Dear monks,

I am trying to automate backing up a database and a few directories/files from a windows server to a backup server (linux). I intend to use perl because ActivePerl is already available on the windows server.

I am familiar with perl and not looking for the actual solution. I am seeking general guidance on the correct approach to solving the problem.

Currently, my high level design looks like this:

  1. Dump the database to a file in $BACKUP dir using the vendor provided dump utility.
  2. Copy other files to be backed up to the $BACKUP dir
  3. Compress the contents of $BACKUP dir
  4. Copy the compressed file to the remote backup server (ftp?)
  5. Keep only the last N (3) backups on the server and delete older backups

I am having trouble with the last step above. Ideally, I want to call the backup script weekly or bi-weekly. The compressed filename will probably include the date and time to identify when the backup was made. I need some pointers on how to determine the older than N backup files and delete them.

Any help/pointers/suggestions (including that I am totally on the wrong track, there are better ways of doing this) is appreciated.

Regards, Anand Mathur

In reply to Seeking help on a backup script by Anonymous Monk

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