Do Automated Cross-Platform Network Backups The Easy Way, Part 2 - page 4

Hardware

First take a cruise through the very well-commented config.pl. I can't improve on the instructions, so just take your time and look at every directive. For now we won't change a thing, except to turn on compression:

$Conf{CompressLevel} = 3;

Next, add all your client machines to /etc/backuppc/hosts. Use either their Unix hostnames or Windows NetBIOS names. Don't touch the first two lines:

host        dhcp    user        moreUsers
localhost   0       backuppc
uberpc      0       carla       terry,pinball
stinkpad    0       ellyn       boris
freya       0       mail_admin	

The "user" field is the login name of the primary user of the machine, who will be able to initiate backups and fetch restore files from the server. BackupPC will send this user administrative emails. The "moreUsers" field is for additional users who need backup/restore privileges. You don't have to name any users; it's OK to leave both fields blank. The user manual says that the DHCP field should be set to 0 for all clients, whether they have static or dynamic IPs. However, sometimes this doesn't work correctly. BackupPC uses nmblookup to find DHCP clients. You can test this to see if it will work:

$ nmblookup stinkpad
querying stinkpad on 127.255.255.255
querying stinkpad on 192.168.1.255
name_query failed to find name stinkpad

Well, fiddlesticks. Now see if it will find stinkpad by its IP:

$ nmblookup -A 192.168.1.12
Looking up status of 192.168.1.12
        STINKPAD        <00> -         B 

        SAMBA1          <00> -  B 
        STINKPAD        <03> -         B 
        STINKPAD        <20> -         B 

        SAMBA1          <1e> -  B 
        ADMINISTRATOR   <03> -         B 

        MAC Address = 00-0A-E4-40-8B-FD

Rather than brawling with nmblookup, change the "dhcp" field to 1, and add a DHCP range in config.pl:

$Conf{DHCPAddressRanges} = [
   {
     ipAddrBase => '192.168.1',
     first => 1,
     last  => 25,
   },
];

Keep the range as narrowly defined as you can, because nmblookup does a brute-force lookup, trying one address at a time.

That completes the server configuration. Come on back next week for client configurations, and to learn about some excellent FOSS tools for backing up and restoring Windows systems.

Resources

• BackupPC
• Build a Linux Software RAID from Scratch
• Supercharge Volume Management With EVMS For Linux
• Power Supplies: How Much Power Do You Need?
• rsync
• Unison

This article first appeared on Enterprise Networking Planet, a JupiterWeb site.