Backup Central

Hi all.

We've been using e-smith/march/mitel SME-Server software here for years,
and I installed rdiff-backup a couple of weeks ago using a contrib RPM
that I found on their community site (contribs.org). Well, I thought it
was just smashing, did up a cron job to connect to samba shares on the
network and backup other servers, and then got to thinking about how
this could be done on a web interface. So I hacked together a dirty
little PHP script that stores the settings in a MySQL database, and runs
the backups through a perl script. It also lets users browse through
their backed up files and download them directly through the browser.
Not very pythonesque, but hey, that's just me.

Now, it is at the stage where I think it might start getting useful for
other people, and this morning I signed up for this list in order to
introduce myself. While doing so, I looked through the archives and saw
that there is someone else who has done something similar, but wants to
charge for it.

Now, I don't want to step on anyone's toes, and I am full sure that the
other script is better than mine, but I had intended to release this
with a GPL on the top. Does anyone have any objections?

Regards

David Evans

Mr. Evans,

You have just summed up the spirit and intent of the GPL and the hard
work that goes behind the efforts of folks like Ben. I was a little
frustrated by those with the idea of charging for a front-end for rdiff
but simply chose not to pursue it.

You have made my day!

Fondest Regards,

Mark Bulson
MUSC - Charleston SC

David Evans wrote:

Hi all.

We've been using e-smith/march/mitel SME-Server software here for
years, and I installed rdiff-backup a couple of weeks ago using a
contrib RPM that I found on their community site (contribs.org). Well,
I thought it was just smashing, did up a cron job to connect to samba
shares on the network and backup other servers, and then got to
thinking about how this could be done on a web interface. So I hacked
together a dirty little PHP script that stores the settings in a MySQL
database, and runs the backups through a perl script. It also lets
users browse through their backed up files and download them directly
through the browser. Not very pythonesque, but hey, that's just me.

Now, it is at the stage where I think it might start getting useful
for other people, and this morning I signed up for this list in order
to introduce myself. While doing so, I looked through the archives and
saw that there is someone else who has done something similar, but
wants to charge for it.

Now, I don't want to step on anyone's toes, and I am full sure that
the other script is better than mine, but I had intended to release
this with a GPL on the top. Does anyone have any objections?

Regards

David Evans


_______________________________________________
rdiff-backup-users mailing list at rdiff-backup-users < at > nongnu.org
http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/rdiff-backup-users
Wiki URL:
http://rdiff-backup.solutionsfirst.com.au/index.php/RdiffBackupWiki

David Evans wrote:

Now, I don't want to step on anyone's toes, and I am full sure that the
other script is better than mine, but I had intended to release this
with a GPL on the top. Does anyone have any objections?


twas I that has the other front end - we just built the software for a
client, and don't really have a say about charging for it. An open
source version is inevitable and is fine by me - bring it on
If maybe our client was a little more open minded about open source,
than we could have GPLed ours - we did suggest it him.

dave

David,

I have some PHP code that I've written to handle backups of my systems here
at the office. I'd be more than happy to share it with you incase you find
any of it useful. I use it as command-line PHP, so maybe it could help in
the backend of your code?

Mine handles all types of backups though (ex. samba,
filesystem-to-filesystem, & mysql databases), with rdiff-backup used to keep
everything incremental.

.......................
Ian Neubert
Director of IS
TWAcomm.com, Inc.
http://www.twacomm.com/

-----Original Message-----
From: rdiff-backup-users-bounces+ian=twacomm.net < at > nongnu.org
[mailto:rdiff-backup-users-bounces+ian=twacomm.net < at > nongnu.org]On Behalf
Of David Evans
Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 7:07 AM
To: rdiff-backup-users < at > nongnu.org
Subject: [rdiff-backup-users] Web Interface


Hi all.

We've been using e-smith/march/mitel SME-Server software here for years,
and I installed rdiff-backup a couple of weeks ago using a contrib RPM
that I found on their community site (contribs.org). Well, I thought it
was just smashing, did up a cron job to connect to samba shares on the
network and backup other servers, and then got to thinking about how
this could be done on a web interface. So I hacked together a dirty
little PHP script that stores the settings in a MySQL database, and runs
the backups through a perl script. It also lets users browse through
their backed up files and download them directly through the browser.
Not very pythonesque, but hey, that's just me.

Now, it is at the stage where I think it might start getting useful for
other people, and this morning I signed up for this list in order to
introduce myself. While doing so, I looked through the archives and saw
that there is someone else who has done something similar, but wants to
charge for it.

Now, I don't want to step on anyone's toes, and I am full sure that the
other script is better than mine, but I had intended to release this
with a GPL on the top. Does anyone have any objections?

Regards

David Evans


_______________________________________________
rdiff-backup-users mailing list at rdiff-backup-users < at > nongnu.org
http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/rdiff-backup-users
Wiki URL:
http://rdiff-backup.solutionsfirst.com.au/index.php/RdiffBackupWiki

Ian Neubert wrote:

David,

I have some PHP code that I've written to handle backups of my systems here
at the office. I'd be more than happy to share it with you incase you find
any of it useful. I use it as command-line PHP, so maybe it could help in
the backend of your code?

why don't we stick some stuff on sourceforge?
There are a few guys in the office happy to help out over here - we
can't really contribute the exact stuff we have done already - but may
be able to hack on the stuff you have done.

dave

David Kempe wrote:
why don't we stick some stuff on sourceforge?

Sounds good. Do you have a project in SF.net? If not, I can set one up. I'll
get my code ready for GPL'ing...

There are a few guys in the office happy to help out over here - we
can't really contribute the exact stuff we have done already - but may
be able to hack on the stuff you have done.

That's ok, as long as you can work on GPL'd code and then make use of it
later.

Currently my code is capable of a few different types of backups and its
interface is a php config file. Shouldn't be tough to make a GUI and then
store the same data in a database. It's quite customized at the moment for
my uses, so we'll need to make it more generic, but it's a start.

My goals in its creation were:
-Centralize the backup of all systems on my network to one computer
-Use rdiff-backup to do backing up to disk
-Use a removable hard disk to store the backups
-Run nightly from cron
-Keep it easy to add new servers/computers to backup

Is this similar to what you had invisioned? Or were you thinking more of a
web interface to rdiff-backup? Mine really isn't an interface to
rdiff-backup, it just uses rdiff-backup for all backup operations.

.......................
Ian Neubert
Director of IS
TWAcomm.com, Inc.
http://www.twacomm.com/