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Backup and Restore

IT IS QUITE PROBABLE THAT SOME INFORMATION HERE IS OUTDATED

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What is backed up?

Only app data located in /opt and relevant config files (as listed below) are backed up. The backup script does this by creating tarball files (.tar) for each folder in /opt/ and placing them into your backup folder (as set in backup_config.yml). The folders in /opt are all* backed up without regard for whether Saltbox created them in the first place. For example, if you create /opt/bingbangboing it will be backed up and restored by Saltbox.

If you have set it up, the community repo is located in /opt, so it will get backed up [this includes any changes you've made in that repo to the config or roles]. There is no catalog kept of what community roles you may have run, so none of the roles themselves will be run automatically on restore, but the data will be backed up and restored.

Service files from /etc/systemd/system are synced to /opt/systemd-backup as part of the backup, so they are included in the tarball creation. This includes things like the rclone_vfs, mergerfs, cloudplow, plex_autoscan, and other system service files. If you have added additional mounts and the like via your own service files [perhaps with tip #44 or samount or the like], these extra service files will be backed up, but will not be automatically restored.

Torrent seeding content, NZBGet queue, anything in /mnt/, /home/, or anywhere else other than the /opt/ folder, will NOT be backed up (media files are moved to the cloud via Cloudplow, anyway). If you do want to backup your seeding data, check out the scripts located in /opt/scripts/rclone/ folder.

If Rclone/Rsync are enabled, the backup will be uploaded to a remote destination.

If keep_local_copy is enabled, the backup will remain locally in the backup folder; If NOT, the backup will be deleted. If you decide to disable Rclone/Sync, then at least have keep_local_copy enabled, or else the backup will be created and then deleted right after.

The config files that are backed up are:

  • ansible.cfg

  • accounts.yml

  • settings.yml

  • adv_settings.yml

  • rclone.conf

  • backup_excludes.txt (if one exists in the saltbox folder).

These files are kept separately from the backup tarball files to allow for easy access.

Note that the .ansible_vault file is NOT backed up.

Nice table to see what is restored during simple backup/restore:
Items Backed UP
Backed Up From
Restored To
Application Data /opt/ /opt/
Ansible Config /srv/git/saltbox/ansible.cfg
Account Settings /srv/git/saltbox/accounts.yml
Saltbox Settings /srv/git/saltbox/settings.yml
Saltbox Advanced Settings /srv/git/saltbox/adv_settings.yml
Backup Excludes List (custom) /srv/git/saltbox/backup_excludes_list.txt ~/saltbox/backup_excludes_list.txt
Rclone Config ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf

What is Saltbox Restore Service?

An optional service that allows for easy backing up and restoring of CLIENT-SIDE ENCRYPTED config files.

The config files that are backed up are:

  • ansible.cfg

  • accounts.yml

  • settings.yml

  • adv_settings.yml

  • backup_config.yml

  • rclone.conf

These files are the ones needed to run a successful restore.

Note: backup_excludes_list.txt are not backed up into the Restore Service, simply because it is not important for a restore to work and also because it IS automatically restored during the restore process itself.

How does this work?

  1. User fills in a username and password for Restore Service in the [[backup config |Saltbox-Backup-and-Restore-Settings]].

  2. During backup, config files are encrypted on the client-side, using a salt-hashed version of the username and password (your raw username is never sent to the Restore Service), and then uploaded to the Restore Service.

  3. When a user needs to restore their backup on a new box, they can pull their backed up config files from the Restore Service with a single command.

The source code for the Restore Service Scripts are listed below: - https://github.com/saltyorg/Saltbox/blob/master/roles/backup/tasks/restore_service.yml (Backup Script) - https://github.com/saltyorg/scripts/blob/master/restore.sh (Restore Script)