How to Use Rsync to Create Remote Backups on CentOS 8
In this tutorial, we will use Rsync to create a backup on CentOS 8. Backups will be sent to the second server and stored there. So we need 2 working and configured CentOS 8 servers.
Installing Rsync packages
Let's check if the necessary Rsync packages are installed and install them if not.
dnf install rsync rsync-daemonStart the Rsync daemon and enable its automatic starting.
systemctl enable --now rsyncdCheck if auto start is enabled and working.
systemctl status rsyncd
● rsyncd.service - fast remote file copy program daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/rsyncd.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Sat 2020-12-19 13:18:16 UTC; 6s ago
...Check if the Rsync service is listening on the network port.
netstat -tulpn | grep rsync
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:873 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 55746/rsync
tcp6 0 0 :::873 :::* LISTEN 55746/rsyncConfiguring the backup source server
Open the configuration file:
nano /etc/rsyncd.confInsert following lines in it:
# Rsync daemon global config
pid file = /var/run/rsyncd.pid
# User name and group for reading source files
uid = rsync-user
gid = rsync-user
# Do not allow to modify the source files
read only = yes
# Data Source Configuration
[data]
path = /home/user
list = yes
auth users = rsync-user
secrets file = /etc/secret.passwdCreate a file with credentials for authorization on this machine.
nano /etc/secret.passwdEnter username and password in it.
rsync-user:rsync-passChange the file permissions to read-only by the root user.
chmod 0600 /etc/secret.passwdRestart the Rsync daemon.
systemctl restart rsyncdYou also need to create the user that was specified in the configuration and file with credentials.
useradd rsync-userСonfiguring the receiving Rsync backup server
Create a file for the password.
nano /etc/secret.passwdEnter the password for the Rsync user on the source server.
rsync-passChange its permissions here as well.
chmod 0600 /etc/secret.passwdRunning a backup
Create a folder for backup.
mkdir /opt/backupThe following command will start the backup. Replace source-server-ip with the source server's IP address.
rsync -a --password-file=/etc/secret.passwd rsync-user@source-server-ip::data /opt/backup/$(date +%Y-%m-%d)/To set up periodic backups, you can add a cron task with the last command in it.
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