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File backup script

Having a backup of your files is essential for every day operation, whether it is on your home servers or in a very small business environment with linux servers.

This script is built by me and used every day in my environment to make it easier for me to restore files when needed.

The script can send the compressed file to offsite storage with SFTP and / or keep them locally for a configured amount of time as well.

I have it running on openSUSE and Ubuntu servers as we speak with no issues, but if you would find something not working, please let me know, you can PM me att my Twitter(X) account and i will take a look at it.

Settings

There are some settings in the script that must be set to make it tick, some settings already has a default value set but can be changed as needed.

Backup and temp folder to use during creation of compressed file or to store files locally.

vBckDir

Name prefix of compressed file, _date and .zip is added at the end, ex. prefix_date.zip.

vFilePrefix

Keep local backup files after sent to SFTP server, if no than nothing is kept locally. (no/yes)

vKeepBackup

Number of days to keep local files before pruning the backup directory, relies on vKeepBackup.

vKeepDays

Should we send the files to a Sftp server, requires the pysftp python module. (no/yes)

vSendToSftp

User for the remote server.

vSftpUser

Password for the remote server.

vSftpPass

Destination folder on remote server.

vSftpDir

Remote server address.

vSftpHost

Remote server port.

vSftpPort

Run extra OS specific commands before backup. (no/yes)

vPreBckCmd

Run extra OS specific commands after backup. (no/yes)

vPostBckCmd

OS Commands

Depending on some settings above, these 2 must be populated as well, these are the OS commands you want to execute either before or after doing your backup and depends on the vPreBckCmd and / or vPostBckCmd being set to yes.

External OS commands to execute before continuing with the rest of the script.

vPreOsCmd

External OS commands to execute at the end of the script.

vPostOsCmd

These can contain multiple commands when needed, to run multiple command for example vPreOsCmd could look like this, there are no theoretical no limit to amount of commands you can add, but try to keep it to what is needed for the script.

vPreOsCmd=["command1","command2"]

Python virtual environment

A python virtual environment or venv as it is called is runtime version of python separated from the rest of the OS, this has several benefits, no extra modules are installed with extra permissions and you can lock it on a certain python version in case you need different versions on your system.

As of Ubuntu 23.04 this is a requirement, they have locked down the system python version and you cannot install any extra modules, might be other OS going this way so better to start using a venv anyway.

A venv is often created in the users home directory and in the user running the script, be it root or other user, replace youruser with your user

Start with making sure you are placed in the home directory.

$ cd
$ pwd
/home/youruser

Or for root it would be 

$ cd
$ pwd
/root

Run the following command to create a venv for this script.

$ python3 -m venv .venv/filebackup

And if your are going to send to SFTP do the following to get the pysftp module installed.

$ source .venv/filebackup/bin/activate
$ pip3 install wheel
$ pip3 install pysftp
$ deactivate

Now we need to change the first line in the script from this.

#!/usr/bin/python3

To this, so we point it at our venv we just created.

#!/home/youruser/.venv/filebackup/bin/python

Or as root

#!/root/.venv/filebackup/bin/python

Remote ssh key...

You need to ssh to the remote server before running the script first time to accept the host key when using the SFTP option or the script will fail, and it must be with the user running the script later.

To run the script simply set the execution mode like below so that the owner (user & group) of the script has full permissions on the script and everybody else has none, recommended since there are passwords in the file.

$ chmod 770 ./filebackup.py

And this enables you to run it like this.

$ ./filebackup.py

Now you should have everything set up for running a backup, or almost, you still need the script, and here it comes...

The Script

The script has been tested against the following OS & Python versions.

Ubuntu Server: 22.04.x LTS / 23.04
openSUSE Leap: 15.4
Python: 3.4.4 / 3.6.15 / 3.11.4

Expand below to see full script and to copy it to your environment.

filebackup.py - Click to see full script 
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#!/usr/bin/python3

#################################################################
# Basic file backup script written in python.                   #
#                                                               #
# Author: Marcus Uddenhed                                       #
# Revision: 1.4                                                 #
# Revision Date: 2023-05-30                                     #
# Requirements:                                                 #
# pysftp for SFTP functions, only if vSendToSftp is set to yes. #
#                                                               #
#################################################################

## Module imports.
from datetime import datetime
from time import time
import zipfile
import os

## Global variables.
vBckDir=""                      # Backup and temp folder to use during creation of compressed file or to store files locally.
vFilePrefix=""                  # Name prefix of compressed file, _date and .zip is added at the end, ex. prefix_date.zip.
vKeepBackup="no"                # Keep local backup files after sent to SFTP server, if no than nothing is kept locally.(no/yes)
vKeepDays="20"                  # Days to keep if you want to keep certain days locally, relies on vKeepBackup.
vSendToSftp="no"                # Should we send the file to a Sftp server.(no/yes)
vSftpUser=""                    # User for remote server.
vSftpPass=""                    # Password for remote server.
vSftpDir=""                     # Destination folder on remote server.
vSftpHost=""                    # Remote server adress.
vSftpPort="22"                  # Remote server port.
vPreBckCmd="no"                 # Run extra OS specific commands before backup/zip.(no/yes)
vPostBckCmd="no"                # Run extra OS specific commands after backup/zip.(no/yes)

# Folders to backup, this can be a single path or an list of paths, like this: ["/singlepath"] or ["/path1","path2"] and so on.
vSrcDir=[""]

