Backing Your Server Up To Dropbox

I use Dropbox daily. It's a great service - it allows me to keep my development environment the same wherever I go, and is a great tool for backing up data.

However, recently I found another use for it. If you manage a Linux VPS and install Dropbox, you've got yourself an all-in-one backup and (fairly secure) remote management of the server's file system.

So here's what I did:

1. I installed the command line version of Dropbox onto my VPS using these instructions: http://wiki.dropbox.com/TipsAndTricks/TextBasedLinuxInstall
2. I created various symbolic links to certain folders on my server's filesystem inside the Dropbox folder
3. Shared the top level folder with my main Dropbox account

It's as simple as that. I've also done this with a large PHP project I'm working on - and it allows multiple collaborators to have local versions of folders that then get synced with "the cloud" — and of course your server.

Another thing I've done is added database backups on cron that also get added to the Dropbox folder. This means that when I wake up there is a tar.gz backup of all of my MySQL databases and nginx log files, automagically added to my Dropbox folder.