Automatic backup to FTP server

kapara

I don't know if this already exists but I found nothing about how to do this. I am looking at deploying this product in about 20-30 locations. I would like to be able to have the pfsense device perform a nightly backup of the config to a remote loaction. This would be so that in the event of a failure, I could take a replacement device, apply the latest config, ship it to them and all they would need to do is plug it in. I am assuming this could be done VIA FTP or preferably some type of encrypted FTP. What would be great is on the Backup/Restore page an option to schedule backups to a remote site.

Thanks,

Mark

sullrich

Backing up entire config:

wget -q –post-data 'Submit=download' --http-user=admin --http-passwd= <password>--sslcertfile=./<pfsense>.cert https://<pfsense>/diag_backup.php -O <pfsense>_backup.xml

Backing up a specifc area:

wget -qO /tmp/aliases_backup.xml --post-data
'Submit=Download&backuparea=aliases' --user=admin --password=pfsense
--no-check-certificate "https://192.168.1.1/diag_backup.php"</pfsense></pfsense></pfsense></password>

kapara

I am a newbie so please forgive the questions if they seem like they should be understood. I am looking for a way to do this automatically. Either initiating from a central MS Windows server or pushing from the clients. Is there an FTP client which could connect and remotely backup? Where do I run these scripts from?

Thanks

sullrich

These are unix/linux/freebsd commands that would retrieve the configuration file. I know of no out of the box solution that will do what you want. A little elbow grease is required.

kapara

I read somewhere on the site about WinSCP. Is this something I could use? http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,785.0.html

Or should I just post a bounty?

hoba

Have a look at http://winscp.net/eng/docs/scripting#console how to do scripted events. If you prefer using a Windows server to collect the configs from your pfSense installs you can schedule some tasks to do so.

kapara

Everytime I try to connect I get the following error:

newerror.PNG_thumb

hoba

You have to use sftp(fallback scp) as protocol (the middle option). Login as user "root" and password <webguipassword>.</webguipassword>

kapara

Excellent!!!!!!!!!!…One last question. If I backup the config.xml...How does that effect any packages that I have added? Is that information in the config/xml so when I reload a config it will automatically install the packages which were previously installed?

Thanks

hoba

You have to manually install the packages but their settings will be stored in the config.xml.

kapara

Found a great product…http://www.xi-soft.com/ Lets me connect and schedule backups of the configs using the application. Only $24 if bought. Tried it out. Lets me do any schedule.

Just mapped to the file and it worked perfectly.

Thanks for the help.

kapara

If others would like to be able to do this for large installations I will create a tutorial once I feel comfortable with the program. Let me know.

Thanks,

Mark

hoba

Not sure others want to buy a software if you can simply script it with the free winscp or even with the solution scott pointed out earlier in this thread but fell free to do a tutorial. ;)

DanielSHaischt

No offense, but I don't understand why you are going to pay for something that you can get for free even on Windows.

Just use the Windows Task Scheduler! It's a native Windows feature. See:

http://www.iopus.com/guides/winscheduler.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308569

Additionally I was using PuTTY's pscp commandline utility to do the actual download. To do the download you have to execute pscp like this:


"C:\Programme\Simon Tatham\PuTTY\pscp -P 22 -l root -pw pfsense -2 -batch gw-buero.abyssworld.de:\conf\config.xml c:\blah.xml"

This downloads the config.xml to c:\blah.xml.

Cheers
Daniel S. Haischt

kapara

No offense taken….the more help the better. If someone has a better idea or easier way to acheive the same goal I am all for it. I am a windows guy and because of that I tend to lean towards gui applications to perform what I am trying to do. My other reason is I wanted to be able to receive an email notification if failure occured when trying to copy the file. If there is a reliable way to do this for free I am all for it.

Thanks again for all your help.

Mark

sullrich

@kapara:

No offense taken….the more help the better. If someone has a better idea or easier way to acheive the same goal I am all for it. I am a windows guy and because of that I tend to lean towards gui applications to perform what I am trying to do. My other reason is I wanted to be able to receive an email notification if failure occured when trying to copy the file. If there is a reliable way to do this for free I am all for it.

Thanks again for all your help.

Mark

ReRead Daniels post. He gave you a free windows solution.

kapara

I did read it and yes it is a good solution…but as I stated I would like to be able to receive an email notification if failure occurs because I am looking to backup 25+ boxes. Just to make sure I read about Putty's PSCP and MS Scheduler and found nothing regarding email notification. If I have over looked something, my apologies.

Mark

hoba

There are free tools to send mails from a batchjob as well like http://www.beyondlogic.org/solutions/cmdlinemail/cmdlinemail.htm
Discover the power of scripting ;)

kapara

Sounds good. Now I will have to see if there is a way to use this new program with putty's solution to email me only if failure occurs. I used a site a while back called batchworld for assistance with scripting. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/batchworld/ They are very helpful with giving answers to this kind of stuff. Thanks for the tip on the commandline email utility.

Mark

sullrich

winscp will return an error to the caller if it fails. Check for a failure code. This is all possible on windows shell scripting.