The file Backup module of the LRS
- Regular backup of user's files for PCs under GNU/Linux or Windows,
- no software installed on the client,
- optimization of the space used on the server by replacing files doubloons on a PC or between 2 PCs by a hard link,
- web administration interface,
- recovery of backed up files through a web interface,
- backup on hard disk, thus, immediacy of data recovery.
1. User interface
The file Backup module is administrated through a web interface that allows :
- to consult the list of PCs whose backup is managed by BackupPC,
- to see the state of the backed up PCs,
- to access to previous backups and to recover files,
- to consult global or individual logs of the backup,
- to launch a manual backup,
- to restore one or several directories, one or several files, either directly in their original location or by getting back an archives or a zip file.
2. Functioning
The directories that need to be backed up must be put in sharing mode (Windows) or exported via NFS (Unix/Linux). The LRS will regularily look at the directories and compare the files with the once stored. This comparison is made by calculating a signature for each file and by comparing the signatures of the files. File names are thus not important. If files have appeared or were modified, they'll be backed up on the server and included in the stock of available files.
The data backup module of the LRS has been based on BackupPC, a free software developed on sourceforge.net by an international team of programmers under direction of Craig Barratt. Linbox FAS has translated the software in french.
