Requirments:
Shell access
ncftp
Vi or Pico/Nano editor
Cron

Step 1:
Log into your server as the user you want to run this script as (usually root).  You can then create a file somewhere on your server (I usually put the file in /etc/backup)

# cd /etc
# mkdir backup
# cd backup
# nano backup.sh

Step 2:
Cut and paste the script I have written into the file and then edit the parts required (it is spretty streight forward to understand but I will put comments on each line — the comments will start with a * so do not add these comments into your script).  After you have edited and save the file you must chmod the file 755 to make it executable

#!/bin/sh
HOST=’192.168.1.3′
* this can be an ip address or a hostname of the destination FTP server
USER=’ftpbackup’
* the username of the ftp server
PASSWD=’backup0012′
* the password on the ftp server
DATE=`/bin/date +%Y%m%d`
* no edits for DATE
TIME=`/bin/date +%H`
* No Edits for TIME
HOSTNAME=`/bin/hostname`
* No edits for HOSTNAME

mysqldump -c -B -uroot -pfoobar DB1 DB2 mysql > data.sql &&
* This is if you want to backup your mysql database, DB1 and DB2 represent databases within mysql you want yo backup -uroot -pfoobar (change this to your mysql username and password). if you are not backing up mysql then remove the above line.

tar zcvf $DATE.$TIME.$HOSTNAME.tar.gz ./data.sql /etc/ /var/www > /dev/null &&
* you can edit this line as you wish if you are not backing up mysql you can remove ./data.sql, you can add directories such as /etc and /var/www

ncftpput -u $USER -p $PASSWD $HOST /tobebackedup $DATE.$TIME.$HOSTNAME.tar.gz ;:
* nothing to edit here

The finished script:

#!/bin/sh
HOST=’192.168.1.3′
USER=’ftpbackup’
PASSWD=’backup0012′
DATE=`/bin/date +%Y%m%d`
TIME=`/bin/date +%H`
HOSTNAME=`/bin/hostname`

mysqldump -c -B -uroot -pfoobar DB1 DB2 mysql > data.sql &&
tar zcvf $DATE.$TIME.$HOSTNAME.tar.gz ./data.sql > /dev/null &&

ncftpput -u ftpbackup -p backup0012 $HOST /tobebackedup $DATE.$TIME.$HOSTNAME.tar.gz ;:

Running the script on a schedule (Crontab howto):
as the user that you want to run the backup script as type the following commands:

crontab -e
To run weekly on Sunday enter the line:
* * * * 6 /etc/backup/backup.sh

Article written by MyComputerAid.com

Post from: MyComputerAid.com Computer support

Simple linux FTP backup script