Scheduling backups

1. offizieller Beitrag

    I’ve got omv 4 running nicely and I’d like to setup some form of scheduled backup. What would people suggest is the best way to go about this?


    There seems to be a lot of plugins available that enable all sort of features but I’m unsure which would be the most suitable for my case?


    Ideally I’d like to be able to initiate a backup from my desktop which updates all the folders I flag. And each subsequent backup looks for and backs up any new files or files that have been updated since that last backup.


    Could anyone tell me if this is possible and how to go about setting it up? I’m new to omv and it’s a bit overwhelming!


    Any advice greatly appreciated.

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    You want to backup the shared folders on the NAS, correct.


    In that case have a look at rsync and rsnapshot. Both are supported by OMV. rsync out of the box and rsnapshot as plugin.


    You will find more details about rsync in the guide which is linked in my signature.
    You can also search the net regarding to advanced features of rsnapshot compared to rsyn. Both are standard tools on Linux so you find many information.

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    Do you want to backup your PC/Laptop or shared folders on the OMV NAS?


    If it is the PC then you need a backup utility for the PC. Then you can configure the backup utility to use your NAS as backup destination. What backup utility to use is up to you to decide. It depends on what operation system you use. I suspect that you already have at least one installed and ready to use.


    If you want to backup shared folders on your OMV NAS you need to have a backup destination. It might be a HDD inside the NAS; Another NAS; An external USB drive or even an extra drive in your PC.


    There are, as you mention, plugins in OMV to help with this. What plugin to use may depend on the destination. And you might even run the backup of OMV shared folders from the destination NAS or the destination PC.


    You seem to want incremental backups. That means that you only backup changes from last time. One nice way of doing this is as backup snapshots. Then unchanged files from previous backup are "reused" and together with changed files they form a "snapshot" in time of how the source looked when it was backed up.


    This form of backup snapshots are great because the look just like the source, so it is easy to find files to restore. But unchanged files are "hardlinked" so they only take up space once. The plugin rsnapshot creates this type of snapshots.


    OMV can schedule jobs and backups. I prefer to use the Linux scheduler CRON directly, by editing /etc/crontab.


    So.

    • What do you want to backup and to where?


    • If it is a PC you want to backup to the NAS, what operating system does it run?


    • If it is a shared folder on the OMV NAS, to where do you want to back it up?

    I use Linux and I use rsync in scripts to create backup snapshots of important folders on my PC and laptop on my OMV NAS. I run most of the scripts manually from my PC.


    I backup shared folders on my OMV NAS to other OMV NAS. I run my NAS in pairs. One for streaming and sharing data and one for backing up the data. I use rsync in scripts here as well, to create backup snapshots, but these scripts run automatically at certain times.

    Thanks for taking to time to write those replies @Adoby @macom I actually don't have any backup software. I mistakenly thought that would be handled by the NAS (OMV) but now that I think about it, how would it initialise anything on my desktop pc! :rolleyes: Shows you how much I know about all this.


    I've looked around for some free backup software, which there seems a plethora of, FBackup, Cobian, EaseUS todo.. Is there a specific one which many here would recommend using with OMV? I don't need anything special just something that handles the basics and is well reviewed/used by the community.


    My exact setup is a small pc running OMV, booting the OS from a USB flash drive, attached to my router via ethernet cable. The pc only has one sata and only enough space for a 2.5" drive. So I've left the 500gb hd it came with in there as empty space for now. Attached to the pc via USB3 is a 3.5" 2TB drive in a powered enclosure. It's this 2TB drive which I'd like to backup up to. I aim to add perhaps another USB3 drive when funds allow. My desktop pc, which I'd like to be backed up is also attached to the router via ethernet.

    Thanks for that @macom I've dl'd and installed the UrBackup software on OMV using @TechnoDadLife s tutorial. I've also installed the client on my windows machine.


    It's here that it gets a little complicated for me. There seems to be very little beginners documentation on Urbackup's different options and use cases. As described above, I want to backup my C (250gb) and D (1tb) drives. I was just going to do some selected folders, but what the hey, might as well do the whole lot. I then want any subsequent backups to look for and back up any new files or files that have been updated since that last backup. In my mind this makes the most sense. Would others suggest the same?


    So, from what I can tell I enter c and d in the client's 'Add/Remove backup paths' section.However, how do I tell urbackup that I only want modified or new files added during each subsequent backup? Is the file that will be create what @Adoby calls a snapshot? Or is it some other kind? Would I have to use rsnapshot and would this work with urbackup?


