On linode, they give you a shared image that is basically a "live CD"; it doesn't count against your allocation. You can boot from it and then copy your image in to your actual virtual disk (via rsync, ssh/dd, cpio, tar, whatever).<div>
<br></div><div>Jeff</div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 11:48 PM, Rob Stampfli <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:res@colnet.cmhnet.org" target="_blank">res@colnet.cmhnet.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">It's becoming harder and harder to find a reasonably priced VPS<br>
that has built-in backup/restore capabilities, but cheap, unadorned<br>
VPS providers abound. So, I've been wondering how does one go about<br>
rolling his own backup, i.e., backing up the file system on a VPS so<br>
that, if the VPS does somehow get clobbered, there is a straightforward<br>
and relatively quick path to reincarnate it again. Yes, I could<br>
rebuild it from scratch using my notes, but that would indeed be a<br>
long day's work.<br>
<br>
I'm thinking of acquiring a small VPS to serve solely as my backup machine<br>
and using rsync to push the entire file system of the VPS I want to back<br>
up (with certain directories excluded) up to it. But how to restore it?<br>
<br>
If the worst case happens, can I simply reload the original image of<br>
the impacted VPS that I started from when it was created -- most VPS<br>
providers allow you to get back to this point -- and then, as root,<br>
rsync from the backup VPS right over the top of this image, to restore<br>
the VPS to point it was at when last backed up?<br>
<br>
What am I missing? What are the gotchas here? I'm interested in<br>
things like "text file busy" errors, or how it might impact system<br>
file sharing among the various users of the physical machine on which<br>
the VPS resides.<br>
<br>
Or, are there some free software that would take care of everything<br>
for me?<br>
<br>
What do the rest of you use to back up your field VPSes?<br>
<br>
Inquiring minds...<br>
<br>
Rob<br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div>