Help With Remote Backup

[zenarcher]

I'm trying to accomplish a couple of tasks and not having much success. Undoubtedly, the fact that I have no experience with either, isn't helping. I've Googled and tried three or four different suggested methods, but seem to be lacking somewhere.

Here is the situation. I have replaced one computer with a new one, so have a spare system lying around now. As with my other four computers, it is running Kubuntu 9.10. None of my systems run Windows....all are on Kubuntu 9.10. Likewise, I have everything running on a wireless network.

I have done a fresh install of Kubuntu 9.10 on the spare computer and named it as "homeserver." It is connected to my wireless network. I would like to use it for the following purposes:

1) I would like to back up the folders in Home on my four computers to this homeserver.
2) I would like to use homeserver as a file server for the other four Kubuntu machines.

Thus far, following several "Ho To's," I've made no progress at all with either project. I'm wondering if anyone here can help me manage to figure out how to get it configured and working the way I want. As I say, I'm an absolute newbie in this respect.

Maybe backup would be the easiest to get going first. I'm not sure. I've installed "simple backup" which seems pretty easy to use, but can't manage to get that going. When I attempt to set up the destination (homeserver) using ssh, I get an error that the selected destination is not writtable(sic) with current permissions. The backup cannot be written there. I've Googled that and found a dozen different suggestions, none of which seemed to help the person with the problem. Then again, there may be an easier backup system to use, but I'm not sure.

At this point, it seems that I need to figure out what is best to use for backup and for fileserver applications, but not sure where to begin. If someone has had success in setting up a backup to something like my "homeserver" over a network and has the patience to help try to walk me through it, I would be most appreciative. Same with setting up "homeserver" as a file server.

Thanks much in advance,
zenarcher

[jankushka]

Re: Help With Remote Backup

since you want to use "homeserver" as a file server for the other systems,
why not centralize users and data there and share the home directories via nfs?
this way:
a) users database and authentication would be on "homeserver" (and managed centrally)
b) users data would actually reside on "homeserver"
c) your backup would be local to "homeserver", rather than done over the net (which is always a bit of a pita)
not sure about your actual requirements, but this could be a solution.
of course, for all this to work, "homeserver" should be kept on all the time.
and if you're to take data with you on a mobile device, you'd have to copy them first and sync them back afterwards.
as i said, it really depends on your requirements...
hth

[toad]

Re: Help With Remote Backup

Seems like you need to get your networking sorted out first. Are you going for fixed ip addresses or nameserver (saying you tried homeserver suggests the latter)? Have you adjusted your /etc/hosts?