#!/bin/bash
unset PATH

# USER VARIABLES
BACKUPDIR=/disk3                            # Folder on the backup server where the backups shall be located
#KEY=/root/.ssh/id_rsa                        # SSH key
#MYSQL_BACKUPSCRIPT=/root/my_backup.sh        # Path to the remote mysql backup script
#PRODUCTION_USER=root@production.server.com    # The user and the address of the production server
EXCLUDES=/disk1/backup_exclude                # File containing the excluded directories
DAYS=60                                        # The number of days after which old backups will be deleted

# PATH VARIABLES
SH=/bin/sh                                    # Location of the bash bin in the production server!!!!

CP=/bin/cp;                                    # Location of the cp bin
FIND=/usr/bin/find;                            # Location of the find bin
ECHO=/bin/echo;                                # Location of the echo bin
MK=/bin/mkdir;                                # Location of the mk bin
SSH=/usr/bin/ssh;                            # Location of the ssh bin
DATE=/bin/date;                                # Location of the date bin
RM=/bin/rm;                                    # Location of the rm bin
GREP=/bin/grep;                                # Location of the grep bin
MYSQL=/usr/bin/mysql;                        # Location of the mysql bin
MYSQLDUMP=/usr/bin/mysqldump;                # Location of the mysql_dump bin
RSYNC=/usr/bin/rsync;                        # Location of the rsync bin
TOUCH=/bin/touch;                            # Location of the touch bin

##                                                      ##
##      –       DO NOT EDIT BELOW THIS HERE     –     ##
##                                                      ##

# CREATING NECESSARY FOLDERS
$MK $BACKUPDIR
CURRENT=$BACKUPDIR/current
OLD=$BACKUPDIR/old
$MK $CURRENT
$MK $OLD
# CREATING CURRENT DATE / TIME
NOW=`$DATE ‘+%Y-%m’-%d_%H:%M`
NOW=$OLD/$NOW
$MK $NOW

# CREATE REMOTE MYSQL BACKUP BY RUNNING THE REMOTE BACKUP SCRIPT
# $SSH -i $KEY $PRODUCTION_USER “$SH $MYSQL_BACKUPSCRIPT”

# RUN RSYNC INTO CURRENT
#$RSYNC                                                            \
#    -apvz –delete –delete-excluded                        \
#     –exclude-from=”$EXCLUDES”                                \
#      -e “$SSH -i $KEY”                                        \
#       $PRODUCTION_USER:/                                        \
#        $CURRENT ;

// No Compression
$RSYNC                                                            \
-apv –delete –delete-excluded                        \
–exclude-from=”$EXCLUDES”                                \
/                                \
$CURRENT ;

# UPDATE THE MTIME TO REFELCT THE SNAPSHOT TIME
$TOUCH $BACKUPDIR/current

# MAKE HARDLINK COPY
$CP -al $CURRENT/* $NOW

# REMOVE OLD BACKUPS
for FILE in “$( $FIND $OLD -maxdepth 1 -type d -mtime +$DAYS )”
do
#    $RM -Rf $FILE
$ECHO $FILE
done
exit 0

Save the following to /disk3/backup_exclude. Essentially, these are the files/folders you do not wish to backup using rsync.

/disk3/
/bin/
/boot/
/dev/
/lib/
/lost+found/
/mnt/
/opt/
/proc/
/sbin/
/sys/
/tmp/
/usr/
/var/log/
/var/spool/
/var/lib/php4/
/var/lib/mysql/