Linux: Create backup on a remotely mounted NFS file system.

backup.sh

#!/bin/bash
####################################
#
# Backup to NFS mount
# https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/serverguide/backup-shellscripts.html.en
#
####################################

# What to backup. 
backup_files="/home /var/spool/mail /etc /root /boot /opt"

# Where to backup to.
dest="/mnt/backup"

# Create archive filename.
day=$(date +%A)
hostname=$(hostname -s)
archive_file="$hostname-$day.tgz"

# Print start status message.
echo "Backing up $backup_files to $dest/$archive_file"
date
echo

# Backup the files using tar.
tar czf $dest/$archive_file $backup_files

# Print end status message.
echo
echo "Backup finished"
date

# Long listing of files in $dest to check file sizes.
ls -lh $dest

restore.sh

# To see a listing of the archive contents
tar -tzvf /mnt/backup/host-Monday.tgz

# To restore a file from the archive to a different directory
tar -xzvf /mnt/backup/host-Monday.tgz -C /tmp etc/hosts

# To restore all files in the archive
# !This will overwrite the files currently on the file system.
cd /
sudo tar -xzvf /mnt/backup/host-Monday.tgz