backup with snapshots and scp

[FNB]

I'm trying to backup a Scalix box by creating a logical volume snapshot of /var/opt/scalix, mounting the snapshot, then pulling the snapshot to a Windows box via WinSCP or PSCP.

Problem is that both SCP implementations hang on named pipes and there seem to be quite a few scattered around Scalix folder structure.

Any suggestions? I'd much rather use this than Samba if possible.

[FNB]

It looks like the only pipes are in

~/se
~/temp
~/pop3
~/notifs

Is it safe to exclude this folders from a full system backup? Will I have any issues on the restore?

[florian]

Yes, you can simply ignore the named pipes.

However, for synchronisation effectiveness, have you considered using rsync over ssh? I think this will be more efficient.

Cheers,
Florian.

[FNB]

Yes, you can simply ignore the named pipes.

Is it ok to totally ignore the folders mentioned above?

However, for synchronisation effectiveness, have you considered using rsync over ssh? I think this will be more efficient.

I have considered it, but it would require installing Cygwin on the backup server which I am not 100% comfortable with from a stability and security standpoint. Am I being paranoid? Anybody here have any experience with Cygwin?

[ssiekmann]

cygwin on Windows is absolutely fine and stable. Just yesterday I rsynched 14GB of backup data overnight thru my home DSL from a Windows 2003 server to a Linux host over ssh. Worked just fine. rsync is your friend.

e.g. rsync -azv -e 'ssh -p 2222 -l root -i ./ssh/pubkey'
/var/opt/scalix root@dest.host.com:/backup

Cheers,

Sascha.