How to Create a Compressed Automated Backup Script in Linux with Tar and Cron

🚀 Cómo solucionar el error paso a paso

Paso 1: Escribir el script de empaquetado en Bash

Create a script in your user directory that automates the data compression by adding the current date to the name of the resulting file:

# Crear el script de respaldo
nano ~/auto_backup.sh

Paste the following code into the editor:

#!/bin/bash
# Definir variables de rutas absolutas
BACKUP_DIR="/var/backups/my_app"
SOURCE_DIR="/var/www/html/my_app_data"
FECHA=$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H%M%S)
FILE_NAME="backup_$FECHA.tar.gz"

# Crear directorio de respaldo si no existe
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Comprimir la carpeta de origen usando exclusión de temporales si es necesario
/usr/bin/tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/$FILE_NAME" "$SOURCE_DIR"

# Opcional: Eliminar archivos de respaldo más antiguos de 30 días para evitar saturar el disco
/usr/bin/find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "backup_*.tar.gz" -mtime +30 -delete

Paso 2: Otorgar permisos de ejecución al script

Ensure that the system can invoke the script you just scheduled:

chmod +x ~/auto_backup.sh

Paso 3: Programar la ejecución en el programador de tareas Cron

Open your user's task table:

crontab -e

Add the following rule to run the automatic security packaging daily (for example, at 02:00 AM):

0 2 * * * /usr/bin/bash /home/usuario/auto_backup.sh >> /home/usuario/auto_backup.log 2>&1

🛡️ Consejo de Prevención

Recommended safety practices:

• Do not store your compressed backup files exclusively within the same physical drive of the production server. If the hard drive suffers a general mechanical collapse, you will lose both production data and backups. Always configure a secondary task in your script that replicates the packaged file to cloud storage, a local secondary server, or an external NAS using secure transmission utilities such as rsync or rclone.