One the requirements of FieldsNet is to have a backup strategy in place that provides consistent backups of all machines.
My initial thought was to have the server initiate the backup process. I had determined that I could use the scp command via ssh to accomplish this. I even went so far as to create a dedicated user, 'filecopy', thats sole purpose is to copy files across the network. When I came up against the permission issue inherent to this process I went back to the books.
During my reading, I came across a command that I was not familiar with. It is called rsync and it's primary purpose is to keep multiple locations synchronized. Not only that but it uses ssh to connect to remote computers securely. What I think I like the most about it though is the ability for rsync to determine what has changed in the file and only transfer the changes.
So not only is this command better designed for backups than scp, it is also more efficient at it as well. Another advantage to rsync is that it is fully supported in unix, osx, and Windows. It is almost too good to be true.