Bernhard Brunner's Blog

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--- blog:create_encrypted_tar_files [2010-05-26 10:09] – brb
+++ blog:create_encrypted_tar_files [2010-05-26 10:31] (current) – brb
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== Create encrypted tar files ======
+====== Create encrypted tar backups and store them on the amazon S3 cloud ======
-  # tar -zcf – todays_backup|openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -pass pass:yourpassword -out todays_backup.tgz.aes-256-cbc
+Amazon S3 provides unlimited storage at low prices, which makes it an ideal solution for storing backups. But to make use of it, you need a piece of software that can actually interact with Amazon S3: create buckets, list the contents of a bucket, upload and download files, etc. And aws, a simple command-line utility written in Perl, is the perfect tool for the job.
+===== Perparations =====
+Before you proceed, you should install the curl utility. On Ubuntu, you can do this using the sudo apt-get install curl command. Next, grab the latest version of the aws script:
+  curl timkay.com/aws/aws -o aws
+Make it then executable and copy it to the /usr/bin directory:
+  chmod +x aws
+  sudo cp ~/aws /usr/bin/
+Create then an .awssecret file and open it in a text editor like nano:
+  nano .awssecret
+Enter your Amazon AWS credentials (the Access Key ID and the Secret Access Key) as follows:
+B5JYHPQCXW13GWKHAG2
+GAHKWG3+1wxcqyhpj5b1Ggqc0TIxj21DKkidjfz
+Save the file and change its permissions:
+  chmod 600 .awssecret
+aws is now ready to go. To create a bucket for your backup use the aws mkdir command (replacing BUCKET with the actual name):
+  aws mkdir BUCKET
+===== Create and upload the backup file =====
+Next, create an encrypted tarball of the directory you want to back up using the tar tool:
+  tar -zcf - todays_backup|openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -pass pass:yourpassword -out todays_backup.tgz.aes-256-cbc
+Finally, upload the created archive to the created bucket:
+<code>
+aws put BUCKET/dir.tar.gz /path/to/todays_backup.tgz.aes-256-cbc
+</code>
+The best part is that you don't have to do this manually every time you want to back up a certain directory. Here is a sample script that backs up photos stored on the local hard disk:
+<code>
+tar -zcf – todays_backup|openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -pass pass:yourpassword -out todays_backup.tgz.aes-256-cbc
+aws put BUCKET/todays_backup.tgz.aes-256-cbc /path/to/todays_backup.tgz.aes-256-cbc
+</code>
 Replace yourpassword with a password of your own. Keep the password to yourself, and keep it carefully. The above command will generate a file called todays_backup.tgz.aes-256-cbc. This file can only be decompressed using this password.
-To extract your protected archive file todays_backup.des3 use the following command:
+===== Retrieve and decrypt a backup file =====
+Of course, you have to make sure that you can actually retrieve and decrypt your backup files. Test if this works, preferably with a small file:
+Retrieve the file from S3:
+  aws get BUCKET/todays_backup.tgz.aes-256-cbc
-  # openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -salt -pass pass:yourpassword -out todays_backup.tgz
+To extract your protected archive file use the following command:
+  # openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -in todays_backup.tgz.aes-256-cbc -out todays_backup.tgz
-Ref: http://www.simplehelp.net/2009/02/19/adding-encryption-to-protect-your-backups-on-linux/
+Ref:
+  * http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Blogs/Productivity-Sauce-Dmitri-s-open-source-blend-of-productive-computing/Perfect-Backup-Solution-with-Amazon-S3-and-aws
+  * http://www.simplehelp.net/2009/02/19/adding-encryption-to-protect-your-backups-on-linux/