[tlug] Backup sites with FTP access

[Dave M G <dave@example.com>]

TLUG,

So, I've been working recently on PHP scripts that create back ups for
my web sites. Originally it seemed like it would be sufficient to tar
the back up files and email them off to another location to be stored.

However, it's now apparent that the size of the back up files is going
to be too large to handle by email. Some sites that are image heavy are
sending files over ten megabytes in size, and some email servers are
choking on them.

I thought instead  I could just FTP them to an online storage solution,
like Dropbox, or Ubuntu One. However, it turns out that those services,
and maybe most other, online storage places don't offer FTP access. (I'm
not considering FTPing directly to my home computer as it is not always
on, and it's not always my data and my computer I'm backing up to).

So my question has two directions to it. Does anyone know of a decent
online back up solution that is accessible by FTP? Or, alternately, is
there another protocol that is easy to implement via PHP?

Couple of notes: Yes, I know FTP is not secure. It's okay, the tar files
are encrypted, and nothing that critical is being moved. The advantage
to FTP was the ease of implementation and it's wide spread use (or so I
thought).

If there are other ways of transferring files, I'm open to suggestions,
but I'd hope for two things. One is not to have to install any new PHP
modules or software on the server sending the files, as my scripts are
implemented across a variety of servers and I don't want to have to
fight them all. And second is that it hopefully not be tied to a
particular recipient, like Dropbox (who has some kind of PHP code
available for connecting to them, but if I use it, then I have to rely
on them to receive it.)

Any suggestions?

-- 
Dave M G