I just got my home server up and running and was wondering what you guys recommend for backups. I figure it will probably be worth having backups on cloud servers tjay are external, are there any good services yall use for that?
Regardless of service, if you don’t test your backups, you have none.
Ehhh I would say then you have probabilistic backups. There’s some percent chance they’re okay, and some percent chance they’re useless. (And maybe some percent chance they’re in between those extremes.) With the odds probably not in your favor. 😄
Schrodinger’s backups.
Not so much about testing, but one time I really needed to get to my backups I lost password to the repository (I’m using restic). Luckily a copy of it was stored in bitwarden, but until I remembered it, were perhaps one of the worst moments.
Needless to say, please test backups and store secrets in more then one place.
Borgbase with Borgmatic (Borg) as the Software. As far as I know the whole Borgbase Service is from a Homelab guy (with our needs in mind).
Also 3-2-1 rule!
Also team borgmatic here. ;)
I have an unraid server which hosts an docker image of Duplicacy. It is paid though for the web interface. And it backs up to Backblaze B2. I have roughly 175GB backed up, for which I pay $0.87 a month.
Paid for the web interface as well. I really like that it’s super simple and just does it’s job. That would be the one I’d also recommend.
Do you have other clients backing up to your unraid? I’m looking for a complete solution to backing up end user workstations (windows, Mac and Linux) to my unraid server then backing up my unraid server to something like wasabi, Amazon, backblaze, etc. Preferably a single solution.
Yes, I have another server automatically rsyncing important config files to a nfs share. And my pc has a samba share where I manually backup files to.
Look into Veeam. The free version should be enough for this workflow.
This is almost my exact backup workflow, with another location in between. Duplicacy is great, highly recommend.
Backblaze b2, borgbase.com. There are also programs like dejadup that will let you backup to popular cloud drives. The alternatives are limitless.
I use Restic + Resticprofile to back up everything and store it on my local HDD.
Then, I use Rclone to sync the local repository to Backblaze B2.
Here’s my general setup:
/.config/restic/ ├── logs │ ├── statuses │ │ ├── restic-status-20230202T020202.json │ │ └── restic-status-20230101T010101.json │ ├── restic-check-20230202T020202.log │ └── restic-backup-20230101T010101.log ├── config │ ├── profiles.yaml │ ├── excludes.txt │ ├── rclone.conf │ └── password.txt ├── bin │ ├── restic_0.15.2_linux_arm64 │ ├── rclone_1.63.1_linux_arm64 │ └── resticprofile_0.22.0_linux_arm64version: "1" # Schedules (https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.time.html#Calendar%20Events) {{ $SCHEDULE_RESTIC_BACKUP := "*-*-* 22:00:00" }} # Daily at 10PM {{ $SCHEDULE_RESTIC_CHECK := "Sat *-*-* 04:00:00" }} # Weekly at 4AM on Saturday {{ $SCHEDULE_SYNC_BACKUP := "Sun *-*-* 21:30:00" }} # Weekly at 11.30PM on Sunday {{ $SCHEDULE_POSTGRES_BACKUP := "Fri *-*-* 20:00:00" }} # Weekly at 8PM on Friday # Directories {{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_BINARY := "/home/deck/Desktop/.config/restic/bin/restic_0.15.2_linux_arm64" }} {{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_REPO := "/home/deck/Desktop/restic-repo" }} {{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_LOG := "/home/deck/Desktop/.config/restic/logs" }} {{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_STATUS := "/home/deck/Desktop/.config/restic/logs/statuses" }} {{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_BLOCKED_FILE := "/home/deck/Desktop/.config/restic/BLOCKED" }} {{ $LOCATION_RCLONE_BINARY := "/home/deck/Desktop/.config/restic/bin/rclone_1.63.1_linux_arm64" }} {{ $LOCATION_RCLONE_REPO := "bucket:restic-backup-12345" }} {{ $LOCATION_RCLONE_CONFIG := "/home/deck/Desktop/.config/restic/config/rclone.conf" }} {{ $LOCATION_RESTICPROFILE_LOCK := "/tmp/resticprofile-default.lock" }} {{ $LOCATION_POSTGRES_DUMP := "/home/deck/Desktop/dumps" }} {{ $LOCATION_PRIMARY_BACKUP_SOURCE := "/home/deck/Desktop/" }} # Configs {{ $CONFIG_CURRENT_TIME := .Now.Format "20060102T150405" }} {{ $CONFIG_RESTIC_PASSWORD := "/home/deck/Desktop/.config/restic/config/password.txt" }} {{ $CONFIG_RESTIC_EXCLUDE := "/home/deck/Desktop/.config/restic/excludes.txt" }} global: default-command: snapshots # Run 'snapshots' when no command is specified initialize: false # Do not initialize a repository if none exists priority: low # Use priority class on Windows and "nice" on Unixes min-memory: 100 # Minimum required RAM for Resticprofile to start restic-lock-retry-after: 5m # Retry failed restic command acquisition every 5 minutes restic-stale-lock-age: 10h # Unlock stale lock if age exceeds 10 hours restic-binary: '{{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_BINARY }}' # Location of the Restic binary default: lock: '{{ $LOCATION_RESTICPROFILE_LOCK }}' # Local lockfile to prevent concurrent profile runs force-inactive-lock: true # Detect and remove stale locks initialize: true # Initialize repository if it doesn't exist repository: '{{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_REPO }}' # Path to Restic repository password-file: '{{ $CONFIG_RESTIC_PASSWORD }}' # File containing repository password status-file: '{{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_STATUS }}/{{ $CONFIG_CURRENT_TIME }}-restic-status.json' # Output status file compression: 'max' # Maximum compression level run-after-fail: # Block syncing if there was a failure. TODO: Add an email - 'echo "The command ${PROFILE_COMMAND} has failed in ${PROFILE_NAME}. Please check the logs." > {{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_BLOCKED_FILE }}' backup: run-before: # Bring down Docker before backup - 'systemctl stop docker.socket' - 'systemctl stop docker' run-finally: - 'grep --invert-match -E "^unchanged|\(0 B added, 0 B stored\)|\(0 B added\)" {{ tempFile "backup.log" }} > {{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_LOG }}/{{ $CONFIG_CURRENT_TIME }}-restic-backup.log' # Copy log file, stripping out any unchanced files - 'systemctl start docker' # Bring Docker back online after backup one-file-system: false # Exclude other file systems no-error-on-warning: true # Don't consider warnings as backup failures source: # Directories to back up - '{{ $LOCATION_PRIMARY_BACKUP_SOURCE }}' exclude-file: '{{ $CONFIG_RESTIC_EXCLUDE }}' # File containing exclude patterns exclude-caches: true # Exclude cache files schedule: '{{ $SCHEDULE_RESTIC_BACKUP }}' # Backup schedule schedule-permission: system # Schedule permission schedule-lock-wait: 10m # Wait time for the lock during schedule schedule-log: '{{ tempFile "backup.log" }}' # Log file to /tmp. This contains all information, including unchanged files which we do not care about verbose: 2 # Log details about processed files check: schedule: '{{ $SCHEDULE_RESTIC_CHECK }}' # Verification schedule schedule-permission: system # Schedule permission schedule-lock-wait: 10m # Wait time for the lock during schedule schedule-log: '{{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_LOG }}/{{ $CONFIG_CURRENT_TIME }}-restic-check.log' # Log file read-data: true # Verify data during check prune: dry-run: true # Only prune if safe to do so, change manually repack-uncompressed: true # Repack all uncompressed data forget: dry-run: true # Only forget if safe to do so, change manually rewrite: dry-run: true # Only rewrite if safe to do so, change manually forget: true # Remove original snapshots after creating new ones exclude-file: '{{ $CONFIG_RESTIC_EXCLUDE }}' # File containing exclude patterns mount: allow-other: true # Allow other users to access the mount point rebuild-index: read-all-packs: true # Read all pack files to generate new index from scratch # The following shell profiles are simply to run other shell scripts at a scheduled time # We do not actually run the primary Restic commands listed, as we exit the process early shell-postgres: # Profile to run shell scripts only. We exit the current process before Restic can run. backup: schedule: '{{ $SCHEDULE_POSTGRES_BACKUP }}' # Postgres backup schedule schedule-permission: system # Schedule permission schedule-lock-mode: ignore # Ignore locks, if any schedule-log: '{{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_LOG }}/{{ $CONFIG_CURRENT_TIME }}-postgres-backup.log' # Log file dry-run: true # Don't write data run-before: # Dump postgres databases - 'chmod 777 /var/run/docker.sock' - 'docker exec -t immich-postgres pg_dumpall -c -U postgres | gzip > "{{ $LOCATION_POSTGRES_DUMP }}/immich-dump-{{ $CONFIG_CURRENT_TIME }}.sql.gz" && echo "Dumped Immich database: {{ $LOCATION_POSTGRES_DUMP }}/immich-dump-{{ $CONFIG_CURRENT_TIME }}.sql.gz"' - 'docker exec -t joplin-postgres pg_dumpall -c -U joplin | gzip > "{{ $LOCATION_POSTGRES_DUMP }}/joplin-dump-{{ $CONFIG_CURRENT_TIME }}.sql.gz" && echo "Dumped Joplin database: {{ $LOCATION_POSTGRES_DUMP }}/joplin-dump-{{ $CONFIG_CURRENT_TIME }}.sql.gz"' - 'kill $$' shell-sync: backup: schedule: '{{ $SCHEDULE_SYNC_BACKUP }}' # Sync backup schedule schedule-permission: system # Schedule permission schedule-lock-mode: ignore # Ignore locks, if any schedule-log: '{{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_LOG }}/{{ $CONFIG_CURRENT_TIME }}-rsync-backup.log' # Log file dry-run: true # Don't write data run-before: # Sync the Restic repo, after checking if the repository is in good health - 'if [ -f "{{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_BLOCKED_FILE }}" ]; then echo "There has been a problem with the Restic repository, please check the logs. If everything is okay, delete the BLOCKED file." && kill $$; fi' - '{{ $LOCATION_RCLONE_BINARY }} -v sync {{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_REPO }} {{ $LOCATION_RCLONE_REPO }} --config={{ $LOCATION_RCLONE_CONFIG }} --b2-hard-delete' - '{{ $LOCATION_RCLONE_BINARY }} cleanup {{ $LOCATION_RESTIC_REPO }} --config={{ $LOCATION_RCLONE_CONFIG }}' - 'kill $$'Resticprofile doesn’t let me run other shell commands on a schedule, and because I wanted everything in a single configuration, I just created two new profiles which call the backup command. I then made the shell commands run before Restic, and then finally killed the instance before it got to actually run, which effectively does what I needed.
