Back up on Remote System

This page contains instructions on how to set up a backup on a remote system.

Set parameters

To set up a backup on a remote system:

1. Click the Backup icon in the Settings area and fill in the Remote Storage form. When you want to use a remote location to backup your VoipNow system, you must define all the required parameters.
   
   • Use remote storage: Select this checkbox if you wish to keep the backup files on a remote system. If this option is not enabled, then the following options are not available.
   • Remote storage connection: Choose the type of the connection from the drop-down list. The options available are ftp and ssh.
   • Remote storage hostname: Specify the remote server's hostname using the REMOTE_SERVER : REMOTE_PORT format.
   • Remote storage user: This is enabled only when ftp or ssh is selected. Specify the login username for the remote server. The username can only contain the following character types.
     • Any of the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet [a-z]. The scripts of non-Latin languages (such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese, Greek, Indian, Korean or Japanese) are illegible.
     • Any combination of the 10 decimals [0-9].
     • Special characters like: _.-@.
   • Remote storage password: This is enabled only when ftp is selected. Specify the password for the remote server. The password can only contain the following character types.
   • • Any of the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet [a-z]. The scripts of non-Latin languages (such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese, Greek, Indian, Korean or Japanese) are illegible.
     • Any combination of the 10 decimals [0-9].
     • Special characters like: !?@#$%\/*()_+={}`~[];:,.|^&.
   • Confirm password: This field is displayed only when the ftp connection is selected. Confirm the remote storage password. If the ssh connection is selected, you will received the following message: "Please set up a password-less key-based authentication to your remote storage server."
   • Backup storage directory on remote machine: Specify the location where the backup files will be stored on the local machine.If this option is not enabled, then the following options are not available.
   • Remove old backups on remote server?: Select this checkbox if you want the old backups on the remote server to be removed.
2. Click OK to save preferences. To go back to the previous page without submitting any changes, click Cancel.

Example

To back up storage directory on remote a machine:

1. If you're using a SSH connection, specify an absolute path on the remote server. Your machine should be able to log in without any password to the remote server, using key passing. The public key of your server must be placed in the remote server's authorized key list. This technique is called key exchange.

2. Perform the following command on the local server.

   ssh-keygen -t dsa

3. Press Enter in order to accept the suggested path. The SSH key generator is generated.
4. When asked for a pass phrase, press Enter. This will enable remote connections that do not require a password.

5. Copy the generated key on the remote server using the command below. It is very important to acknowledge these SSH key generators, otherwise you will not be able to connect to the remote server.

   scp ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub ip_of_remote_server:.ssh/authorized_keys2