Using Backup Assist with rSync.net servers

I have been a fan of rsync.net services for a few years now and have always been looking for ways to improve automating backups to their servers. Backup Assist recently added Rsync protocol support in their v5 product and I've been eager to get it to work.

rsync.net's servers do not allow open access via the shell so I had to use the following steps to manual create and move the .ssh keys to the server:

1. Move any existing files out of the default location where Backup Assist stores the SSH keys.

• Windows XP: “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\BackupAssist v5\.ssh”
• Windows Vista/7: “C:\Programdata\Backupassist v5\.ssh.
  

2. In Backup Assist, configure the rSync server credentials and click on “Register with server” and ignore any errors.

3. Verify that three new files have been created in the local Backup Assist .SSH directory listed above. The files are:

• Ba_id_dsa
• Ba_id_dsa.pub
• known_hosts

4. Rename the file “Ba_id_dsa.pub” to “authorized_keys”

5. Use WinSCP to connect to the rsync.net account you are configuring

6. Copy the local “authorized_keys” file in to the remote .ssh folder

7. Click on “Test connection…” in Backup Assist to confirm this worked.

8. If the test fails, restart at step 1 and verify that file time stamps on the local machine are current.

9. Disable the media usage report in the "rsync options" settings tab. The restrictions on the rsync.net server mean that the media usage report won't work either, but rsync.net provide other methods for getting server disk usage information.

Hope this information helps someone else!