backuppc questions.

[Tommy Trussell]

On 1/3/06, Michael Richter <ttmrichter at gmail.com> wrote:
> > You didn't say whether you set up the hosts and client files... until
> > you create those, it does nothing. (You have to specify what clients
> > get backed up and by what mechanism.)
>
>  The problem is that there's nothing  to set this up with: the web
> functionality is absent.  I go to the port 8080  specified in the documents
> and ... connection is refused.  I run nmap and it says nothing's there.  So
> how do I administer this without the administration interface?

Yes, that would be confusing. In order to have a web interface
Backuppc requires Apache (the web server) set up, as described at
http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/faq/BackupPC.html#step_8__cgi_interface
and as you can see it also requires the mod:perl extensions and setup.
 But it still doesn't "DO" anything until it's set up.. I don't
believe you can "administer" much through the web interface ... at
least when I had it running I didn't -- I had to make all the changes
to the host and client configuration files. All I remember doing from
the web interface was kick off manual backups or do manual restores
from existing scripts.

Based on later comments in this thread, Backupninja may be the one for
you (though I have never heard of it before). A Google search turns up
some more information here: http://dev.riseup.net/backupninja/

Of course for a one-off quick backup, it's easy enough to just plug in
a USB drive and use your favorite file manager (nautilus, konqueror or
whatever) to drag the files you need to back up.

P.S.: I agree the Backuppc documentation is terrible, but remember
that just about ALL of the software you are using has been developed
on a volunteer basis. If you find a problem with it, file a bug report
and make specific suggestions! It's the "price" you pay to support the
community.