Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Problem with first backup

[Josh Nisly]

Steven Willoughby wrote:
> Giorgio wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have to perform a backup over the Internet, using rdiff-backup. The 
> > scenario is as follows:
> > - Backup activities can only run at night, when no one is using the 
> > files.
> > - The connection is ADSL, so it is pretty slow.
> > - The turnover size is around 100 MB per day, so this makes it sound 
> > ok even with a slow connection.
> >
> > The big problem is how to do the initial copy, as the data size 
> > involved is ~30 GB, and I do not have the possibility to copy the 
> > data through a physical medium.
> >
> > Hence, I have thought about using rsync to copy a chunk of data every 
> > night, until I get the whole 30 GB on the other side, and then I can 
> > start using rdiff-backup.
> >
> > Does this sound doable? Will rdiff-backup be able to start from an 
> > existing copy of the data? 
>
> Yes, you will just need to add --force to the first run of 
> rdiff-backup.  If the ADSL connection is flaky (mine changes the ip 
> address frequently) then you can additionally use an openvpn 
> connection to smooth out the connection wrinkles.  (I think you need 
> the --ping and --ping-restart options on the openvpn client side and 
> would probably want to assign a static ip on the openvpn server side.)
Actually, with the most recent version of rdiff-backup, you don't even 
need to use the --force parameter.

JoshN