Learning Linux Shell Scripting - Second Edition

Automating backup activity

If you want to automate taking backup activity every day at 7.30 pm, then you will need to use the crontab functionality. We have already studied this utility in Chapter 2, Drilling Deep into Process Management, Job control, and Automation.

You will need to enter the crontab -e command and enter the rsync command in it.

For regular backup at 7.30 pm every day, enter the following line in the crontab editor:

    30 19 * * * rsync -avz -delete /home/student/data-folder  /media/usb_drive/data-folder 
  

The preceding command will back up data at 30 minutes past 19 hours or 7 pm every day.

I suggest you keep one backup of important data locally and one copy remotely. Local copy backup should be undertaken more frequently, ...