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Day: 20 August 2007

cPanel: Simple Script To Backup Over rSync

August 20, 2007
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If you are running a reasonably recent version of cPanel (I think v11 or later), you have the ability to run WHM backups over rsync instead of just FTP. This post, if it isn’t obvious, is intended for people with root access to their cPanel server.

So how do you do this?

Simple, configure the backups as per normal in WHM to backup your secondary hard drive or a set partition on your main hard drive. Then just add a script via the shell command line as “/scripts/postcpbackup” (open PuTTY, connect to the server, login, “su” to root if necessary if you didn’t login as root, type “nano -w /scripts/postcpbackup”) and past the following script:

#!/bin/sh
rsync -vrplogDth /backup/cpbackup/* username@backupserver:/backuplocation/

Replacing “/backup/cpbackup/” with the location of your “local backups” if you changed it from the default, “username” with the username of your rSync account, “backupserver” with the hostname/IP address of the backup server and “backuplocation” of the place to store the backups. (It’s CTRL+X to exit nano by the way).

You then just need to make it executable by running “chmod a+x /scripts/postcpbackup” and you are done!

Hope it helps someone!

Techy Fun: Is the server down?

August 20, 2007
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As I’m in the process of slowing shutting down other sites I’ve worked on (due to time constraints), I’m reposting them here. Here’s an article from “Behind The Frontline” which was going to be a cross between I Work With Fools, Worse Than Failure and Dilbert.

Categories: More Information, Please!, Timewasters and Just Plain Dumb. Author: Dohpaz.

*Ring Ring*

Peon: “Is the server down?” (note: we have many servers)
Me: “Which server?”
Peon: “MY server” ok, so now we are expected to recognise people just by their voices are we?)
Me: “What is your web site address?
Peon: “xxxxx” (checks – up and running)
Me: “That appears to be working for me. What message do you get when you go to your website”
Peon: “THAT WORKS.”
Me: “Well, what appears to be the problem?”
Peon: “Its email that’s not working” (why didn”t you tell me that before?)
Me: “What, exactly, is the problem?”
Peon: “I can’t send or receive email.”
Me: “What error message are you getting when you try?”
Peon: “Invalid password.”
Me: “Ok, in your email program, what does it say in the username box”
Peon: “‘Username'”
Me: “The word username?”
Peon: “Yes”
Me: “Try actually putting your username – yyyy- in that box and trying again”
Peon: “Oh yes, that works. Bye!”

I’ll love to know how they thought an “Invalid password” message meant a server was down…

Techy Fun: What a rip-off!

August 20, 2007
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As I’m in the process of slowing shutting down other sites I’ve worked on (due to time constraints), I’m reposting them here. Here’s an article from “Behind The Frontline” which was going to be a cross between I Work With Fools, Worse Than Failure and Dilbert.

Categories: Just Plain Dumb and Timewasters. Author: Myself.

*Ring Ring*

Co-worker: Hello “Company Name”, how can I help?
Peon: Why has my account been suspended?
Co-worker: Can I take your domain name?
Peon: xxxxx
Co-worker: That account has been suspended for breaching our terms and conditions.
Peon: What do you mean?
Co-worker: The totally free web hosting package (which you don’t pay for) just asks for you to put a link back to our site from yours.
Peon: And?
Co-worker: Not including that link after 30 days is a breach of the free hosting terms and conditions.
Peon: But I didn’t know about that!
Co-worker: It’s displayed on the screen before you place your order, when you complete your order, when you receive email notification with your login details AND it’s displayed in your control panel.
Peon: Well, that’s a rip-off!

*Peon hangs-up*

So it’s a rip-off that we’re offering him a free hosting account and he can’t follow basic instructions that are repeated several times?