Doing Backups to DVD

[charlo]

Hi guys,

It seems centos is not that easy to setup at all and I am about to give up, everything I am trying to setup is not working out for me and I can't find good step by step tutorials the ones I find is way to advanced for my skills. I am trying to setup a server for a client and want to do the following on centos 5.3

I want each user to have their own directory on the server for storing their day to day files that they work on eg office documents, and to be able to backup their other applications they use for eg accounting applications to their dir on the server

Then I want to backup every night (scheduled) all the user directories to DVD.

I want to setup a internal email (only for internal use does not have to send email out to the world)

Then they want a internal messaging system that works the same as a chat program (I am not sure if I can do this with centos)

This server must also have 2 network cards one for the network and one for the internet as they have adsl line and complaining that the users are taking advantage of the cap so they want restrictions and I suppose I will have to attempt a proxy server.

Now, that is everything in short that I want to achieve can anyone give me some easy step by step instructions to follow. I will appreciate if someone did the same type of setup to let me now how to do this.

I know this is a lot for a newbie to attempt on his first shot at linux but I really want to learn, and to be honnest the current tutorials or info I am getting on the net is not helping me at all.

[Roxoff]

Hi guys,

It seems centos is not that easy to setup at all and I am about to give up, everything I am trying to setup is not working out for me and I can't find good step by step tutorials the ones I find is way to advanced for my skills. I am trying to setup a server for a client and want to do the following on centos 5.3

OK, let's see if we can't point you at some stuff...

I want each user to have their own directory on the server for storing their day to day files that they work on eg office documents, and to be able to backup their other applications they use for eg accounting applications to their dir on the server

A directory for each user comes as standard with Linux. Just add them each a Linux account with the 'adduser' script at the command line. You set their password with the 'passwd' command. Check these out with the 'man' command from the command line (e.g. do a 'man adduser').

To make it all work with your chosen commercial operating system, you'll need a package called 'samba'. If you've not got this installed already, add it with your package manager (or do a 'yum install samba'). I found a simple samba install really easy, you just need to edit the default config file (/etc/smb.conf) as it's well documented. For detailed config info, check out the official Samba website - the documentation is very good on there.

Then I want to backup every night (scheduled) all the user directories to DVD.

Learn to use tar (do a 'man tar') and put it in a simple script. There are several packages capable of burning the resulting tar archive to a CD or DVD, check through your package manager to find one. When you're happy with your script, you can execute it on a schedule using the cron service (do a 'man crontab', it'll tell you all about it).

I want to setup a internal email (only for internal use does not have to send email out to the world)

If your server networking has been set up (using the system network config tool, especially you've set up a pseudo internet-style domain name) email should work out of the box. Email accounts come with Linux user accounts, it'll be '<username>@<your.pseudo.domain>' and emails elsewhere will not work. You can play about with this later as your confidence grows.

Then they want a internal messaging system that works the same as a chat program (I am not sure if I can do this with centos)

Check your package manager - set up a jabber server. There are several available, I've ran one, but it was a while ago.

This server must also have 2 network cards one for the network and one for the internet as they have adsl line and complaining that the users are taking advantage of the cap so they want restrictions and I suppose I will have to attempt a proxy server.

Squid is the de-facto proxy server. It's pretty easy to set up, and there are tons of easy guides - including a half decent man page.

Now, that is everything in short that I want to achieve can anyone give me some easy step by step instructions to follow. I will appreciate if someone did the same type of setup to let me now how to do this.

I know this is a lot for a newbie to attempt on his first shot at linux but I really want to learn, and to be honnest the current tutorials or info I am getting on the net is not helping me at all.

You're actually taking on a lot for someone completely new. You should do this step by step, complete each system config in turn, and do them in the order you've put them above.

[charlo]

Thanks for your help. You cant supply me with script to backup whole home dir to external hd then from external to dvd please.

[Roxoff]

It's far better for you to try and do it and rely on us to help, rather than have us do it for you. You'd have to maintain such a script - so understanding how it works (and how to write scripts in general) will be invaluable to you. Take a read down the man page for 'tar', and have a try, and if it doesn't work post it up here and we'll assist where we can.