I have set up a local attached storage as a backup medium as specified in the documentation for Nethserver 8. The backup works fine so far. However, I would like to use several local storages that I swap on a weekly basis. Unfortunately, I do not know how to set this up and whether it is even possible.
Can someone please help me with this?
Many thanks.
Can no one help me with this? Or is that simply not possible?
I think it only allows one local storage per node.
If I understood correctly, the process use local storage shared through a webdav service to be able to present the storage to the backup module. Some customization to the webdav service might allow local storage rotation (if restic doesn’t complain about it…) but unsure how it can be done.
Thanks for the info, not what I would have wished for, but now I know that it is not possible at the moment.
Perhaps this option could be added to the wish list for the future?
If running virtualized like on Proxmox, and you have a backup solution like PBS, which does offer single file / folder restore (without restoring a VM!), then you’re free to set any shedules you want, and to where you want… No restic needed.
Extremly fast disaster recoveries, no fiddling with Restic!
My 2 cents
Andy
The backup function has some planned enhancements, like selective restore, snapshot selection, more scheduling options that were already discussed in other threads.
Restic is designed for incremental backups, it does not fit the use case you are describing IMO. Maybe an engine designed for full backups or even a rsync run is a better choice.
However there are no plans for it now.
Thanks for the clarifying infos.
As said, I can live with that, I have full backup capability without Restic. Especially fast disaster recovery.
IMHO, Restic makes things unecessarily complex.
A simple rsync capable target isn’t good enough, it needs special attention and permissions.
Same goes for diisaster recovery, encrypted backups need decryption…
And the lingo they use? I’m rather surprised they don’t (yet !) call backups “daily scrumms”… 
But it has it’s users…
I may revisit my so far not positive judgement of Restic - I understand it can work without S3 or Minio…
I do not want to replicate Amazon or AWS anywhere, neither do I want to run a “server service” on my storage.
No, I do not use a daily changed USB disk for backups, nor will I ever start with that.
But I do expect to be able to use any network capable storage, even more so if it is capable of SSH and RSYNC. But please, no Minio!
My 2 cents
Andy
@davidep
Many thanks for the information. Perhaps I need to fundamentally rethink my backup strategy, I will observe further developments and then decide what my backup strategy will look like in the future.
@Andy_Wismer
You are right of course, a rotating USB hard disk is not necessarily the best strategy, even if the rotation is only weekly. Under Nethserver7 it has served me well for years, and apart from a few individual files that I had to restore and one full restore, it was almost never in use.
You’ve got me thinking again, thank you very much.
I would also like to contribute something to the suggestions:
The method described by Andy (if you use proxmox) is excellent when it comes to a complete restoration and even if it is only about individual files (which of course you have to know explicitly).
However, if it is about the restoration of individual services (because something does not work there, e.g. after updates) - and new data has already been written in the other services (or containers), Proxmox unfortunately does not help or then it becomes very complicated.
At the latest this point, the new Neth8 backup system becomes important because it can also be restored to individual services (containers), but the rest on the host remains as it is (as far as I understand). So it is not a bad idea to use this backup system in the general.
However, I personally am not a friend to grant a Host writing on a backup system (whichever), because in the worst case, a compromised host can also delete or compromise all backups (provided that the backup server has no precautions here).
Normally, it is therefore my usual approach to create a backup via RSYNC in which the backup server gets the data to be secured from the host (pull). So the host itself has no writing on the backups and the backup server in principle does not require any wrapping on the host. Of course, this has the disadvantage that the backup server now needs extensive reading elaborations on the host and this is of course also a question of trust, because with the usual RSYNC the files are transmitted encrypted but mostly read or stored in plain language. But this backup can also be removed incrementally.
And here it will be interesting again the Neth8 backup with a local storage. This backup can be (will) be encrypted and - because it is located locally - then of course also available for an external RSYNC backup. The RSYNC does not have to secure the whole system, but only the local backup drive or the backup folder. As intended, special things can then be restored from the local backup - and yet the whole backup is also on the backup server (e.g. far away). In this way we have a good mix of convenience, speed and data security, because we can also hold a spatially distant copy of the backup (e.g. for disasters). In the worst case, we could even copy backup data from the backup server back to the local Bckup on the host and secure it from there (I assume).
Of course, when using proxmox, the secure image of the local backup savings store would always be available (and all PBS (Proxmox Backup Server) backups can also be synchronized very well), but the method described also works without virtualization and purely with Linux on board.
Greetings Yummiweb
@yummiweb Thank you, your suggestions are very interesting for me. I will take my time and consider which backup strategy I will ultimately choose for Nethserver 8.
Best
Erwin
My personal backup strategy for my home and my clients is generally as follows:
Proxmox backups all VMs and Contaners running there. PBS AND NAS!!!
NethServer does it’s own Backup (duplicity, never restiic!), 7 generations kept → NAS
My own custom rsync backup script, which handles 7 generations, covers mainly “files”. → NAS
All three Backups are In-House, and Offsite (daily).
Depending on client / use / etc, all backups are at least done once daily, some clients have additional backups.
An old adage:
Always better to do a backup too many, than one too little!
and also:
Never trust a backup you’ve never tried to restore!
My 2 cents
Andy
To be honest, I find Restic (As it was in NS7) just pure crap and unusable! And why?
For the simple reason it could NOT use a simple storage capable of rsync or sftp - it needed added manual intervention for an “init” first - and still does, when I read this from Restic here:
https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/stable/030_preparing_a_new_repo.html
Minio is even worse in my opinion. The only use I see for Minio is if you’re running on Amazon AWS - where you don’t have other options. Why would anyone want to set up something as useless as Minio?
And then for Backups and Disaster Recovery, really a BAD choice!
Why did the devs make “only” such bad choices for Backup?
Or maybe someone in the team is a hopeless restic or Amazon AWS “fan”.
All reasonable Backup solutions require simple pointing at storage to work.
Need a local backup, point to a local folder or USB storage…
Need a rsync backup? Point it at a capable storage and it’s good.
And all reasonable, usable backup systems allow for one or more different sheduling options.
But no, Restic is still not capable, it needs an “init” of the storage first. How uncool!
SFTP is not enough, it ALSO needs SSH to “init” the Storage (Sorry: Repository!) ! Really uncool!
Other backup solutions may also need an init of the storage, but are capable of doing this themselves.
As such, I consider Restic a really incapable, unsuitable solution for Backup. As this is the ONLY Option NS8 intends to offer, the backup situation seems really bleak!
In all of this, we are talking about open source software, and the freedom to use as choice.
Why is there no real choice? A cloud backup tailored to devs (Using stupid terminology like repository!). yet hopelessly incapable to do a self-init of the storage like any other backup software…
My 2 cents
Andy