Automated Backups With rdiff-backup

At this time i try to setup rdiff according "Automated Backups With rdiff-backup" at URL http://www.howtoforge.com/linux_rdiff_backup

After the command:
ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub [email protected]

An error occurs:

21
/usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: ERROR: No identities found

And i do not understand why...

Anyone knows what could be wrong?


Hans

 

Did you follow the tutorial to the letter? Maybe you made a typo somewhere.

 

This is exactly what i did...

Both servers are Debian servers.

STEP 1:
On the backup-server (backup.mydomain.tld) I gave the command:

apt-get install rdiff-backup

On the webserver (server1.mydomain.tld) I gave the command:

apt-get install rdiff-backup

STEP 2:
On backup.mydomain.tld I gave all the commands following from now on:

groupadd -g 3500 rdiff-backup
useradd -u 3500 -s /bin/false -d /backup -m -c "rdiff-backup" -g rdiff-backup rdiff-backup

su -m rdiff-backup
cd /backup
ssh-keygen -t rsa

I gave two times an <enter> according the How to.

I created the file /backup/.ssh/config using the command $ nano /backup/.ssh/config with this contents:

host server1_backup
hostname server1.mydomain.tld
user root
identityfile /backup/.ssh/id_rsa
compression yes
cipher blowfish
protocol 2

When I wanted to save this file I got a message in the nano editor, that I have no permission to save the file. I decided to switch to root, by giving the command su and gave the root’s password.

Now the file /backup/.ssh/config was created with the contents mentioned above.

Now I gave the command: chmod -R go-rwx /backup/.ssh

And finally the command:

ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub [email protected]

Then I receive the error on backup.mydomain.tld

21
/usr/bin/ssh-copy-id: ERROR: No identities found

Maybe I did something wrong, but I don’t think that I make a mistake by typing as I use Putty.
Cut and paste is not that difficult.

Can you help me further with this information?


Hans

 

You must be root during the whole tutorial!

 

I am a little further now but i did not succeed.

After these next two commands (at the end to test the backup) an error occurs:

cd /backup
rdiff-backup server1_backup::/boot boot

ssh: server1_backup: Name or service not known
Fatal Error: Truncated header string (problem probably originated remotely)

Couldn't start up the remote connection by executing

ssh -C server1_backup rdiff-backup --server

Remember that, under the default settings, rdiff-backup must be
installed in the PATH on the remote system. See the man page for more
information on this. This message may also be displayed if the remote
version of rdiff-backup is quite different from the local version (0.13.4).

I do not understand, i did everything exactly as in the how to...

What could this be? Please let me know.

Do I have this error because my backup-server is Debian 32 bit and my server 64 bit? If yes, i wonder if i can use rdiff-backup between these two servers...
And if yes, how to solve this problem?
Or is it recomended to use another backup system?


Hans

 

The name server1_backup is not known by your system. Either enter server1_backup and its IP address in /etc/hosts, or use server1_backup's IP address, e.g.

Code:

rdiff-backup 192.168.0.100::/boot boot

 

On my backup server (backup.mydomain.tld) the file contents of /backup/.ssh/config is:

host server1_backup (This name is specified by me)
hostname server1.mydomain.tld (the name of the server to be back-upped).
user root
identityfile /backup/.ssh/id_rsa
compression yes
cipher blowfish
protocol 2

On my other server server1.mydomain.tld (=to be back-upped), the file contents of file /root/.ssh/authorized_keys is:

command="rdiff-backup --server --restrict-read-only /",from="FULL DNS NAME OF THE BACKUP-SERVER",no-port-forwarding,no-X11-forwarding,no-pty <the key>= [email protected]


So i do not understand why the names are not recognised.
One more question:
My backup-server is not ping-able from the Internet.
Could that be a reason?

Hans

 

Still not working

It seems so easy but it is not and it takes me a lot of time.
There is still something wrong, i do not understand!

At Step 4 at URL http://www.howtoforge.com/linux_rdiff_backup_p2

I gave the commands cd /backup
rdiff-backup server1::/boot boot

Then the server asks for a password (3 times)

Then an error occurs:

---
Permission denied (publickey,keyboard-interactive).
Fatal Error: Truncated header string (problem probably originated remotely)

Couldn't start up the remote connection by executing

ssh -C server1 rdiff-backup --server

Remember that, under the default settings, rdiff-backup must be
installed in the PATH on the remote system. See the man page for more
information on this. This message may also be displayed if the remote
version of rdiff-backup is quite different from the local version (0.13.4).

---
For information:

The contents of /backup/.ssh/config on the backup server is:

host server1
hostname server1.mydomain.tld
user root
identityfile /backup/.ssh/id_rsa
compression yes
cipher blowfish
protocol 2

 

What's in /root/.ssh/authorized_keys on server1.example.com?

 

Falko,

for security reasons i give you the information in a private message.


Hans

 

I have the same problem

The "backup" server is a suse one (belongs to my friend) and I have a debian sarge one. We thought we can mirror on the other server a daily incremental backup. Taht's why I started it.

Can you help?

 

Still not working

At this moment i also do not have any answers.

It is still not working for me either.
I work always very accurate, but it is not clear to me why that how to is not working for me.

Hans

 

Did you follow the tutorial to the letter? Make sure you didn't make typos somewhere.

 

I found the mistake... however the problem now is that my debian machine has an old version of rdiff and my friends suse an up-to-date one.

I did now switch to rsync instead.

 

One more question to make about rdiff backup

Is it possible that i can not use rdiff-backup because my backup server is part of a internal network, which means that it's IP-address is different than the public IP-address of the network?

Hans is still searching for a solution..

 

You need to forward the port to the internal machine from the router.

 

Sure. My portforwarding is ok. but i was wondering if it could be a reason.
Soon i will start all over again. I hope i will have more luck!
Did you succeed already?

Hans

 

I don't think that this is causing the problem...

 

Falko,

I'm still strugling with rdiff-backup:

So i have a question again about this.

In your "how to" you mention at a certain time:

----
su -m rdiff-backup

With this command you become the user rdiff-backup on the shell. All the following commands must be run as user rdiff-backup!

Create the keys:

cd /backup
ssh-keygen -t rsa


Next create the file /backup/.ssh/config with the following contents:

host server1_backup
hostname server1.example.com
user root
identityfile /backup/.ssh/id_rsa
compression yes
cipher blowfish
protocol 2

Change the permissions of that file: chmod -R go-rwx /backup/.ssh

---
Note: this can not be done as user rdiff-backup !!


If i do it as root instead of user rdiff-backup the result on the file /root/.ssh/authorized_keys is:

ssh-rsa AAAAB3Nza[...]W1go9M= [email protected]

in stead of:

ssh-rsa AAAAB3Nza[...]W1go9M= [email protected]

Can you explain this?


--
Hans

 

Do I say this in the tutorial, or is this what you experienced? I can't find that sentence in the tutorial...