Restic Backup Change Leads to no backup GUI in Nethserver 7

Support
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NethServer Version: NethServer release 7.9.2009 (final)
Module: Backup

Hi Everyone, looking for some assistance regarding Restic backups in Nethserver 7.

I have been having issues with an inconsistent backup to an SMB target, where the backup fails intermittently a couple of nights a week.
The error message I receive via the logs on this backup job when failing:
Error while mounting 10.0.50.156:/volume1/Backups : mount.nfs: Protocol not supported at /etc/e-smith/events/actions/mount-nfs line 88.
Can't initialize restic repository
Action 'backup-data-restic backup01': FAIL
Backup status: FAIL

Manually running the backup from the GUI succeeds without issue every time. This led me to believe it could be other activity on the network or the NAS having issues at the particular set time the backup runs. I created some tasks to restart the NAS 2 hours prior to the backup window, this didn’t resolve things. I then investigated changing the time of the existing backup.

From my reading of other threads and documentation, I then attempted to change the scheduled time of the backup and this is when the issues really started. The command I ran was:
db backups setprop backup01 BackupTime 05:20

Once I ran the above, the backup section of the web GUI appears to now be broken. When selecting the backup section, I now just get a spinning wheel at the top of the page and it never loads.

I rebooted the Nethserver and still the issue persists.

The backups did continue to run however, at their originally scheduled time. They were functional, but still failing a couple of nights a week.

I came back after a fortnight and reviewed the logs further and the backups are now not running on schedule at all, with 6 days of no backups. Running the backup job from the shell works fine e.g.: /sbin/e-smith/backup-data -b backup01

I did further reading and found another topic with a different format for the backup time adjustment, which I have run 24 hours ago: db backups setprop backup-data BackupTime ‘40 4 * * *’

This has made no positive change, the backup GUI is still inaccessible and the backups themselves are not running unless performed manually.

I’m hoping someone might be able to assist in clarifying what I may have broken RE the web GUI, and how to restore it, and what I can do to resolve this backup job (hopefully without having to create an entirely new job).

I’m new to Nethserver myself and was tasked with getting this issue resolved prior to planning out a migration to Nethserver 8. I really appreciate any feedback that may help - happy to provide any logs and configuration information - just tell me what I need to get.

Thanks everyone

2

Welcome @daktech ,thanks for reaching out!

Not an immediate answer to your question(s)/issue(s), but just a quick acknowledgement. I am sure that someone will address to this. As I uderstand it you have inherrited an existing setup, so we need to be gentle :wink:

Again, welcome!

ps. Did you had the chance to check if this server has a subscription with Nethesis?

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3

Hey @LayLow , thanks for the reply.

I’ve checked the subscriptions on the server and can see that we have a ‘Business NethSecurity’ plan which is active.

4

Good, I am not familiar with the commercial side of things, but maybe @mrmarkuz can send you a DM on how to proceed. Next to the subscription service offerings, you are most welcome to ask here!!

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5

Hi,

please share the backup configuration, maybe some value is wrong which could cause the UI issue.

db backups show

Please also check the backup log in /var/log/backup for errors.

Documentation about the Neth 7 backup:

NethSecurity subscription: Subscription - Nethsecurity
NethServer subscription: Subscription – NethServer

I guess there’s some NethSec box or VM as you got a NethSecurity subscription.

6

Hi @mrmarkuz , thanks for checking out the issue.

Backup configuration below:
# db backups show

backup01=restic
B2AccountId=
B2AccountKey=
B2Bucket=
BackupTime=05:20
CleanupOlderThan=56D
FullDay=0
NFSHost=10.0.50.156
NFSShare=/volume1/Backups
Notify=error
NotifyTo=
Prune=0
S3AccessKey=
S3Bucket=
S3Host=
S3SecretKey=
SMBHost=
SMBLogin=
SMBPassword=
SMBShare=
SftpDirectory=
SftpHost=
SftpPassword=
SftpPort=22
SftpUser=
Type=full
USBLabel
VFSType=nfs
VolSize=200
WebDAVLogin=
WebDAVPassword=
WebDAVUrl=
status=enabled

The log file I have for the failing backup jobs is as below:

Backup: backup01
Backup started at 2025-09-06 01:05:01
Pre backup scripts status: SUCCESS
Error while mounting 10.0.50.156:/volume1/Backups : mount.nfs: Protocol not supported at /etc/e-smith/events/actions/mount-nfs line 88.
Can’t initialize restic repository
Action ‘backup-data-restic backup01’: FAIL
Backup status: FAIL

This error doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me as it does successfully mount majority of the time and always works when run manually

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7

This is wrong as it should be cron style (“20 5 * * *”)

That command sets the time for a not existing backup “backup-data” as your backup is named “backup01”.

I could reproduce the UI issue.

Please execute the following: (at least it should fix the backup UI)

db backups setprop backup01 BackupTime "20 5 * * *"

You can find infos about the config databases in the dev manual.

8

Thank you so much!
I had been confused with some of the properties and read a different thread where they did not use cron notation.

Can confirm that the backup GUI has now been fixed, and hopefully this backup time resolves the backup consistency issues, else I can further investigate other options.

Really appreciate your assistance with this @mrmarkuz

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