Simple ubuntu backup to S3

Posted on Sat 14 January 2012 in Tech

After browsing the web for ages to find a decent solution to backup my server to amazon s3 I finally came across one and I'm just throwing it up here. So basically all I need it to do was backup my sites(filesystem and mysql databases) and some config for lighttpd.

The post I'm basing this off is here.

  1. Install automysqlbackup using apt

sudo apt-get install automysqlbackup

  1. Run automysqlbackup as root(just to give it a test)

sudo automysqlbackup

  1. Double check the databases are being backed up you should see daily, weekly and monthly under /var/lib/automysqlbackup with the appropriate databases.

  2. Now use this script to backup all the specific folders you want.

 # Export some ENV variables so you don't have to type anything
 export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=
 export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=
 export PASSPHRASE=
 # Your GPG key
 GPG_KEY=;
 # The source of your backup
 SOURCE=/
 # The destination
 # Note that the bucket need not exist
 # but does need to be unique amongst all
 # Amazon S3 users. So, choose wisely.
 DEST=s3+http://
 # The duplicity command and options
 duplicity
 — encrypt-key=${GPG_KEY}
 — sign-key=${GPG_KEY}
 — volsize=250
 — include=/var/www
 — include=/home
 — include=/etc/lighttpd
 — include=/var/lib/automysqlbackup
 — exclude=/**
 ${SOURCE} ${DEST}
 # Reset the ENV variables. Don't need them sitting around
 export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=
 export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=
 export PASSPHRASE=

  1. Add your own specific access key stuff and give it a test

  2. Then add it to a cronjob

0 0 * * * /usr/sbin/automysqlbackup && /root/s3_backup