# External OS commands to execute before compressing to zip, be sure to put the output folder to vSrcDir if it is to be added to zip file.
vPreOsCmd=[""]

# External OS commands to execute after compressing to zip.
vPostOsCmd=[""]

#### Script Action

## Import pysftp only if vSendToSftp set to yes.
if vSendToSftp == "yes":
    import pysftp

## Import subprocess only if vPreBckCmd or vPostBckCmd set to yes.
if vPreBckCmd == "yes" or vPostBckCmd == "yes":
    import subprocess

## Get current date
def funcDateString():
    # Returns the today string year, month, day.
    return datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d")

## Define function for Pre OS commands.
def funcExecutePreOsCmd(vPreOsCmd):
    try:
        if vPreBckCmd.casefold() == "yes":
            # iterate through each specified command.
            for vExecute in vPreOsCmd:
                subprocess.run(vExecute, shell=True, check=True)
            # Send info to console.
            print("OS commands has been executed...")
    except:
        # Send info to console.
        print("Could not execute OS command...")

## Define function for Pre OS commands.
def funcExecutePostOsCmd(vPostOsCmd):
    try:
        if vPostBckCmd.casefold() == "yes":
            # iterate through each specified command.
            for vExecute in vPostOsCmd:
                subprocess.run(vExecute, shell=True, check=True)
            # Send info to console.
            print("OS commands has been executed...")
    except:
        # Send info to console.
        print("Could not execute OS command...")

## Build Zip filename with path.
vSetZipFile=os.path.join(vBckDir, vFilePrefix + "_" + funcDateString() + ".zip")

## Define function for compressing files/folders into a zip file.
def funcCreateZipFile(vZipName, vPath):
    try:
        # Send info to console.
        print("Creating Zip file...")
        # Parameters: vZipName - name of the zip file; path - name of folder/file to be put in zip file.
        vZipFile = zipfile.ZipFile(vZipName, 'w', zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED)
        # iterate through each specified folder.
        for vFolder in vPath:
            # Changes root dir to given input folder to make zipped files relative to that.
            os.chdir(vFolder)
            # Send each folder and file to zip file.
            for root, dirs, files in os.walk(vFolder, topdown=False):
                for name in files:
                    vZipFile.write(os.path.join(root, name))
        # Close the Zip file.
        vZipFile.close()
        # Send info to console.
        print("Zip file has been created...")
    except:
        # Send info to console.
        print("Could not create Zip file...")

## Define function send to SFTP.
def funcSendToSftp(vHost, vPort, vUser, vPwd, vFolder, vFile):
    try:
        if vSendToSftp.casefold() == "yes":
            # Send info to console.
            print("Sending Zip file to SFTP server...")
            # Convert port to integer, needed since we use "" above to keep it a bit more tidy.
            vIntPort=int(vPort)
            # Connect to SFTP server and upload file.
            with pysftp.Connection(host=vHost, port=vIntPort, username=vUser, password=vPwd) as sftp:
                # Change directory.
                with sftp.cd(vFolder):
                    # Upload file
                    sftp.put(vFile)
            # Send info to console.
            print("Done sending Zip file to SFTP server...")
    except:
        # Send info to console.
        print("Could not connect to server or upload file...")

## Define history function.
def funcKeepBackup(vGetDays, vGetDir):
    try:
        # Check if to keep a history or not.
        vIntDays=int(vGetDays)
        if vKeepBackup.casefold() == "yes":
            # Send info to console.
            print("Pruning backup folder, keeping", vIntDays, "days...")
            # Set today as current day.
            vTimeNow=time()
            # Remove files based on days to keep.
            for fname in os.listdir(vGetDir):
                if fname.startswith(vFilePrefix):
                    if os.path.getmtime(os.path.join(vGetDir, fname)) < vTimeNow - vIntDays * 86400:
                        os.remove(os.path.join(vGetDir, fname))
            # Send info to console.
            print("Done pruning backup folder...")
        elif vKeepBackup.casefold() == "no":
            # Send info to console.
            print("Removing all local backup files...")
            # Build file list and remove files.
            vSetFilePattern=os.path.join(vFilePrefix + "_")
            for fname in os.listdir(vGetDir):
                if fname.startswith(vSetFilePattern):
                    os.remove(os.path.join(vGetDir, fname))
            # Send info to console.
            print("Done removing all local backup files...")
    except:
        # Send info to console.
        print("Could not clean backup folder...")

## Call the pre OS command function and run only if vPreBckCmd is set to yes.
funcExecutePreOsCmd(vPreOsCmd)

## Call the backup function and create the backup.
funcCreateZipFile(vSetZipFile, vSrcDir)

## Call the Sftp function and upload file only if vSendToSftp is set to yes.
funcSendToSftp(vSftpHost, vSftpPort, vSftpUser, vSftpPass, vSftpDir, vSetZipFile)

## Call the post OS command function and run only if vPostBckCmd is set to yes.
funcExecutePostOsCmd(vPostOsCmd)

## Call the history function to enable automatic housekeeping in the backup folder.
funcKeepBackup(vKeepDays, vBckDir)

Changelog

ChangeLog - Expand to read 
Version     Date            Information
-------     ----            -----------
1.0         2023-01-25      Initial release.
1.4         2023-05-30      Revised and added script PreCMD en PostCMD options