[http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/ rdiff-backup] is a nice tool for backups, I made a small script which is executed by cron.daily to backup my boxes:
inline:rdiff-backup.daily
You likely want the ["ssh-cron-agent"] too.
Example Configuration file on the Backup server
The global configuration /etc/rdiff-backup.conf
BACKUPDIR=/data/safe/backups/hosts MAXAGE=1M source /usr/local/bin/ssh-cron-agent
the configuration which hosts shall be backed up /etc/rdiff-backup.hosts
starbase / 5M mercur mercur.localnet::/ 5M fluff fluff.localnet::/ 7M
Include file examples for the machines backed up
the global /etc/rdiff-backup.inc:
+ /etc/** + /boot/** + /var/bzr/** + /var/backups/** + /var/lib/** + /usr/**
and a users private includefile ~/.rdiff-backup.inc:
+ src/** + .secos/** + .gnupg/** + .ssh/** - .mozilla/**/Cache** - mnt/** + .mozilla/** + .mozilla-thunderbird/**