Backups

The approach described here is meant to be useful for any machine, not just one which runs a Rattail/Poser app. Also it's meant to back up the entire machine, not just the Rattail/Poser app (if present).

Conventions

Technically our approach will involve the installation of the rattail software package. (Note however that we are not describing the installation process here, only the end result.)

We assume, as usual, that a virtual environment will be used, and that the "home" folder for these environments is at /srv/envs. We further assume a virtual environment named "backup" which lives at /srv/envs/backup.

In addition to the rattail package, we also assume that BorgBackup is installed to the virtual environment, as that does much of the heavy lifting.

Configuration

Within the virtual environment, the file at /srv/envs/backup/app/rattail.conf is of particular importance. This will contain all configuration regarding the "specifics" of the machine's backup.

Contents of /srv/envs/backup/app/rattail.conf should include something like the following. Note that we've used thismachine in place of this machine's hostname.

Also PLEASE be sure to properly secure this file. Our recommendation is to make it readable only by the "root" user.

   1 ############################################################
   2 #
   3 # config for backups
   4 #
   5 ############################################################
   6 
   7 
   8 ##############################
   9 # rattail
  10 ##############################
  11 
  12 [rattail.config]
  13 # bring in system-wide rattail config, mostly for sake of generic logging config
  14 include = /etc/rattail/rattail.conf
  15 
  16 [rattail.backup]
  17 
  18 # database dumps
  19 dbdump = true
  20 # here is shown default path, can set to whatever you like
  21 #dbdump.output = /root/data
  22 # if true, each table will also be dumped separately
  23 #dbdump.dump_tables = false
  24 
  25 # rsync feature is typically disabled, since borg is a superior approach.  however both
  26 # the rsync and borg features will share the `rsync.include` and `rsync.exclude` config.
  27 rsync = false
  28 
  29 # "global" borg config - in particular declares which remotes borg should write backups to
  30 borg.enabled = true
  31 # note that you can have just one, or as many remotes as you like; each "named" whatever here
  32 borg.remotes = local, cloud
  33 borg.archive_hostname = thismachine
  34 
  35 # borg config for "local" remote (note, the "local" name must correspond to a remote listed above)
  36 borg.remote.local.repo = /trailer/borg/thismachine
  37 borg.remote.local.passphrase = YOURBORGPASSPHRASE
  38 
  39 # borg config for "cloud" remote - note the different style of repo compared to "local" remote
  40 borg.remote.cloud.repo = borg@cloud.example.com:/trailer/borg/thismachine
  41 borg.remote.cloud.passphrase = YOURBORGPASSPHRASE
  42 # this should represent the path to `borg` binary on remote cloud system
  43 borg.remote.cloud.borg = /srv/envs/backup/bin/borg
  44 
  45 # these paths are to be included in any rsync or borg backup
  46 rsync.include =
  47     /etc
  48     /home
  49     /opt
  50     /root
  51     /srv
  52     /usr/local
  53     /var
  54 
  55 # these paths are to be excluded from any rsync or borg backup
  56 rsync.exclude =
  57     /var/lib/*/.cache/
  58     /var/spool/postfix/
  59 
  60 
  61 ##############################
  62 # logging
  63 ##############################
  64 
  65 # note, the minimal config here is made possible by including `/etc/rattail/rattail.conf`
  66 # above, since that system-wide file contains most of the logging config
  67 
  68 [handler_file]
  69 args = ('/srv/envs/backup/app/log/rattail.log', 'a', 'utf_8')
  70 
  71 [handler_email]
  72 args = ('localhost', 'root@example.com', ['root@example.com'], "[Backup] Logging")

Scripts

While technically you can run the rattail backup command like this:

cd /srv/envs/backup
sudo -H bin/rattail -c app/quiet.conf backup --help

We generally assume the presence of a script at /usr/local/bin/rattail-backup which is a wrapper around that and makes it a little nicer to run:

sudo -H rattail-backup --help

However you likely won't be using that script too often. The more useful script is at /usr/local/bin/backup-everything which is yet another wrapper, also simple to run. Note that this command doesn't have an extensive help system, as it only supports one flag:

sudo -H backup-everything [--verbose]

What that script does, is a) upgrade the rattail source/package, and b) run the rattail backup command. The behavior of the latter will of course depend on /srv/envs/backup/app/rattail.conf contents.

Scheduling with Cron

This part may vary more often, but the default is to create a file at /etc/cron.d/backup which contains the backup cron job (usually there's just one). Contents of this would be like:

MAILTO="root,you@example.com"

# backup everything of importance at 2:00am
# TODO: remove the `time -v` bit once you're happy with logic
# (this should mean no more emails unless an error happens)
00 02 * * *  root  /usr/bin/time -v /usr/local/bin/backup-everything

Borg Archives

Now what about accessing files from a Borg backup? Here we touch on a few commands you'll find useful.

Please note that you will (most likely) be prompted for the Borg passphrase when using most of these commands. You should have a copy of this passphrase within your /srv/envs/backup/app/rattail.conf file.

Repo on Local Path

These instructions assume you wish to interact with a "local path" from the perspective of the machine whose backups you're interested in. This path doesn't need to truly exist on the local disk, for instance it may be a CIFS mount on a NAS or similar. The important point is that it "appears" to be a local path.

To see available archives:

sudo -H borg list /trailer/borg/thismachine

To mount a particular archive, e.g.:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/borg
sudo -H borg mount /trailer/borg/thismachine::thismachine-2018-09-06T15:38:13 /mnt/borg

While that is mounted, you can access its files via the /mnt/borg folder.

To unmount the archive:

sudo -H borg umount /mnt/borg

Repo on Remote Machine

These instructions assume you wish to interact with a truly "remote" Borg repo, i.e. which resides on a machine other than the local one, and which must be accessed via SSH.

Note that for each command you may will need to provide a path to the Borg binary on the remote machine, via --remote-path argument.

To see available archives:

sudo -H borg list borg@cloud.example.com:/trailer/borg/thismachine

To mount a particular archive, e.g.:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/borg
sudo -H borg mount borg@cloud.example.com:/trailer/borg/thismachine::thismachine-2018-09-06T15:38:13 /mnt/borg

While that is mounted, you can access its files via the /mnt/borg folder.

To unmount the archive:

sudo -H borg umount /mnt/borg