[Backup Plugin] create a single img backup image for use with win32 disk imager / etcher, etc.

salgem · Mar 30th 2020

Hi,

I'm running OMV5 on a Raspberry Pi4. The easiest way to make backups is to clone the sd card with win32 disk imager and to restore with etcher.

However, my system is physically stored away somewhere... i need to climb a latter to physically access the pi.

I therefore was looking into the backup plugin. The plugin's gui reads that "dd - use dd to clone the entire drive to a compressed image file". I therefore expected one single img file, however, the backup created several files (gz, blkid, fdisk, grub, grubparts, packages). since dd is capable of writing sigle img files, it would be very handy if there would be a parameter for this. This would be very handy to single-board computer users like myself, because one needs just etcher or something similar to restore the image to a SD card.

Is this doable?

Best, M

ryecoaaron · Mar 30th 2020

Quote from salgem

Is this doable?

Sure. I just avoid it because too many people were using their OS drive for data as well and this would make the backup very large. The idea was that you would restore a current RPi image with etcher (use usbimager instead - https://gitlab.com/bztsrc/usbimager) and the just dd the partition over that.

salgem · Mar 30th 2020

Thanks ryecoaaron.

Is this doable from within the backup plugin? Or do I need another plugin? (sorry, I'm fairly new to OMV).

There is no data on my OS drive / just the OS.

M

salgem · Mar 30th 2020

... one other thing I noticed in the plugin:

the settings under "scheduled backup" appear to revert to their default settings. I changed the time interval to "weekly" and ticked "send email". I then clicked on apply. However, i'm seeing the defaults "daily" and "no email" when I'm opening the dialogue again.

M

ryecoaaron · Mar 30th 2020

Quote from salgem

Is this doable from within the backup plugin? Or do I need another plugin? (sorry, I'm fairly new to OMV).

By doable, I meant the plugin could be changed to do this. Otherwise, you can always do it from the command line and a cron job.

Quote from salgem

.. one other thing I noticed in the plugin:

the settings under "scheduled backup" appear to revert to their default settings. I changed the time interval to "weekly" and ticked "send email". I then clicked on apply. However, i'm seeing the defaults "daily" and "no email" when I'm opening the dialogue again.

Did you click schedule backup again in the plugin?

salgem · Mar 30th 2020

Quote from ryecoaaron

By doable, I meant the plugin could be changed to do this. Otherwise, you can always do it from the command line and a cron job.

This would be great. Being able to do this from within the plugin also implies that older backups are removed, etc. in other words this would imply a script and not just one command line.

Quote from ryecoaaron

Did you click schedule backup again in the plugin?

Yes, I did. Clicking on "scheduled backup" brings up the dialogue.

M

ryecoaaron · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from salgem

Yes, I did. Clicking on "scheduled backup" brings up the dialogue.

That is why the job is reset. You should only do this once. If you want to edit the job, do that from scheduled jobs tab.

Aux · Mar 31st 2020

I do complete SD card backup manually via SSH like:

Code

pv /dev/mmcblk0 | gzip > /media/backup/OMV_Backup_$(date "+%d.%m.%Y").gz

or over SMB

Code

pv /dev/mmcblk0 | gzip > /home/pi/Sambashare/my_backup_folder/OMV_Backu_$(date "+%d.%m.%Y").gz

I repeat this procedure about twice a month.

ryecoaaron · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from Aux

do complete SD card backup manually via SSH like:

Have you restored it? pipe view doesn't understand everything that dd does and I would think you might corrupt some things that pipe view doesn't understand.

Aux · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from ryecoaaron

Have you restored it? pipe view doesn't understand everything that dd does and I would think you might corrupt some things that pipe view doesn't understand.

Yes, had been restored several times

ryecoaaron · Mar 31st 2020

I added full disk dd option to the plugin. 5.2 in the repos now. I didn't test but usbimager or etcher should be able to write this image without decompressing it.

salgem · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from ryecoaaron

That is why the job is reset. You should only do this once. If you want to edit the job, do that from scheduled jobs tab.

noted.

