2 - Raspberry PI Community Projects

the expiration date associated with that copy. dirvish-expire simply peruses
the stored copies and deletes those for which the expiration date has passed.
client: rivendell.falcot.com
tree: /
xdev: 1
index: gzip
image-default: %Y%m%d
exclude:
/var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb
/var/cache/man/**
/tmp/**
/var/tmp/**
*.bak
Example 9.4
The /backup/root/dirvish/default.conf file
The above example specifies the set of files to back up: these are files on the machine rivendell.falcot.com
(for local data backup, simply specify the name of the local machine as indicated by
hostname), especially those in the root tree (tree:/), except those listed in exclude. The backup
will be limited to the contents of one filesystem (xdev:1). It will not include files from other
mount points. An index of saved files will be generated (index:gzip), and the image will be
named according to the current date (image-default:%Y%m%d).
There are many options available, all documented in the dirvish.conf(5) manual page. Once
these configuration files are setup, you have to initialize each file set with the dirvish --
vault vault --init command. From there on the daily invocation of dirvish-runall will
automatically create a new backup copy just after having deleted those that expired.
IN PRACTICE
Remote backup over SSH
When dirvish needs to save data to a remote machine, it will use ssh to connect
to it, and will start rsync as a server. This requires the root user to be able
to automatically connect to it. The use of an SSH authentication key allows
precisely that (see Section 9.2.2.1, “Key-Based Authentication” (page 190)).
9.10.2. Restoring Machines without Backups
Desktop computers, which are not backed up, will be easy to regenerate from CD-ROMs made by
the mondo program. These bootable CD-ROMs allow complete re-installation of the machine's
system. But beware: files that are not part of the system or the user's home directory will not,
themselves, be backed up by mondo. This includes, for example, users' local crontabs, as well as
any changes made to system configuration since the preparation of the CD-ROM.
212 The Debian Administrator's Handbook