Debian Tutorials Copy/Paste tutorials for Debian Linux

Automated backups to FTP server using rsync and curlftpfs

Using curlftpfs and FUSE, a ftp site is mapped to the local file system and rsync will backup files to the ftp server automatically.

1. Install required packages

apt-get install curlftpfs rsync


2. Create directory to mount the ftp site

mkdir /mnt/ftpbackup


3. Add the curlftpfs mount into fstab to make it mount everytime the system is started (pico /etc/fstab)

curlftpfs#{username}:{password}@{host} /mnt/ftpbackup fuse rw,allow_other,uid={userid} 0 0


{username} = FTP username
{password} = FTP password
{host} = FTP host/ip
{userid} = ID of a local user (ex. 1001)

4. Mount the ftp site

mount /mnt/ftpbackup


5. Backup using rsync

rsync -avz --no-owner --no-group /var/www /mnt/ftpbackup


All files in the /var/www folder will be synced to the remote machine into a folder named backup

6. Automate the backup using cron (crontab -e)

0 3 * * * rsync -az --no-owner --no-group /var/www /mnt/ftpbackup >> /dev/null 2>&1


Your /var/www will be synced to the remote machine at 3am every day