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Using rsync for backups, because it's not shiny and new (tinkerbetter.tube)

submitted 2 days ago by mesamunefire@piefed.social to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

138 comments fedilink hide all child comments

You might not even like rsync. Yeah it's old. Yeah it's slow. But if you're working with Linux you're going to need to know it.

In this video I walk through my favorite everyday flags for rsync.

Support the channel:
https://patreon.com/VeronicaExplains
https://ko-fi.com/VeronicaExplains
https://thestopbits.bandcamp.com/

Here's a companion blog post, where I cover a bit more detail: https://vkc.sh/everyday-rsync

Also, @BreadOnPenguins made an awesome rsync video and you should check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eifQI5uD6VQ

Lastly, I left out all of the ssh setup stuff because I made a video about that and the blog post goes into a smidge more detail. If you want to see a video covering the basics of using SSH, I made one a few years ago and it's still pretty good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FKsdbjzBcc

Chapters:
1:18 Invoking rsync
4:05 The --delete flag for rsync
5:30 Compression flag: -z
6:02 Using tmux and rsync together
6:30 but Veronica... why not use (insert shiny object here)

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[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Surely restic or borg would be better for backups?

Rsync can send files and not delete stuff, but there's no versioning or retention settings.

[–] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

If you add --delete-before, it absolutely can delete stuff.

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 7 hours ago

Yeah but then it's not really a good backup!

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 0 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

For versioning/retention, just use snapshots in whatever filesystem you're using (you are using a proper filesystem like ZFS or BTRFS, right?).

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

How does that get sent over rsync though? Wouldn't you need snapshots on the remote destination server?

Why not just use a backup utility instead?

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, async copies files to the remote server, the remote server takes regular snapshots.

Why not just use a backup utility instead?

What is that utility providing that snapshots + rsync doesn't. If rsync + snapshots is sufficient, why overcomplicate it with a backup utility?

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 hours ago

The main things that come to mind are you have to test/monitor 2 seperate actions instead of 1, and restores of single files could be more difficult since you need to login to the backup server, restore the file from a snapshot, then also copy that file back to your PC.