Quote from ryecoaaron

I added full disk dd option to the plugin. 5.2 in the repos now. I didn't test but usbimager or etcher should be able to write this image without decompressing it.

Great. Thanks! I'l try it out. M

salgem · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from ryecoaaron

I added full disk dd option to the plugin. 5.2 in the repos now.

I cannot see an option in the gui of the plug-in. I have the 5.2 installed:

Code

pi@omv:~ $ dpkg -l | grep openmediavault-backup
ii  openmediavault-backup            5.2                                 all          backup plugin for OpenMediaVault.

M

ryecoaaron · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from salgem

I cannot see an option in the gui of the plug-in.

ctrl-shift-R or clear your browser cache.

salgem · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from ryecoaaron

ctrl-shift-R or clear your browser cache.

Thank you, that worked.

I now can see several files in the shared folder:

Code

backup-omv_boot-31-Mar-2020_15-31-48.dd.gz
backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.ddfull.gz
backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.blkid
backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.fdisk
backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.grub
backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.grubparts
backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.packages

Which file would I have to select to write the full disk image to an SD card in Etcher?

Selecting backup-omv_boot-31-Mar-2020_15-31-48.dd.gz would write the boot partition to the drive, and
selecting backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.ddfull.gz would write the root partition,

But I cannot write both partitions to an SD card, correct? Do I have to put all these files in one container (zip?)?

I'm a bit confused. would it be possible to write the backup into one single .img file (i think dd is capable of doing this)?

Thanks, M

ryecoaaron · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from salgem

Which file would I have to select to write the full disk image to an SD card in Etcher?

The ddfull file.

Quote from salgem

selecting backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.ddfull.gz would write the root partition,

No, it writes the whole image of the device.

Quote from salgem

But I cannot write both partitions to an SD card, correct? Do I have to put all these files in one container (zip?)?

Just write the ddfull image to the device not a partition.

Quote from salgem

would it be possible to write the backup into one single .img file (i think dd is capable of doing this)?

Uh, that is what I did.

salgem · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from salgem

Which file would I have to select to write the full disk image to an SD card in Etcher?
Selecting backup-omv_boot-31-Mar-2020_15-31-48.dd.gz would write the boot partition to the drive, and
selecting backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.ddfull.gz would write the root partition,
But I cannot write both partitions to an SD card, correct? Do I have to put all these files in one container (zip?)?

I'm a bit confused. would it be possible to write the backup into one single .img file (i think dd is capable of doing this)?

Thanks, M

Arrgh, sorry. backup-omv_boot-31-Mar-2020_15-31-48.dd.gz is from an older backup. The image file backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.ddfull.gz is the bit-to-bit image of the entire drive, correct? So, in case of emergency, I only have to select backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.ddfull.gz in Etcher to write back the bit-to-bit image of the full drive to another SD card, correct.

M

salgem · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from ryecoaaron

Uh, that is what I did.

Sooooorrry. My bad! Was a bit confused. M

ryecoaaron · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from salgem

The image file backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.ddfull.gz is the bit-to-bit image of the entire drive, correct? So, in case of emergency, I only have to select backup-omv-31-Mar-2020_16-59-33.ddfull.gz in Etcher to write back the bit-to-bit image of the full drive to another SD card, correct.

If the file has ddfull in the filename, it is a gzip'd image of the entire device. I don't remember if etcher can automatically extract gzip or not but I think it can. You should use usbimager anyway and I know it can. You really should test the scenario and write to a secondary SD card so you know what to do instead of trying to figure it out when something fails in a panic.

ryecoaaron · Mar 31st 2020

Quote from salgem

Was a bit confused.

I'm not good at being overly verbose. I thought full disk dd made sense. This is why I hate writing instructions and wish more people would.

[Backup Plugin] create a single img backup image for use with win32 disk imager / etcher, etc.

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