You would think (or at least, I do) that something like "sudo rsync options source destination >> /var/log/logfile" would NOT give you a permission denied error. Similarly with "sudo date > /var/log/logfile". But you would be dead wrong.
Running the entire script with sudo (ie, sudo b.netbackup) will work fine, as will running it from a hash prompt.
That's all correct :)
Anyone got any ideas why I can't write to a log file using sudo? Hopefully it isn't something really obvious that will demonstrate my fundamental lack of understanding of how Linux works..
It may not demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding, but it is a fairly fundamental point. If I run the command "sudo date > /var/log/logfile", then only 'data' is run within the sudo command. The output redirection to /var/log/logfile is executed within the current bash process - running as the user. All is not lost - run the command AND the redirection from within the sudo command: sudo /bin/bash -c " date > /var/log/logfile" will tell sudo to run bash, and have bash execute the command (or shell snippet) contained inside the following string.