In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to install BackupPC on Kali Linux. BackupPC is a high-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up Linux, Windows, and macOS PCs and laptops to a server's disk or tape media. It is open-source and available for free.
Before we start the installation process, make sure to meet the following prerequisites:
Before installing any new software, it is essential to update your system to its latest version. To do that, run the following command:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
That command will update your system's package repositories and upgrade all the installed packages to their latest version.
To install BackupPC, we need to add BackupPC's PPA (Personal Package Archive) to our system's package sources list. To do that, run the following command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:backuppc/ppa
Then, update the repositories by running:
sudo apt update
Finally, install the BackupPC package by running:
sudo apt install backuppc
During the installation process, you will be asked to choose the webserver you want to use, either Apache or Lighttpd. For this tutorial, we will use Apache.
After the installation process is complete, we need to configure BackupPC. We can do that by editing the config.pl file located in the /etc/backuppc/ directory.
sudo nano /etc/backuppc/config.pl
The config.pl file contains many options that we can configure, such as the backup directory, user accounts, and more. For now, we will only change the $Conf{ServerName} option to our server's hostname or IP address.
$Conf{ServerName} = "server_hostname_or_ip_address";
Save the changes and exit the editor.
Next, we need to configure Apache to work with BackupPC. To do that, we need to create a virtual host for BackupPC. Create a new configuration file:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/backuppc.conf
Then, paste the following configuration:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName server_hostname_or_ip_address
DocumentRoot /usr/share/backuppc/html/
ScriptAlias /backuppc/ /usr/share/backuppc/cgi-bin/
Alias /backuppc/css/ /usr/share/backuppc/html/css/
<Directory /usr/share/backuppc/html>
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Require all granted
</Directory>
<Directory /usr/share/backuppc/cgi-bin>
AllowOverride None
Options ExecCGI
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
Require all granted
AuthType Basic
AuthName "BackupPC"
AuthUserFile /etc/backuppc/htpasswd
Require valid-user
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Replace server_hostname_or_ip_address with your server's hostname or IP address.
Next, enable the new BackupPC virtual host on Apache by running:
sudo a2ensite backuppc.conf
Finally, reload the Apache service by running:
sudo systemctl reload apache2
To access BackupPC's web interface, we need to create a user account. We can do that by running the following command:
sudo htpasswd -c /etc/backuppc/htpasswd backuppc_user
That command will create a new file /etc/backuppc/htpasswd and a new user account backuppc_user.
After completing the previous steps, we can now access BackupPC's web interface by opening a web browser and navigating to http://server_hostname_or_ip_address/backuppc/.
Log in with the backuppc_user credentials that we created earlier.
BackupPC is now installed and configured on your Kali Linux system. You can now use it to backup your Linux, Windows, and macOS PCs and laptops to a server's disk or tape media. Make sure to read the BackupPC documentation for more information on how to configure and use BackupPC.
If you want to self-host in an easy, hands free way, need an external IP address, or simply want your data in your own hands, give IPv6.rs a try!
Alternatively, for the best virtual desktop, try Shells!
