Restic Backups

This is a custom repository for running https://restic.net/ backups as a restic user instead of root.

Install

• Download the latest release from release page or run the following.

curl -L https://github.com/DeepInThought/restic-scripts/releases/download/v0.1.0/restic-scripts.tar.bz2 | bunzip2 >${HOME}/.scripts/restic-scripts

• Run the restic-install.sh script or visit their GitHub for downloading. The script includes setup of the restic user and gives backups permissions.

chmod +x restic-install.sh
sudo ./restic-install.sh

• Add restic_aliases and env.local below to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_aliases to simplify calling of restic.

# Make sure you update the env.local to your username.
if [ -f ~/.scripts/restic-scripts/env.local ]; then
    . ~/.scripts/restic-scripts/env.local
fi

if [ -f ~/.scripts/restic-scripts/restic_alises ]; then
    . ~/.scripts/restic-scripts/restic_aliases
fi

• Initialize your backup repository.

sudo ~restic/bin/restic init --repo /media/restic/backups/${HOSTNAME}/home

Keep note of the password used! Add it to the .backup_secrets file. Make sure it's read writable to you only.

chmod 640 .backup_secrets

• Update the restic-homedir.conf and restic-corefolders.conf files to match your settings. I split home and core files into two different backups, but this is not required.

  • SCRIPT_DIR is used for all of the files. Keep default to align with the repository defaults.
  • GET_LATEST_HOME_EXCLUDES scans rsync best practice for home folder backup excludes.
  • RESTIC_MOUNTPOINT is the directory used when mounting backups for viewing. Please not you will need to create the mountpoint first, see below.

  sudo mkdir -p /mnt/restic

  • RESTIC_PASSWORD_FILE is the location of the backup password.
  • RESTIC_PATH is where the executable is located.
  • RESTIC_REPOSITORY is where you did the initialize of the backup.
  • BACKUP_EXCLUDE_FILE is used for excludes like .backup_excludes.
  • BACKUP_PATHS is what folders are included for backups.
  • RETENTION_POLICY is how long to keep backups.
  • SNAPSHOT_TITLE should reflect nature of the backup.

• Run backups via restic_aliases.

bu-homefolder
bu-corefolders

• Mount backups

# Set the environment to the home.conf and mount.
restic-env-home
bu-mnt-backup

• Run restic commands manually via restic-user alias

# Set the environment to the home.conf and run restic manually.
restic-env-home
restic-user --help
# View size of raw-data backup
restic-user stats --mode raw-data
# Run restic update
$ restic-user self-update
writing restic to /home/restic/bin/restic
find latest release of restic at GitHub
restic is up to date