How to backup OMV configuation to restore settings after disaster recvery?
Case: OMV installation is destoyed, I've all the data on separate partition, I want to quickly install fresh OMV from DVD and restore config for network, shares etc. so I can get the system up and running
There is no way to backup an OMV "configuration" and apply it to a new fresh install.
What you should be doing is backing up the entire OMV system disk, and restoring that backup to an empty disk.
System backup: Clone USB thumb drive with OMV system to a spare USB thumb drive and to image stored on HDD.
Scenario: USB thumb drive catastrophic failure.
Corrective measure: Replace USB thumb drive with backup thumb drive. Reboot. Carry on.
Maintenance: Clone the OMV system USB thumb drive after major upgrades and reconfiguration. Also clone the thumb drive image to secondary backup on HDD.
OMG is this a joke? This is the failure of this system. Wow I didn't expected that - I've working on numerous file system appliances, but I can't remember that any of them would not have ability to save and restore config. I was planning to put OMV on production but I need to reconsider that - previously I was thinking of FreeNas - which of course have ability to backup and restore config. Omg I can't believe that programmers of OMV didn't think of creating/restoring config. This is fail.
I'm not sure I'd call it a failure, but I agree there does need to be a way to restore your configuration.
OMG is this a joke? This is the failure of this system. Wow I didn't expected that - I've working on numerous file system appliances, but I can't remember that any of them would not have ability to save and restore config.
Don't you think that's a bit of an overreaction? Backing up your OS AND configuration is really easy to do and there are several ways to do it, to include installing a plugin designed for just that purpose.
As @Adoby has mentioned; if you boot using a USB stick or an SD-Card, cloning the OS is dirt simple and it's in this Guide beginning on page 73. If I need to back out of a configuration change (usually a self induced error), an update issue, boot media failure, etc., it's just a matter of plugging in a clone and rebooting. In my case, the swap and boot takes 2 to 3 minutes. (For the fastest possible restoration time, this is the way to go and since the backup clone was tested prior, it's known to work.)
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What you're talking about with "an appliance":
They usually come with an OS that's locked down or restricted, with a limited set of configuration options. This is a necessity for having the ability to restore a "stock configuration". The variables must be predicable and are, therefore, limited by necessity. Otherwise, it would be fairly easy to "break" the appliance or the restored configuration would break, or ignore, add-on functionality.
With a full featured Linux server, with no restrictions on what can be installed (direct installed servers, Dockers with volumes and mount points, etc., etc.), it would be impossible to restore a working configuration without restoring the entire OS.
On the other hand, perhaps FreeNAS is right for what you want to do. There's one file system, take it or leave it. They have limited "Jails" (BSD's equivalent of Dockers) with very little community usage (which would make me wonder if they've been tested adequately). But understand, if you go the BSD route, it may be "limiting" and the probabilities are, you'll discover those limitations well after you've committed.
Again, your call.
(BTW: Nearly anything FreeNAS is offering can be done in OMV to include ZFS with automated, self rotating and purging ZFS snapshots. I'm running Zmirrors, with automated snapshots, with zero issues.)
OMG is this a joke? This is the failure of this system. Wow I didn't expected that - I've working on numerous file system appliances, but I can't remember that any of them would not have ability to save and restore config. I was planning to put OMV on production but I need to reconsider that - previously I was thinking of FreeNas - which of course have ability to backup and restore config. Omg I can't believe that programmers of OMV didn't think of creating/restoring config. This is fail.
The only failure I see here is a lack of imagination on your part.
I've been running OMV for more than 3 years and have been making scripted automated nightly backups of the system drive from the start. The restore process is simple and has been regularly verified to work properly.
I'm not sure I'd call it a failure, but I agree there does need to be a way to restore your configuration.
And there will be in OMV5
OMG is this a joke? This is the failure of this system. Wow I didn't expected that - I've working on numerous file system appliances, but I can't remember that any of them would not have ability to save and restore config. I was planning to put OMV on production but I need to reconsider that - previously I was thinking of FreeNas - which of course have ability to backup and restore config. Omg I can't believe that programmers of OMV didn't think of creating/restoring config. This is fail.
