Hi there,
I just set up timeshift in my two openmediavault machines. I just wanted to describe my process (almost a mini-guide) in case somebody finds it useful. Any comments are welcome!!
Timeshift is a well known software to run a back-up of a running system, with the ability to create snapshots.
On normal desktop machines the program has a very nice and functional GUI for both set-up and restore process.
For an headless system the configuration needs to be performed via CLI, but this is really easy. Similarly, it is possible to revert to a previous snapshot via CLI or using a live distro (e.g. Systemrescue) in case the main system is no longer functional.
1) First thing we need to install timeshift. From terminal run
sudo apt-get install timeshiftnext we need to write the configuration file
sudo nano /etc/timeshift/timeshift.jsoncopy and edit the following text in the configuration file:
{
"backup_device_uuid" : "UUID of the disk that will contain the backup files",
"parent_device_uuid" : "",
"do_first_run" : "false",
"btrfs_mode" : "false",
"include_btrfs_home_for_backup" : "false",
"include_btrfs_home_for_restore" : "false",
"stop_cron_emails" : "true",
"schedule_monthly" : "false",
"schedule_weekly" : "true",
"schedule_daily" : "false",
"schedule_hourly" : "false",
"schedule_boot" : "false",
"count_monthly" : "2",
"count_weekly" : "3",
"count_daily" : "5",
"count_hourly" : "2",
"count_boot" : "5",
"date_format" : "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S",
"exclude" : [
"/home/USERNAME/**",
"+ /srv/salt/***",
"+ /srv/pillar/***",
"/srv/**",
"/root/**"
],
"exclude-apps" : []
}the content of the file is self explanatory and it closely mimics the GUI parameters that are filled in during the set-up process on a desktop machine.
pay attention to the following
- enter the UUID of the disk that will save the backup files (not the main disk). Saving the files in a disk that is not the main system is highly recommended
- in the exclude section add the home directory for each user in the system
- the include/exclude syntax requires you to add first the directories to include and then the directories to exclude, in this order, see my example with the /srv directory . The other way round fails on my system
- look up the difference between *, ** and ***
Once all this is taken care of, run the following command to make the first snapshot
sudo timeshift --checkthe command will create the first snapshot and it will create a new cron job /etc/cron.d/timeshift-hourly
every hour the system will run the check command and create snapshots based on the json file
that's it!
to restore the system to a previous snapshot run
sudo timeshift --restoreand the system will interactively guide you during the task. Alternatively fire up Systemrescue, timeshift is included in the base packages.
as usual:
sudo timeshift manis your best friend.
Enjoy!
FT
