In-class project 3: Backup tools in Linux

In this project you will need to learn how to create backups of selected directories and store them on CD-R.
Assuming you have a list of directories you would like to backup and a directory (local or remote) you will be saving the backups into, do the following:

1. in the target directory crease a sub-directory with the name like 2008-04-24, where the numbers represent the current date;
2. using the rsync command create backup for each directory from the list into an appropriate sub-directory;
3. tar up the entire backup directory and write it to a CD-R;
4. Save all of the command you ran in a backup.sh file.
5. Develop a restore.sh file that does the opposite job: restores all the backup files and folders in their original locations.
6. Observe other Linux backup tools like the ones from page 546 of your hand out (chapter 13 of Fedora 8 book). Install and compare them.

To get extra points, instead of simply dumping the commands you executed into a text files develop scripts that would do the same things, but would be more flexible. For example, backup.sh can take the parameters: the file with the directory list and the backup directory. Restore script, can read all the available archives by the date and prompt the user which one needs to be restored.