It’s the first time I hear about resticprofile and it looks nice. So far I’ve been using crestic for configuration files. Do you know how they compare?
Restic or Kopia, both to Backblaze.
I second restic. Have been using it for a year now and have been generally very happy. Actually had to use it in a couple occasions to restore directory content and even recover a complete workstation drive. I have had relatively easy success in both scenarios.
I’ve always found them pretty similar. How’d you chose one or another?
I know Restic before Kopia and made a set of systemd units to run Restic backups on my home server and office workstation (both online 24/7).
Kopia seems much nicer for a regular user, so I use it on my and family laptops. I used to use Duplicati there, but that project seems dead.
Thank you :)
Restic and then rclone to backblaze? Or is there a way to restic directly to backblaze?
I do prefer having a local copy of my backups (and therefore i use rclone), but afaik restic does support b2 directly…
Backblaze.
rsync.net is great if you need something simple and cheap. Backblaze B2 is also decent, but does have the typical download and API usage cost.
I had never heard of rsync.net until now. I like the idea but it seems more expensive than B2. $15/TB vs $5/TB. Am I doing the math wrong or reading it wrong?
I’ve never heard of it either, but I came to the same conclusion as you
Yeah rsync.net has always been pricey.
I don’t see it on their website right now, but they offer a discount if you’re using something like restic/borg and only need scp/sftp access. Their support is also super friendly. I’ve had an account forever and got moved to the 100+ TB pricing even though I have < 50TB stored. YMMV but it doesn’t hurt to ask if they have any additional discounts.
Also keep in mind that B2 charges for bandwidth too. It’s $5/TB for storage, but $10/TB to download that same data.
Sure but backup is mostly data in (free on B2). Data out is rare, if ever.
If i wasn’t backing up 12TB+ I would actually go with rsync for the features though.
Borgbase looks interesting, too.
When I researched what to use for my backup I found rsync.net. They have some nice features nobody else seems to support, like they support ZFS send/receive https://www.rsync.net/products/zfsintro.html
But in the end the price made me go with borgbase.com
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How are you using rsync with B2? Are you mounting the bucket locally?
Veeam backup and replication at home and at work. At home a copy goes to a NAS, another copy goes to backblaze b2 currently.
I use restic to backup my raspberry Pi’s to my Synology NAS and backup my NAS to backblaze.
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That is great for hardware failures, but what about disasters? I would hate to lose my house to a fire and all the data (including things not replaceable, like family photos) I have on my server at the same time because my primary and backup were both destroyed.
Eh…you’ve got a point there. Then again, there is always pendrives and other extremely small devices where you can copy your (mostly important/crucial) files in and carry it along with your house/car keys or something like that.
While I agree with you, hard drives do have a shelf life. How many years seems to be up for debate but it does exist. If you don’t have multiple drives that are of different ages you may be in a world of hurt one day.
Why? If you check the drive once a month, and it fails once per 10 years on average, the time when both the back up drive and the main drive fail simultaneously is on average 2340 years. Of couse they are much more likely to fail if they’re old but the odds are very small.
Backblaze B2 for automatic syncing of all the little files
Glacier for long term archiving of old big files that never change
rsync.net and learn to use Borg; they’re stupid cheap if you’re technically proficient enough to handle the Borg setup yourself. Like, charge by the gigabyte, but it’s 1.5¢/GB at the most expensive, and cheaper in bulk
- restic > backblaze b2, nightly & automatic
- restic > normally unplugged drive, every couple weeks (manual, recurring reminder)