OMV is much more than a filesystem appliance. OMV 0.2 had config backup and restore. it just didn't work due to some database choices. As others have mentioned, this will be fixed in OMV 5.x. That said, most OSes don't have this option and I have had a few commercial NASes that didn't have this option. Pretty sure people use Windows as a fileserver and it doesn't have this option. I don't understand why restoring 2gb is painful (probably faster than restoring a config and waiting for packages to be reinstalled) but oh well.
Why is nowhere to be found a guide on how to restore a backup?
Why is nowhere to be found a guide on how to restore a backup?
Here is a guide on how to restore a backup of a system drive:
1. Boot from other media or use a different computer.
2. Write backup offline system disk image to offline system disk.
Done!
I meant a system backup that was done with the backup-plugin from OMV.
I meant a system backup that was done with the backup-plugin from OMV.
I strongly suspect the procedure is exactly the same.
Thanks a lot for your detailed support. Please tell me which .iso I will use from the backup attached for writing to the disk.
For a full restore I suspect that you need all the backup files that were created at the same backup "event". At a glance it seems they are labeled nicely.
Please note that I have never used the plugin for backups and can't provide detailed support.
I have as a rule NEVER to use a backup method that I don't fully understand and can verify works correctly.
If you look inside the backup files you will most likely see if it is a bunch of files and folders or dd(?) images. The files are supposed to be copied over to the offline system drive. The dd images are supposed to be dd:ed over to the offline system drive. I would start with the dd images.
How can I "look inside the backup files", e.g. which programm will I use to open them?
Why is nowhere to be found a guide on how to restore a backup?
Because there are many factors that are different and the guide would never be able to account for all of those factors.
fsarchiver is a little easier but not completely. I have written quite a few posts about how to restore. This is probably the best one - How to restore from an omv-backup?
I hesitate on making anything much better because someone would try to cut & paste and make their system worse.
Please tell me which .iso I will use from the backup attached for writing to the disk.
I usually recommend systemrescuecd as mentioned in the link in the above post.
How can I "look inside the backup files", e.g. which programm will I use to open them?
Depends on which method you use.
dd is a gzip'd image of the filesystem. If you gunzip it, you can mount the image on Linux. not easy for noob.
fsarchive can be viewed with the fsarchive program itself. This page will help - http://www.fsarchiver.org/quickstart/
rsync will just be the files on your data drive. You can look at those in many different ways since they are just copies of the files on a different filesystem.
If I boot into systemrescuecd, what do I have to tell systemrescuecd to use as restore information? The poster before said I should put an image onto the SSD. But fsarchiver is not producing any .iso.
And how can a restore be that different for different systems? I have a running OMV, make a backup with fsarchiver, then boot with systemrescuecd and tell systemrescuecd where my backup is. This should be the same routine for every OMV setup.
Only thing missing is the combination of systemrescuecd and input from fsarchiver.
what do I have to tell systemrescuecd to use as restore information?
systemrescuecd isn't a restore program. it is a bootable linux distro that happens to have fsarchiver and other tools making it possible to restore.
The poster before said I should put an image onto the SSD. But fsarchiver is not producing any .iso.
The image just needs to be accessible to the system once it is booted on systemrescuecd. Since we don't know exact details of how your system is setup and where you backed up the system to, we can't answer that in a generic fashion.
And how can a restore be that different for different systems?
The overall process is the same but paths, filenames, etc are all different and if you get them wrong, you can overwrite data. So, it is very different.
I have a running OMV, make a backup with fsarchiver, then boot with systemrescuecd and tell systemrescuecd where my backup is. This should be the same routine for every OMV setup.
Why the questions if it is so simple? I keep telling you that if I put cut&paste instructions, someone is going cut&paste them without making them match their system and fuck something up.
Only thing missing is the combination of systemrescuecd and input from fsarchiver.
No. You have to boot systemrescuecd (some people have problems with this) then mount drive (lots of people have problems with this) with the archive on it (lots of people have no idea which drive it is on and without exact details, we can't tell you where to look). Then you need to figure out which drive to restore to. Then you need to know which fsarchiver arguments to use which can change based on options you picked in the plugin (password for instance).
If you would have just started a new thread with exact details, all of these posts on multiple threads could've been avoided and you would know how to restore your system by now.
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