Seedbox Backups

Suggestions & Feedback
#1

Do you know of any backup solutions that I can use to automatically backup my server and restore the system if it crashes. What I want it to do is automatically make a snapshot of the system, save the file locally and back it up to a remote server. To restore, I’ll install Ubuntu from fresh, then restore the system using the backup.

I’ve done some research and I found that some guys recommend rsnapshot but I’d like something with a web interface or that’s simpler to use, and free ofc :smiley:

What would you recommend?

#2

I am working out technical’s on a system for backing up the QuickBox specific directories as well as local system repo on user machines. I think this will have an option to run from the dashboard and it will be placed under the top-right username dropdown.

It will not backup your /home directory at the present moment as not everyone will have the space to do so… my main goal is to have this as a means to back up user-made changes to the dashboard that can then be ran after an update to resurrect their custom changes.

I think that adding in an option to connect to an external backup (FTP or otherwise) server could be a viable (and neat) solution. This way, if space is permitted then you could opt to choose from the dashboard which directories you’d like to backup.

3 Likes
#3

I have all of my seedboxes backed up via Crashplan. I exclude the data directories but otherwise its the whole enchilada. I have restored from it as well. I would just reload the OS and then install Crashplan and restore. I would exclude /boot and /etc/fstab during the restore but other than that its the entire thing. I then reboot and I’m back in business.

2 Likes
#4

I think that would be great.

Thanks.

#5

Hi I just installed my seedbox and I was wondering if this feature is near to be deployed ?
I was looking into backup-manager and crashplan, but backing up the whole system seems to be a bit …brutal …and I don’t know what to backup and no to. to be able to restore properly after a fresh install.

could you provide the required folder to backup ?

Thx

#6

Hi there,

I’m kind of shocked that more people aren’t trying to do this honestly. About a decade ago, there was a great program called Norton Ghost that was very popular with Schools, Companies, Universities, etc. Or in other-words, where there’s people who could really mess computers up that you don’t want messed around with…programs uninstalled, possible malicious items accessed, etc, oh and Public Library’s definitely use it too (around me anyway). Norton Ghost was just a windows product though and it’s not been used much in the last few years. Ghosting your server would definitely allow you to re-image a computer in 30mins or less. It’s 10x easier and MUCH faster than fixing and undoing all the things someone could’ve messed with.

Everyone else here is referring to products like Crashplan (which is an excellent backup provider at a great price), but that would still require you to reinstall the OS etc, whereas you could just boot into rescue and write the image file directly to the disk, reboot the server, and then…voila!. As long as your hardware is still the same, you just got an image restored that s an exact copy with 100% of all the files on it when you made the image.

My recommendations:

  1. For backing up just the folder with all your files being seeded or leeched > I’d say you’ll be fine with ACD Unlimited, Google Drive Unlimited, or Crashplan. I use all 3 because they’re not expensive at all and a house fire could always scrap my entire RAID array. I use Arq 5 to backup to ACD and Google Drive. With Crashplan, I use my own encryption key. Boxcryptor is a “freemium” alternative to Arq, that works on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
  2. If you want a product like Norton Ghost that’ll work for you, there’s 2 good alternatives: Clonezilla (http://clonezilla.org/) & FOG (https://fogproject.org/)

Hope that helps!

2 Likes