609 installed on your system, for it to support the "-csh" command line
610 arguments, and to be in your path. You can also override your path
611 settings and the flags passed to du using the cmd_du and du_args
612 parameters.
613 It is also possible to pass a relative file path as a second argument,
615 to get a report on a particular file or subdirectory.
616 rsnapshot du localhost/home/
618 The GNU version of "du" is preferred. The BSD version works well also,
620 but does not support the -h flag (use -k instead, to see the totals in
621 kilobytes). Other versions of "du", such as Solaris, may not work at
622 all.
623 To check the differences between two directories, call rsnapshot with
625 the "diff" argument, followed by two backup levels or directory paths.
626 For example:
628 rsnapshot diff beta.0 beta.1
630 rsnapshot diff beta.0/localhost/etc beta.1/localhost/etc
632 rsnapshot diff /.snapshots/beta.0 /.snapshots/beta.1
634 This will call the rsnapshot-diff program, which will scan both
636 directories looking for differences (based on hard links).
637 rsnapshot sync
639 When sync_first is enabled, rsnapshot must first be called with the
641 sync argument, followed by the other usual cron entries. The sync
642 should happen as the lowest, most frequent backup level, and right
643 before. For example:
644 0 */4 * * * /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot sync &&
646 /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot alpha
647 50 23 * * * /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot beta
649 40 23 1,8,15,22 * * /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot gamma
651 30 23 1 * * /usr/local/bin/rsnapshot delta
653 The sync operation simply runs rsync and all backup scripts. In
655 this scenario, all calls simply rotate directories, even the lowest
656 backup level.
657 rsnapshot sync [dest]
659 When sync_first is enabled, all sync behaviour happens during an
661 additional sync step (see above). When using the sync argument, it
662 is also possible to specify a backup point destination as an
663 optional parameter. If this is done, only backup points sharing
664 that destination path will be synced.
665 For example, let's say that example.com is a destination path
667 shared by one or more of your backup points.
668 rsnapshot sync example.com
670 This command will only sync the files that normally get backed up
672 into example.com. It will NOT get any other backup points with
673 slightly different values (like example.com/etc/, for example). In
674 order to sync example.com/etc, you would need to run rsnapshot
675 again, using example.com/etc as the optional parameter.
676 rsnapshot configtest
678 Do a quick sanity check to make sure everything is ready to go.
680
682 0 All operations completed successfully
683 1 A fatal error occurred
685 2 Some warnings occurred, but the backup still finished
687
689 /etc/rsnapshot.conf
690
692 rsync(1), ssh(1), logger(1), sshd(1), ssh-keygen(1), perl(1), cp(1),
693 du(1), crontab(1)
694
696 Use the -t flag to see what commands would have been executed. This
697 will show you the commands rsnapshot would try to run. There are a few
698 minor differences (for example, not showing an attempt to remove the
699 lockfile because it wasn't really created in the test), but should give
700 you a very good idea what will happen.
701 Using the -v, -V, and -D flags will print increasingly more information
703 to STDOUT.
704 Make sure you don't have spaces in the config file that you think are
706 actually tabs.
707 Much other weird behavior can probably be attributed to plain old file
709 system permissions and ssh authentication issues.
710
712 Please report bugs (and other comments) to the rsnapshot-discuss
713 mailing list:
714 http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rsnapshot-discuss
716
718 Make sure your /etc/rsnapshot.conf file has all elements separated by
719 tabs. See /etc/rsnapshot.conf.default for a working example file.
720 Make sure you put a trailing slash on the end of all directory
722 references. If you don't, you may have extra directories created in
723 your snapshots. For more information on how the trailing slash is
724 handled, see the rsync(1) manpage.
725 Make sure to make the snapshot directory chmod 700 and owned by root
727 (assuming backups are made by the root user). If the snapshot directory
728 is readable by other users, they will be able to modify the snapshots
729 containing their files, thus destroying the integrity of the snapshots.
730 If you would like regular users to be able to restore their own
732 backups, there are a number of ways this can be accomplished. One such
733 scenario would be:
734 Set snapshot_root to /.private/.snapshots in /etc/rsnapshot.conf
736 Set the file permissions on these directories as follows:
738 drwx------ /.private
740 drwxr-xr-x /.private/.snapshots
742 Export the /.private/.snapshots directory over read-only NFS, a read-
744 only Samba share, etc.
745 See the rsnapshot HOWTO for more information on making backups
747 accessible to non-privileged users.
748 For ssh to work unattended through cron, you will probably want to use
750 public key logins. Create an ssh key with no passphrase for root, and
751 install the public key on each machine you want to backup. If you are
752 backing up system files from remote machines, this probably means
753 unattended root logins. Another possibility is to create a second user
754 on the machine just for backups. Give the user a different name such as
755 "rsnapshot", but keep the UID and GID set to 0, to give root
756 privileges. However, make logins more restrictive, either through ssh
757 configuration, or using an alternate shell.
758 BE CAREFUL! If the private key is obtained by an attacker, they will
760 have free run of all the systems involved. If you are unclear on how to
761 do this, see ssh(1), sshd(1), and ssh-keygen(1).
762 Backup scripts are run as the same user that rsnapshot is running as.
764 Typically this is root. Make sure that all of your backup scripts are
765 only writable by root, and that they don't call any other programs that
766 aren't owned by root. If you fail to do this, anyone who can write to
767 the backup script or any program it calls can fully take over the
768 machine. Of course, this is not a situation unique to rsnapshot.
