Bash script - for rsync to backup file server running samba.

[Kevin Fries]

On Fri, 2012-01-06 at 08:49 -0700, Lisa Kachold wrote:
> Hi Kevin:
> On Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 8:26 AM, Kevin Fries <kevin at fries-biro.com>
> wrote:
>         Just out of curiosity...
>         Is there a specific use case you are using to explain why you
>         are reinventing the wheel?
> Much of our discussion with scripting and systems use is like "Hello
> World".
>  
>         http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/faq/BackupPC.html
>         It would help to know exactly what you are trying to achieve
>         that BackupPC can't handle so we can find you a better
>         solution.
> Great solution: but he is trying to identify all connected samba
> shares from Windows7 machines only on a DHCP network.
>         Kevin

Lisa,

That was not what I got out of the OP's original message at all.  I read
that he is trying to poll Samba to see which Windows based laptops are
connected, then trying to do a rsync to back up those laptops.

Seems like a lot of work, and a lot of maintenance for something that is
already built.  It just takes reversing your logic a little.

His original idea would cause all backups to occur at a fixed time
(since it was created from the same bash script), and rsync the Windows
boxes connected at that time.  This solution has a few huge holes that
are not addressed:

All machines are backed up at once, adding a lot of stress on the
network within a short time period.

Second, What if Laptop A does not check in at the given time for 6
months?  How would he know?

Third, this only keeps a single backup of a file, not a revisioned
version of the file.

And Fourth, These are windows users, how do they initiate a restore of a
file?

The solution I proposed, uses polling and last backed markers to manage
backups.  If a machine has not been backed up in one week, a notice can
be sent to the admin notifying them of this situation.  It also handles
revisioned backups... If a file changes, then changes again, that first
change is not lost until the backup system rotates files off.  I used to
use this product specifically in a Windows desktop (Linux Server)
environment, with daily incremental backup, full backup every 30 days,
three backup archive.  So, users had 90 days of backups at their
disposal.  And finally, users initiated their own restores. Including if
needed full system restores.

For backup of laptops, just increase the polling time to improve the
chance of catching them online.  It will only back them up once per
configured period.  So, if you say back up daily, and it polls 10 times
per day, it will not matter that the machine is there all 10 periods or
only one, it will still only back up once.

And this solution includes a throttling option that will prevent your
network from getting saturated.

The OP never mentioned anything about Windows Shares that I saw.  He
mentioned trying to use Samba for machine detection to then initiate an
rsync for backup.  Unless there is some underlying reason that I did not
understand, there are free, FOSS solutions out there that will do a far
superior job to what he was trying to do.

That is why I was asking what I was asking... What situation are you
trying to solve that existing software has not already solved.

Kevin