After we got Xubuntu installed on the tower, we installed samba file sharing as our root login (the user created when the operating system was installed, not our network user, then ran sudo apt-get install samba). By this time we added the computer name and a testuser to the Active Directory and allowed it administrative privileges. After restarting the linux machine, log in as the network user by clicking "Other" and typing the full user name - for example: "NETWORKNAME\testuser" and enter that user's password that was applied in the Active Directory user set up. Now that a local user has been created on the computer, we log off and log back in as the root to allow our new user root privileges. Once that has been done we are ready to map the network drives.
We then created folders in the /media directory to map the network folders to. We added the network paths to fstab (sudo gedit /etc/fstab) of the folder we wanted to map and back up. An example line from that file is:
"//192.168.0.121/E$ /media/edrive cifs username=user,password=pass 0 0"
Once you get all of them into fstab, save and close that file then run the command "sudo mount -a" - if you receive any errors, you likely have input something wrong, if not, you should now be able to browse those folders where you mounted them.
Next, we wrote a quick #!/bin/bash script to run the rsync command for those directories to sync with our external backup drive (for example: "rsync -aq /media/edrive /media/backup/edrive"). After, we used the chmod command to make our file useful without without having to use the sudo prefix or enter a password so it could easily be made into a scheduled task to run automatically. For this, we used crontab to set up the task execution frequency/schedule (crontab -e).
With that, we're done. In summary, what we've accomplished is making a faster more efficient backup system by only copying files that are new or have changed since the last time the script was run. Just keep the computer on and let it sit and do all the work for you quickly and efficiently.
*Please note, the examples above will have to be altered slightly to accommodate your setup and also that the first time the script is run it will perform a "full backup" from the specified locations (unless the files already exist in the destination).
**The external drive was the only cost. We purchased a "shell enclosure" and used an extra sata drive that we had from another computer whose motherboard died. Please do make sure the one that you use has enough space to perform the backup before running it.
