OSEC

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Subject: Re: Secure Remote Backup
From: Justin Funke (JfunkeKORTEXCOMPUTER.COM)
Date: Wed Aug 16 2000 - 08:19:28 CDT

I want to backup remote websites and mail across a public system to a
central data server on initially another disk drive. I was looking at scp
more than rsync over ssh but I like the incremental style backup of rsync
better. I would definitely want to encrypt the data on route but need to
fully automate the script. From what I have read so far it looks like I can
use a public/private key authentication with SSH to meet these objectives.

I would definitely like to see the scripts you use it may help me cut a few
corners, I need to set this up yesterday.

Thanks for all responses,

Justin Funke

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Sisler [mailto:esislerWESTMINSTER.LIB.CO.US]
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 6:55 PM
To: FOCUS-LINUXSECURITYFOCUS.COM
Subject: Re: Secure Remote Backup

Will you be backing up to a remote tape drive or disk?

If you're planning on using a remote tape drive, you should be able to use
ssh instead of rsh, although I've always found backing up to a remote tape
drive slow & hard on the drive because you generally can't keep the tape
buffer full so the tape drive is forced to write, stop, reposition,
write...and so on.

If you're making a copy to disk, how about using rsync over ssh? Rsync is
quick, secure (when used with ssh), will only copy the files/directories
that have changed and can create an "archive" copy which preserves the
directory structure and all ownership & permission attributes. I use rsync
now to keep several sets of files/directories in sync between multiple
servers, although not over ssh, and it's great. I've setup rsync as a
service which uses a challenge/response exchange for
authentication. Although not as secure as ssh suits my purposes. The data
is not transmitted encrypted either, but again isn't necessary for my
present uses. If for some reason I decided the entire data stream needed
to be encrypted, I'd probably convert to using rsync over ssh. I have a
couple of scripts that might help you get started, although the syntax for
using an rsync server is a bit different than the "regular" use.

If you setup ssh to accept RSA or DSA keys for authentication, you won't
have to put a password in your backup script. (The same thing works when
using scp.) Configuring ssh for this isn't terribly difficult, but can be
confusing at first. If you haven't already done this and need instructions
- just ask. Otherwise I'm telling you something you already know. ;-)

-Eric

Eric Sisler
Library Computer Technician
Westminster Public Library
Westminster, CO, USA
esislerwestminster.lib.co.us

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