Backup plan for Ubuntu server

You can simply use tar command to make an archive and copy it to the USB directly.
Or you can simply copy the important folders to the USB drive.
Did you mount the directory?

Did you mount the USB directly to the computer?

>  I can access it via IP or FTP
What do you mean via IP? You mean you can ssh login via IP?

> routine/script to backup data to a Buffalo External USB drive.
Where is this external USB drive connected to?
Directly connect to the Ubuntu 8.04 box?

If directly connect to the Ubuntu 8.04,
- Assume is mount as /mnt/usb
- Directory you want to backup is /path-backup-src
  Folder on USB drive is /mnt/usb/backup
command:
rsync -auv /path-backup-src  /mnt/usb/backup

- Setup as routine cron job
command:
crontab -e  (Enter, then in vi, press "i" and type the following line)
0 1 * * * /usr/bin/rsync -auv /path-backup-src  /mnt/usb/backup
(then "ESC" key and ":wq")

It will backup at 1:00AM everyday.
0 : 0 minute
1: 1 hour
* : Any day
* : Any month
* : Any week day (0:Sunday, 1: Monday...)

sorry it is a NAS, not USB.  it is on the network.  Yes ssh via IP or FTP

> it is a NAS
Does you support NFS? If yes, can you enable it and tell us the export path?

If Buffalo supports NFS, then export as /share/backup with read and write permission.

On Ubuntu terminal, issue those commands:
sudo mkdir -p /nfs-share/backup
sudo mount <IP of Buffalo NAS>:/share/backup    /nfs-share/backup
crontab -e  (Enter, then in vi, press "i" and type the following line)
0 1 * * * /usr/bin/rsync -auv /path-backup-src  /nfs-share/backup
(then "ESC" key and ":wq")


Or you setup ssh login from Ubuntu to Buffalo with ssh_key which no need to typing password.
Check this article: How-To: "Password-less" SSH
http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~mdeters/how-to/ssh/

Then
crontab -e  (Enter, then in vi, press "i" and type the following line)
0 1 * * * /usr/bin/rsync -auv -e "ssh -i /path-to-ssh_key" /path-backup-src  <ssh username at Buffalo>@<Buffalo IP>:/share/backup
(then "ESC" key and ":wq")
Please replace those with real ones:
/path-to-ssh_key
/path-backup-src
ssh username at Buffalo>
<Buffalo IP>

> sudo echo "//192.168.1.2/share  /smb-share/backup   smbfs  auto,credentials=/root/.credentials,uid=1000,umask=000,user   0 0/.credentials,uid=1000,umask=000,user   0 0"  >> /etc/fstab
typo, should be
sudo echo "//192.168.1.2/share  /smb-share/backup   smbfs  auto,credentials=/root/.credentials,uid=1000,umask=000,user   0 0"  >> /etc/fstab

when I:
sudo apt-get install smbfs smbclient

I get:
E: Invalid operation smbfs

OK, no smbfs for Ubuntu
just
sudo apt-get install samba