Cp -al cannot create link

[Romeo Theriault]

I¹m using a rsync script to backup some of my servers. The script uses hard
links to keep the size down on the different versions of the backup. For
example I backup our webserver once a week, keeping 5 rotations. In the
output of the script after it has been running for a few weeks I¹ve started
to notice these warnings:

cp: cannot create link
`/home/romeo/backup/2007-01-28_04-24/./var/www/acim/pub_review.html': File
exists
cp: cannot create link
`/home/romeo/backup/2007-01-28_04-24/./var/www/acim/landing.html': File
exists
cp: cannot create link
`/home/romeo/backup/2007-01-28_04-24/./var/www/acim/acadian_village.html':
File exists
cp: cannot create link
`/home/romeo/backup/2007-01-28_04-24/./var/www/acim/recommendations.html':
File exists
cp: cannot create link
`/home/romeo/backup/2007-01-28_04-24/./var/www/acim/music.html': File exists
cp: cannot create link
`/home/romeo/backup/2007-01-28_04-24/./var/www/acim/historic_places.html':
File exists

I¹m now getting quite a bit of these warnings. I¹m pretty sure it has to do
with the cp ­al part of the script. I¹ve attached the script below. What
exactly does this mean, it is something I should be worried about or just
ignore?

Thanks for any help.

Romeo


#!/bin/bash
# Author: Brice Burgess - bhb at iceburg.net
# multi_rbackup.sh -- secure backup to a remote machine using rsync.
# Uses hard-link rotation to keep multiple backups on the remote machine.

# Directories to backup. Separate with a space. Exclude trailing slash!
SOURCES="/root/mysqlBackups /root/scripts /etc/vsftpd /etc/httpd
/var/www/acim /var/www/aroostookreview /var/www/local /var/www/riverreview
/var/www/sunrise /var/www/www /var/www/academic /var/www/newumfk
/var/www/arnew /home /etc/firehol/ /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts"

# IP or FQDN of Remote Machine
RMACHINE=111.215.16.28

# Remote username
RUSER=backup

# Location of passphraseless ssh keyfile
RKEY=/root/.ssh/id_rsa

# Directory to backup to on the remote machine. This is where your backup(s)
will be stored
# :: NOTICE :: -> Make sure this directory is empty or contains ONLY backups
created by
#                            this script and NOTHING else. Exclude trailing
slash!
RTARGET="/home/backup/backups/www"

# Set the number of backups to keep (greater than 1). Ensure you have
adaquate space.
ROTATIONS=5

# Your EXCLUDE_FILE tells rsync what NOT to backup. Leave it unchanged,
missing or
# empty if you want to backup all files in your SOURCES. If performing a
# FULL SYSTEM BACKUP, ie. Your SOURCES is set to "/", you will need to make
# use of EXCLUDE_FILE. The file should contain directories and filenames,
one per line.
# An example of a EXCLUDE_FILE would be:
# /proc/
# /tmp/
# /mnt/
# *.SOME_KIND_OF_FILE
#EXCLUDE_FILE="/root/scripts/exclude.txt"

# Comment out the following line to disable verbose output
VERBOSE="-v"

#######################################
########DO_NOT_EDIT_BELOW_THIS_POINT#########
#######################################

if [ ! -f $RKEY ]; then
  echo "Couldn't find ssh keyfile!"
  echo "Exiting..."
  exit 2
fi

if ! ssh -i $RKEY $RUSER@$RMACHINE "test -x $RTARGET"; then
  echo "Target directory on remote machine doesn't exist or bad
permissions."
  echo "Exiting..."
  exit 2
fi

# Set name (date) of backup.
BACKUP_DATE="`date +%F_%H-%M`"

if [ ! $ROTATIONS -gt 1 ]; then
  echo "You must set ROTATIONS to a number greater than 1!"
  echo "Exiting..."
  exit 2
fi

#### BEGIN ROTATION SECTION ####

BACKUP_NUMBER=1
# incrementor used to determine current number of backups

# list all backups in reverse (newest first) order, set name of oldest
backup to $backup
# if the retention number has been reached.
for backup in `ssh -i $RKEY $RUSER@$RMACHINE "ls -dXr $RTARGET/*/"`; do
    if [ $BACKUP_NUMBER -eq 1 ]; then
        NEWEST_BACKUP="$backup"
    fi

    if [ $BACKUP_NUMBER -eq $ROTATIONS ]; then
        OLDEST_BACKUP="$backup"
        break
    fi

    let "BACKUP_NUMBER=$BACKUP_NUMBER+1"
done

# Check if $OLDEST_BACKUP has been found. If so, rotate. If not, create new
directory for new backup.
if [ $OLDEST_BACKUP ]; then
  # Set oldest backup to current one
  ssh -i $RKEY $RUSER@$RMACHINE "mv $OLDEST_BACKUP $RTARGET/$BACKUP_DATE"
else
  ssh -i $RKEY $RUSER@$RMACHINE "mkdir $RTARGET/$BACKUP_DATE"
fi

# Update current backup using hard links from the most recent backup
if [ $NEWEST_BACKUP ]; then
  ssh -i $RKEY $RUSER@$RMACHINE "cp -al $NEWEST_BACKUP.
$RTARGET/$BACKUP_DATE"
fi

#### END ROTATION SECTION ####

# Check to see if rotation section created backup destination directory
if ! ssh -i $RKEY $RUSER@$RMACHINE "test -d $RTARGET/$BACKUP_DATE"; then
  echo "Backup destination not available."
  echo "Make sure you have write permission in RTARGET on Remote Machin  e."
  echo "Exiting..."
  exit 2
fi

echo "Verifying Sources..."
for source in $SOURCES; do
    echo "Checking $source..."
    if [ ! -x $source ]; then
     echo "Error with $source!"
     echo "Directory either does not exist, or you do not have proper
permissions."
     exit 2
   fi
done

if [ -f $EXCLUDE_FILE ]; then
EXCLUDE="--exclude-from=$EXCLUDE_FILE"
fi


echo "Sources verified. Running rsync..."
for source in $SOURCES; do

  # Create directories in $RTARGET to mimick source directory hiearchy
  if ! ssh -i $RKEY $RUSER@$RMACHINE "test -d
$RTARGET/$BACKUP_DATE/$source"; then
    ssh -i $RKEY $RUSER@$RMACHINE "mkdir -p $RTARGET/$BACKUP_DATE/$source"
  fi

  rsync $VERBOSE $EXCLUDE -a --delete -e "ssh -i $RKEY" $source/
$RUSER@$RMACHINE:$RTARGET/$BACKUP_DATE/$source/

done

exit 0

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