These are steps used to get my new NSLU2 running Debian/NSLU2 then backing up my Fedora Core 7 (soon to be FC8) box.

  1. Unpack new NSLU2 (slug) and Seagate 250GB external drive. Plug in. Change networking on slug to static IP address on my network. (Much to my surprise, there is an issue with the Seagate FreeAgent external drive with Linux. See here for details about solution.)
  2. Make sure that I have redboot access in case it’s needed.
  3. Ready the drive following instructions here.
  4. Download and re-flash (using this tool) slug with Debian/NSLU2
    This is done in a couple of steps, as shown here.
    1. Move tar file of base to the drive and unpack.
    2. Flash the “etch” binary firmware.
  5. Reboot, should now have working Debian on NSLU2.
  6. By default, networking uses DHCP to get its IP address.
    edit /etc/hostname to rename the system
    edit /etc/resolv.conf
    edit /etc/network/interfaces, adding:
    iface eth0 inet static
      address 192.168.0.4
      netmask 255.255.255.0
      broadcast 192.168.0.4
      network 192.168.0.0
      gateway 192.168.0.1
  7. Follow the “what to do now” section of the page here.
  8. Do some maintenance:
    apt-get install ntp-simple ntpdate
    /usr/sbin/ntpdate -s
    /sbin/hwclock --adjust
    /sbin/hwclock --systohc
  9. Enable login via ssh without password using instructions here. 
  10. Install necessary packages for rsync and nfs:
    apt-get install rsync nfs-kernel-server
  11. Set rsync to run in daemon mode by editing the appropriate line in /etc/default/rsync
  12. Create /etc/rsyncd.conf, make it look something like this:
    uid = root
    gid = root
    use chroot = yes
    max connections = 1
    pid file = /var/run/rsyncd.pid
    read only = no
    hosts allow = 192.168.0.10
    hosts deny = *
    dont compress *.tgz *.gz *.bz2 *.iso *.jpg *.jpeg *.tif *.tiff *.
  13. Edit /etc/exports to allow nfs sharing of backup destination directory (/home/backup) by adding a line like this:
    /home 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0(rw,sync,no_root_squash)
    Then make sure there is a corresponding line in /etc/fstab on the server to be backed up:
    192.168.0.4:/home       /mnt/snapshot         nfs     defaults        0 0
  14. Make sure copy of local_cpio.sh exists in backup destination directory of slug
  15. Run the snapshot-rotate and snapshot-make scripts from the machine to be backed up.
  16. Done!