RSYNC: Backup Solution thoughts...

[Lachlan Cranswick]

>I'm thinking of how to backup an entire server ("server A") to a
>remote area ("server B") using rsync.
>
>My initial thought was to have a shell account on server B, then have a
>cronjob running as root on server A that uses rsync to send all the files
>over to the shell account on server B.
>
>Then I thought that this is not reliable against hackers, because if
>someone hacked the machine, he can find the cron job, get the password to
>the shell account on server B, and delete that backup.
>
>So, it sounds like server B should be the one with the cron job,
>synchronizing with server A.
>
>My question is: How can I make server A give READ-ONLY rsync access of the
>entire disk to server B?

Something similar the following in the /etc/rsyncd.conf file in the 
server A might work(?) - just  put a "read only = yes" in the config.
(plus retricting the hosts allow)  I guess the path would be /

Would this work?

Lachlan.

motd file = /etc/motd
max connections = 5
syslog facility = local3

[mirrorserver]
        comment = mirror server
        path = /
        read only = yes
        list = yes
        uid = nobody
        gid = nobody
        hosts allow = *.blah.com *.blogs.com
        auth users = rsyncuser
        secrets file = /etc/blahrsyncd.secrets


-----------------------
Lachlan M. D. Cranswick
Collaborative Computational Project No 14 (CCP14)
    for Single Crystal and Powder Diffraction
  Birkbeck University of London and Daresbury Laboratory 
Postal Address: CCP14 - School of Crystallography,
                Birkbeck College,
                Malet Street, Bloomsbury,
                WC1E 7HX, London,  UK
Tel: (+44) 020 7631 6849   Fax: (+44) 020 7631 6803
E-mail: l.m.d.cranswick at dl.ac.uk
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