SSH Backup Script

This script is designed to back up a user's .ssh directory. It compresses the entire .ssh folder into an archive and stores it in a designated backup directory.

Prerequisites

• macOS or Linux operating system
• tar utility must be installed (present by default on most UNIX systems)
• Write permission in the target backup directory

Installation

1. Copy the ssh-backup.sh script to your preferred script directory, for example, $HOME/ssh-backup. Keep in mind: Use absolute paths: You cannot use environment variables such as $HOME in .plist files for launchd. You must specify absolute paths.
2. Make the script executable with the command:sh chmod +x ~/ssh-backup/ssh-backup.sh
3. (Optional) Configure a launchd job or cron job to execute the script regularly.

Configuration

The script uses environment variables and default paths. Ensure that these paths exist and are correct on your system:

• Backup directory: /Users/yourUsername/ssh-backup
• Log directory: /Users/yourUsername/ssh-backup/logs

Usage

To run the script manually, open a terminal and execute the following command:Replitsh ~/ssh-backup/ssh-backup.shThe script will create an archive of the .ssh folder in the configured backup directory.

Automation

To perform the backup automatically, you can set up a cron job or launchd service. An example .plist file for launchd might look like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.yourUsername.ssh-backup</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/yourUsername/ssh-backup/ssh-backup.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>14</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>0</integer>
    </dict>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/Users/yourUsername/ssh-backup/logs/error.log</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/Users/yourUsername/ssh-backup/logs/output.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Add the .plist file to ~/Library/LaunchAgents and load it with launchctl to configure automatic execution.

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.yourUsername.ssh-backup.plist

Crobtab

echo "0 14 * * * $HOME/ssh-backup/backup.sh" > /tmp/cron_job #This entry would execute the backup.sh script every day at 02:00 PM.

crontab -l | cat - /tmp/cron_job | crontab -

crontab -l

Author

Matthias Lüttermann