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Reddit, how would you connect two geographically separated computers for backups? (self.linux)

submitted ago by amg

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I have two computers, one at my home and another at my friends house. I want them to easily connect so my home computer can send backups to my friends computer.

Reddit, how would you do this?

I was thinking about opening one of the two up through VPN, but don't really know how that would work (I think I know how VPN works just not the implications/possibilities)

Also contemplating about using dynamic IP -> static domain name services.

I'm sure there's more, gimme your best.

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[–]jwcxz 11 points12 points ago

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rsync over ssh works nicely for most stuff.

You could also use dar over ssh if you want to create nicely archived backups.

[–]industry_ 0 points1 point ago

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Yes.

[–]Indubitableness 2 points3 points ago

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ssh

[–]angry-universalist 4 points5 points ago

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(begin Stimpy voice)

With the INTERNET (TM)!!!

(end Stimpy voice)

[–]notatoad 1 point2 points ago

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i would get two external hard drives each big enough to back up both computers and not waste my bandwidth. plug one drive into each computer and run local backups all week. once a week, swap the location of the drives and you've got offsite backups.

[–]amg[S] 0 points1 point ago

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See, I've got over 2tb's of data, growing every day. I think after awhile, lugging these two back and forth would become annoying.

I did think about this though.

[–]notatoad 0 points1 point ago

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and you think your ISP is gonna let you send 2TB of data over their pipe?

[–]matheusgr 0 points1 point ago

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Use Rsync over SCP.

[–]amg[S] 0 points1 point ago

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Okay, but how would those two different computers find each other.

[–]thebagel 0 points1 point ago

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Dynamic DNS, like you said:

http://www.dyndns.com/

Have a hostname for each machine, run the DynDNS client on each, and do as matheusgr says.

You don't need a VPN, that's overkill.

[–]amg[S] -1 points0 points ago

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Wouldn't VPN allow the remote machine to appear on my network though?

[–]scriptsvcs 2 points3 points ago

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You asked how to connect two computers (presumptively) behind two NAT'd routers so that can easily copy backups from one to the other. You've been given the answer.

If you have other needs, perhaps you should state them.

[–]amg[S] -2 points-1 points ago

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I don't think I have other needs, I just don't like dyndns. I don't have any justification.

Just because I received an answer, doesn't mean I have the answer.

[–]scriptsvcs 0 points1 point ago

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VPN is not an alternative to dyndns... the two have nothing to do with one another. Using dyndns just makes it (easier) to find each other on the net. VPN tunnels all/some of your outbound traffic to another subnet. Which is why I asked what other needs you have. Using ssh you could tunnel specific ports to handle your other application needs.

You are the one that came here for help. There is no reason to get snarky.

[–]calrogman 0 points1 point ago

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DynDNS

[–]amg[S] 0 points1 point ago

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I feel like dyndns isn't geeky enough.

[–]industry_ 0 points1 point ago

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In that case, buy a domain?

[–]amg[S] 0 points1 point ago

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I have a couple laying around, thinking of switching to a virtual server soon.

[–]industry_ 0 points1 point ago

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Well then that should be a no-brainer, register the computer under your domain and you won't have to use DynDNS, assuming that you're on a relatively static IP address (i.e. not dial up).

[–]rintinSn 0 points1 point ago

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dynamic IP -> static domain name services

[–]inmatarian 0 points1 point ago

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https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSH_VPN

[–]amg[S] 0 points1 point ago

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Sounds crazy, and very geeky A+.

[–]snorlaxx 0 points1 point ago

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http://duplicity.nongnu.org/

I've been using duplicity for months now, and it's worked great. The backups are incremental (using rsync algo), encrypted, and it can back up to pretty much any service (SSH, FTP, etc.).

This way you don't have to trust your friend!

[–]amg[S] 0 points1 point ago

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It does seem neat, thanks for the heads up.

[–]rinja 0 points1 point ago

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I used the Andrew File System to keep several webservers on different continents synced.

However, it's probably overkill for your needs.

[–]genpfault 0 points1 point ago

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Packet radio.

[–]TaylorSpokeApe -1 points0 points ago

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If they are both Linux boxes then I would highly recommend using a VPN.

I'm not sure of the degree to which you and your friend want to connect your networks, but a VPN could go beyond sharing machines and let you share everything on your networks. Setting up a SSL VPN on Linux is easy, and you can tell it what IP's to allow through.

To set up routing just add a route covering your friend's network on your firewall that points to the box running the vpn.

For tracking each others public IPs, DynDNS is the way to go and is very geeky.

[–]amg[S] -1 points0 points ago

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This is where VPNs confuse me.

Lets say I host the VPN server, their machine would then connect through the internet and get a local IP address?

So if my computers a riding on 192.168.1.whatever, my friends computer would just be 192.168.1.somethingunique?

[–]industry_ 4 points5 points ago

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Don't use a VPN; you can connect the two computers using a single port forwarding rule and SSH. If you need to access more ports on the destination computer, you can forward ports by SSH and the connections will be secured to boot.

[–]TaylorSpokeApe 0 points1 point ago

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Ypo can't have the same IP range. For instance one would have to be 192.168.1.0-255, and the other 192.168.2.0-255.

The VPN acts like a router between the two networks and makes the internet between them invisible. It's exactly as if you stretched a long cable to his house and connected his router to yours.

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