769 By default, rsync transfers are done using the --numeric-ids option.
771 This means that user names and group names are ignored during
772 transfers, but the UID/GID information is kept intact. The assumption
773 is that the backups will be restored in the same environment they came
774 from. Without this option, restoring backups for multiple heterogeneous
775 servers would be unmanageable. If you are archiving snapshots with GNU
776 tar, you may want to use the --numeric-owner parameter. Also, keep a
777 copy of the archived system's /etc/passwd and /etc/group files handy
778 for the UID/GID to name mapping.
779 If you remove backup points in the config file, the previously archived
781 files under those points will permanently stay in the snapshots
782 directory unless you remove the files yourself. If you want to conserve
783 disk space, you will need to go into the <snapshot_root> directory and
784 manually remove the files from the smallest backup level's ".0"
785 directory.
786 For example, if you were previously backing up /home/ with a
788 destination of localhost/, and alpha is your smallest backup level, you
789 would need to do the following to reclaim that disk space:
790 rm -rf <snapshot_root>/alpha.0/localhost/home/
792 Please note that the other snapshots previously made of /home/ will
794 still be using that disk space, but since the files are flushed out of
795 alpha.0/, they will no longer be copied to the subsequent directories,
796 and will thus be removed in due time as the rotations happen.
797
799 Mike Rubel - http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/
800 - Created the original shell scripts on which this project is based
802 Nathan Rosenquist (nathan@rsnapshot.org)
804 - Primary author and original maintainer of rsnapshot.
806 David Cantrell (david@cantrell.org.uk)
808 - Previous maintainer of rsnapshot
810 - Wrote the rsnapshot-diff utility
811 - Improved how use_lazy_deletes work so slow deletes don't screw up the
812 next backup at that backup level.
813 David Keegel <djk@cybersource.com.au>
815 - Previous rsnapshot maintainer
817 - Fixed race condition in lock file creation, improved error reporting
818 - Allowed remote ssh directory paths starting with "~/" as well as "/"
819 - Fixed a number of other bugs and buglets
820 Benedikt Heine <benedikt@heine.rocks>
822 - Current rsnapshot maintainer
824 Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom (chrome@real-time.com)
826 - Created the RPM .spec file which allowed the RPM package to be built,
828 among other things.
829 Ted Zlatanov (tzz@lifelogs.com)
831 - Added the one_fs feature, autoconf support, good advice, and much
833 more.
834 Ralf van Dooren (r.vdooren@snow.nl)
836 - Added and maintains the rsnapshot entry in the FreeBSD ports tree.
838 SlapAyoda
840 - Provided access to his computer museum for software testing.
842 Carl Boe (boe@demog.berkeley.edu)
844 - Found several subtle bugs and provided fixes for them.
846 Shane Leibling (shane@cryptio.net)
848 - Fixed a compatibility bug in utils/backup_smb_share.sh
850 Christoph Wegscheider (christoph.wegscheider@wegi.net)
852 - Added (and previously maintained) the Debian rsnapshot package.
854 Bharat Mediratta (bharat@menalto.com)
856 - Improved the exclusion rules to avoid backing up the snapshot root
858 (among other things).
859 Peter Palfrader (weasel@debian.org)
861 - Enhanced error reporting to include command line options.
863 Nicolas Kaiser (nikai@nikai.net)
865 - Fixed typos in program and man page
867 Chris Petersen - (http://www.forevermore.net/)
869 Added cwrsync permanent-share support
871 Robert Jackson (RobertJ@promedicalinc.com)
873 Added use_lazy_deletes feature
875 Justin Grote (justin@grote.name)
877 Improved rsync error reporting code
879 Anthony Ettinger (apwebdesign@yahoo.com)
881 Wrote the utils/mysqlbackup.pl script
883 Sherman Boyd
885 Wrote utils/random_file_verify.sh script
887 William Bear (bear@umn.edu)
889 Wrote the utils/rsnapreport.pl script (pretty summary of rsync
891 stats)
892 Eric Anderson (anderson@centtech.com)
894 Improvements to utils/rsnapreport.pl.
896 Alan Batie (alan@batie.org)
898 Bug fixes for include_conf
900 Dieter Bloms (dieter@bloms.de)
902 Multi-line configuration options
904 Henning Moll (newsScott@gmx.de)
906 stop_on_stale_lockfile
908 Ben Low (ben@bdlow.net)
910 Linux LVM snapshot support
912
914 Copyright (C) 2003-2005 Nathan Rosenquist
915 Portions Copyright (C) 2002-2007 Mike Rubel, Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom,
917 Ted Zlatanov, Carl Boe, Shane Liebling, Bharat Mediratta, Peter
918 Palfrader, Nicolas Kaiser, David Cantrell, Chris Petersen, Robert
919 Jackson, Justin Grote, David Keegel, Alan Batie, Dieter Bloms, Henning
920 Moll, Ben Low, Anthony Ettinger
921 This man page is distributed under the same license as rsnapshot: the
923 GPL (see below).
924 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
926 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
927 Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
928 option) any later version.
929 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
931 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
932 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
933 General Public License for more details.
934 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
936 with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
937 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
938rsnapshot-tools 2022-01-21 rsnapshot(1)