    Also what actually initiates a backup? As in where is it specified 'when' to do a backup? Can I just leave it as only do a backup when I tell it to do so?


    Sorry if these sound like basic questions but I'm finding the interface a little confusing.

    • Offizieller Beitrag
    Zitat von Gizmo1990

    I was just going to do some selected folders, but what the hey, might as well do the whole lot.

    UrBackup does backups of selected folders and creates images of a complete system drive if you like (Windows only). You would do frequent backups of the data (e.g. Documents folder) and less frequent backup of your OS drive.

    Zitat von Gizmo1990

    how do I tell urbackup that I only want modified or new files added during each subsequent backup?

    That is the default behavior of UrBackup.

    Zitat von Gizmo1990

    Also what actually initiates a backup? As in where is it specified 'when' to do a backup? Can I just leave it as only do a backup when I tell it to do so?

    You can specify this in the GUI of UrBackup. Have a look at the documentation: https://www.urbackup.org/administration_manual.html


    It looks a bit frightening at the first glance, but it is not that bad ;)

    Zitat von macom

    UrBackup does backups of selected folders and creates images of a complete system drive if you like (Windows only). You would do frequent backups of the data (e.g. Documents folder) and less frequent backup of your OS drive.

    Thanks @macom What is the distinction made between doing backups and creating images? For instance are files just copied over as copies? Or are they stored in some single file format?


    Also, I'm getting the following error in the status panel,
    The directory where UrBackup will save backups is inaccessible. Please fix that by modifying this folder in 'Settings' or by giving UrBackup rights to access this directory. (err_folder_not_found). No such file or directory (code: 2)
    Detailed error info:
    Can access /Cannot access /PC. No such file or directory (code: 2


    In my OMV Shared Folders panel I've added my usb drive, named it 'backup1' and made afolder in it called 'PC'. I've then in urbackup added in the backup storage path box '/PC'. Is that not the correct command line terminology?


    I've checked the manual and it says the following,


    8.1.1 Backup storage path
    The backup storage path is where all backup data is saved. To function properly all of this directories’content must lie on the same file system (otherwise hard links cannot be created). How much space isavailable on this file system for UrBackup determines partly how many backups can be made and whenUrBackup starts deleting old backups. Default: "".




    Does 'content must lie on the same file system' mean that the directories need to be on the os drive?? It's quite confusing. I need urbackup to backup to and external usb drive which is connected to the omv pc.

    • Offizieller Beitrag
    Zitat von Gizmo1990

    What is the distinction made between doing backups and creating images?

    backup: individual files that can be accessed and restored individually
    image: image of a complete filesystem that can be used to bare metal restore



    Zitat von Gizmo1990

    Does 'content must lie on the same file system' mean that the directories need to be on the os drive??

    No. External usb drive should be fine as long as the drive is constantly connected.

    Zitat von Gizmo1990

    I've then in urbackup added in the backup storage path box '/PC'

    You need to add the complete path. Something like


    /srv/dev-disk-by-label-xxxx/urbackup


    Urbackup does not care about shared folders in OMV;-)

    Zitat von macom


    You need to add the complete path. Something like


    /srv/dev-disk-by-label-xxxx/urbackup


    Urbackup does not care about shared folders in OMV;-

    @macom This is probably going to sound really daft, but how do I find out what the complete path is?? I've no idea about the directory structure or how to access it in omv. ?( I keep looking for a file manager type program in the web interface so that I can locate what conventions I should be using. All I know is that in Shared Folders I created a Folder on the new drive called 'PC'. That's it though. How do I find out what letter has been assigned to the drive? Does omv even use drive letter designations? I can see under 'File Systems' my backup drive is listed as
    device = /dev/sdc1
    label =BACKUP1
    Filesystem = ext4
    Are any of these file path designations?

    Thanks so much @macom I would never have found that out myself. Okay, I've entered the full path but I'm now getting the following error,


    The directory where UrBackup will save backups is inaccessible. Please fix that by modifying this folder in 'Settings' or by giving UrBackup rights to access this directory. (err_cannot_create_subdir). Permission denied (code: 13)


    When I goto Urbackup/Settings there isn't anything to do with user permissions? How do I go about giving urbackup permission to copy to the folder? I've clicked on Privilages in the Shared Folders tab and the Folder has read and write privilages for user1 so I don't get it?


    Any help greatly appreciated.

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    In my case the folder for the backups has owner "urbackup" and group "users". Did you create the folder as shared folder in the GUI of OMV? Then it should work.


    Otherwise you have to use the CLI to check the permissions of this folder.

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