oDisk

Remote Encrypted File Synchronization, oDisk

oDisk is a file synchronization application. The need for oDisk came from the discontinuation of Apple's iDisk. oDisk provides a means to backup to a remote host. oDisk encrypts and compresses backups to save space and provide a layer of security not found in iDisk or other backup schemes. Backups are stored as individual files to provide finer granularity in recover if everything else falls apart.

oDisk is also a demonstration of the Opee gem which utilizes an alternative approach to dealing with multiple threads.

Source

GitHub repo: https://github.com/ohler55/odisk

RubyGems repo: https://rubygems.org/gems/odisk

Object-based Parallel Evaluation Environment the gem oDisk is built on.

Release Notes

Release 0.2.3

  • Added odisk_forget which clears the local and remote digest of a specific file or directory.

  • Added odisk_remove which marks a file or directory as removed so that all file or directory is removed from all local copies.

Plans and Notes

oDisk has only recently been opened up for public viewing. It is barely ready for use. I am using it to backup some financial records but I am also keeping copies on more than one computer in case something fails. So far the basic backup functionality works with backups encrypted and compressed on a remote server. Adding new files and making modifications works just fine. Removing files has not been implemented yet and changing ownership or mode only take effect if the file is touched as well. Feel free to give it a try and let me know when you run into bugs.

  • Support ignore of file and directories

    • specify on command line and create .odisk/ignore file
    • use ::File.fnmatch(pattern, path, ::File::FNM_DOTMATCH)
    • pass array of ignores to digest creation
    • loosen up current restriction on any file that begins with .
  • Handle changes in mode, owner, and group

    • Compare to previous digest to detect changes
    • File modification times are not changed by mode, owner, or group changes
    • Note conflicts if modifications are more recent than remote
    • Use a script to pick change or keep local version
  • Add progress tracker

    • Have component pass info to progress actor which will update progress
    • Planner sends info on all changes along with sizes and comp/crypt flags to progress actor
    • come up with algoritm for estimating time based on size and flags
    • comp, crypt, and transfer send status to progress actor
    • Optional terminal display
  • Support background application with web front end (much later)

Installation

Installation requires Ruby 1.9.3. After that, install the odisk gem.

gem install odisk

The net-ssh and net-sftp gems are also needed as are the oj and opee gems.

gem install net-ssh
gem install net-sftp
gem install oj
gem install opee

GnuPG must be installed. It can be down loaded from GnuPG.org. Follow the instruction on GnuPG.org site for installation.

oDisk is now ready to use. ssh and sftp must be running on the remote site and credentials must be installed so that the user is not prompted for a password when using ssh or sftp.

Usage

After a directory has been selected for backing up odisk can be run to copy the directory to a remote server. For purposes of this description the directory to be backed up is ~/backup.

A passphrase file will also be needed for encryption. The recommended location is in a ~/.odisk directory. The contents of the file will be the passphrase for gpg.

Make sure you have a remote server that has an sftp and ssh daemon running. Your credentials must be set in the authorized_keys file. If you can login without a password it is set up correctly.

The first time odisk is used to backup a directory information about the remote server must be provided. After the first time that information is not needed again. Alternatively a ~/.odisk/remotes file can be set up before running odisk.

To backup to my_server.remote.com for user me to the backup directory on the remote server with a passphrase file of ~/.odisk/backup.pass the following command should be executed.

odisk -r me@my_server.remote.com:~/.odisk/backup.pass ~/backup

A file named ~/backup/.odisk/remote will be created with the connection information for future invocations so that the next time a backup is made on the ~/backup directory the command only needs to be:

odisk ~/backup

License:

Copyright (c) 2012, Peter Ohler
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

 - Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this
   list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

 - Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
   this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
   and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

 - Neither the name of Peter Ohler nor the names of its contributors may be
   used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without
   specific prior written permission.

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