The sys admin's daily grind: Backup2l
I'll Be Back

At his cozy home, sys admin Charly has always used rsnapshot to back up his data. Although things will be staying this way for server backups, he has found something more manageable for backing up the Kühnast family's desktop PCs.
Backups are inevitable, and that includes desktop PCs, even the ones at home. However, in my four walls, I do not need a professional enterprise backup warehouse, and I feel no genuine desire to pay the license fee for it. I back up everything on a small Synology NAS and the NAS, in turn, is backed up on two large USB drives.
On the NAS, I have shared a directory by the name of linbackup
; below that is a subdirectory for every machine to be backed up – a total of 14 right now. My children are obviously growing up and probably starting to hoard hardware. I really wonder who they take after. There is also a gamelauncher
directory; incidentally, this is where I back up the Windows partition.
Lately, the backup itself has been handled by backup2l [1], which I've tried out in the past few days as a lightweight alternative to rsnapshot [2]. Backup2l can be controlled by cron and creates a configurable number of incremental backups. Three parameters are responsible for this in the backup2l.conf
configuration file.
MAX_LEVEL=<3>
determines the number of levels, whereas MAX_PER_LEVEL=<8>
defines the number of incremental backups per level. In my case, backup2l creates hourly incremental backups; this is the lowest level, level 3. Once it has collected eight of them (MAX_PER_LEVEL
), backup21 creates a new level 2 backup, which saves all changes since the last level 2 backup. The level 3 backups are then deleted, and the process begins again (Figure 1).
Once backup21 has collected eight level 2 backups, it creates a new level 1 backup – this is a full backup. MAX_FULL
, the third parameter, lets you specify how many full backups can exist at the same time.
Save Yourself, If You Can
I use SRCLIST
to define exactly what backup2l backs up,
SRCLIST=(/etc /root /home /var/ /usr/local)
and I can define exceptions. Backup2l distinguishes between files (-name
) and directories (-path
). Several exceptions can be linked by using -o
:
SKIPCOND=(-path "*.nobackup*" -o-name "*.o")
I use BACKUP_DIR
to tell backup2l where to save the data:
BACKUP_DIR="/mnt/linbackup/funghi"
If the destination directory, as in my case, is a network drive, the user must of course ensure that it is mounted in good time. In this example, funghi
is the name of my Ubuntu test machine. All of my desktop Linux boxes are named after pizzas, and my servers are named after Scottish islands – in both worlds, there is no big risk that I will run out of names any time soon.
The backup2l.conf
file contains two sections, PRE_BACKUP
and POST_BACKUP
, where you can store shell commands that backup2l runs before and after performing the backup. You can use this approach to make sure that certain services are stopped during the backup.
Finally, I need to tell the tool that my part of the job is done – by flipping the UNCONFIGURED=0
switch to UNCONFIGURED=1
. It's good to know that Funghi, Tonno (tuna), and the others are out of danger.
Infos
- Backup2l: http://backup2l.sourceforge.net
- Rsnapshot: http://www.rsnapshot.org
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Kernel Reducing Long-Term Support
LTS support for the Linux kernel is about to undergo some serious changes that will have a considerable impact on the future.
-
Fedora 39 Beta is Now Available for Testing
For fans and users of Fedora Linux, the first beta of release 39 is now available, which is a minor upgrade but does include GNOME 45.
-
Fedora Linux 40 to Drop X11 for KDE Plasma
When Fedora 40 arrives in 2024, there will be a few big changes coming, especially for the KDE Plasma option.
-
Real-Time Ubuntu Available in AWS Marketplace
Anyone looking for a Linux distribution for real-time processing could do a whole lot worse than Real-Time Ubuntu.
-
KSMBD Finally Reaches a Stable State
For those who've been looking forward to the first release of KSMBD, after two years it's no longer considered experimental.
-
Nitrux 3.0.0 Has Been Released
The latest version of Nitrux brings plenty of innovation and fresh apps to the table.
-
Linux From Scratch 12.0 Now Available
If you're looking to roll your own Linux distribution, the latest version of Linux From Scratch is now available with plenty of updates.
-
Linux Kernel 6.5 Has Been Released
The newest Linux kernel, version 6.5, now includes initial support for two very exciting features.
-
UbuntuDDE 23.04 Now Available
A new version of the UbuntuDDE remix has finally arrived with all the updates from the Deepin desktop and everything that comes with the Ubuntu 23.04 base.
-
Star Labs Reveals a New Surface-Like Linux Tablet
If you've ever wanted a tablet that rivals the MS Surface, you're in luck as Star Labs has created such a device.