Using curlftpfs and FUSE, a ftp site is mapped to the local file system and rsync will backup files to the ftp server automatically.
1. Install required packages
apt-get install curlftpfs rsync
2. Create directory to mount the ftp site
mkdir /mnt/ftpbackup
3. Add the curlftpfs mount into fstab to make it mount everytime the system is started (pico /etc/fstab)
curlftpfs#{username}:{password}@{host} /mnt/ftpbackup fuse rw,allow_other,uid={userid} 0 0
{username} = FTP username
{password} = FTP password
{host} = FTP host/ip
{userid} = ID of a local user (ex. 1001)
4. Mount the ftp site
mount /mnt/ftpbackup
5. Backup using rsync
rsync -avz --no-owner --no-group /var/www /mnt/ftpbackup
All files in the /var/www folder will be synced to the remote machine into a folder named backup
6. Automate the backup using cron (crontab -e)
0 3 * * * rsync -az --no-owner --no-group /var/www /mnt/ftpbackup >> /dev/null 2>&1
Your /var/www will be synced to the remote machine at 3am every day
