https://github.com/Chocorean/pibackup

Backup your Raspberry PI with one command
https://github.com/Chocorean/pibackup

backup bash pi pishrink raspberry-pi rpi shell-script tool

Last synced: about 1 month ago
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Backup your Raspberry PI with one command

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/Chocorean/pibackup
• Owner: Chocorean
• License: agpl-3.0
• Created: 2022-03-07T16:55:21.000Z (almost 3 years ago)
• Default Branch: main
• Last Pushed: 2024-01-21T15:21:45.000Z (about 1 year ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-01-21T15:56:43.563Z (about 1 year ago)
• Topics: backup, bash, pi, pishrink, raspberry-pi, rpi, shell-script, tool
• Language: Shell
• Homepage:
• Size: 169 KB
• Stars: 8
• Watchers: 3
• Forks: 3
• Open Issues: 2
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
  • License: LICENSE

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# pibackup.sh

`pibackup.sh` is a bash script that automatically dump a PI sdcard as a shrunk image to a [remote] directory, and handles rotation of several files. It is recommended to automate this script using `systemd` timers or `cron`, so the backups are done on a regular basis and without any interaction.

This is still WIP work, let me know if you have ideas about how to improve.

## Table of content

1. [Background](#background)

2. [Usage](#usage)

3. [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)

   1. [Optional dependencies](#optional-dependencies)

4. [Installation](#installation)

5. [Example](#example)

6. [Restoring](#restoring)

7. [Automation](#automation)

   1. [systemd timer](#systemd-timer)

   2. [cron job](#cron-job)

8. [Contributing](#contributing)

## Background

Once during a house move, I unplugged a Raspberry PI and somehow it killed the SD card. All my code was saved already, but I lost hours of my time spent on configuring and pimping my PI. I was so mad at myself for not doing backups that I started to look into automatic backup tools, but I didn't find anything that pleased me enough. So I bought an external drive and started this project.

Hope it will be useful for more people than just myself!

## Usage

**Note:** It will create a `/` directory, so you can use the same output directory for multiple nodes.

```bash

$ ./pibackup.sh -h

---

pibackup.sh 0.5

---

usage: pibackup.sh -o  [options]

Required parameters:

  -o, --output-dir [DIRECTORY]  Where backup will be saved and rotated.

Optional parameters:

  -h, --help                    Display this message.

  -n, --image-name [NAME]       Rename the backup file as '.img.x'.

                                  Default: self ($ uname -n)

  -r, --rotation-count [COUNT]  Quantity of files to be kept. Default: 8

  -t, --tmp-dir [DIRECTORY]     Temporary directory to use on the remote node. Default: /tmp

  -T, --target [HOSTNAME]       Name of the host to backup. Default: self ($ uname -n)

  -q, --quiet                   Silent mode.

  -z, --gzip                    Compress image using gzip.

  -Z, --xz                      Compress image using xz.

```

## Prerequisites

1. **External disk space:** At the moment, you cannot dump your sd card on itself; you need a proper storage. For instance, I have a disk drive plugged to my main Raspberry PI that other nodes will remotely interact with.

2. **Fast local network:** If doing remote backup, you need to make sure your network is efficiently configured. I had speed issues at home, so I had to create a local network for my PIs, which greatly increased the backup upload speed.

3. This project uses [PiShrink](https://github.com/Drewsif/PiShrink) from Drewsif. Make sure to install it before.

```bash

$ which pishrink.sh

/usr/local/bin/pishrink.sh

```

### Optional dependencies

1. If using `cron` you may need `postfix` to deliver local mails:

```bash

sudo apt install postfix

```

## Installation

All you need to do is download `pibackup.sh`, make it executable and put it in your PATH.

```bash

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Chocorean/pibackup/main/pibackup.sh

chmod +x pibackup.sh

sudo mv pibackup.sh /usr/local/bin

```

## Example

For a local backup, this is simplest you can use:

```bash

user@pi $ pibackup.sh -o /backups -n awesome_pi

[pibackup.sh] Dumping sdcard ...

[ ... dd output ... ]

[pibackup.sh] Setting permissions ...

[pibackup.sh] Shrinking image ...

[ ... pishrink.sh output ... ]

[pibackup.sh] Rotating previous images ...

[pibackup.sh] Done ...

user@pi $ ls /backups/pi

awesome_pi.img.0

```

For a remote node, just specify its hostname or IP address.

```bash

user@pi$ pibackup.sh -o /backups -d another_pi

[pibackup.sh] Dumping sdcard ...

[ ... dd output ... ]

[pibackup.sh] Setting permissions ...

[pibackup.sh] Shrinking image ...

[ ... pishrink.sh output ... ]

[pibackup.sh] Rotating previous images ...

[pibackup.sh] Done ...

user@pi $ ls /backups/another_pi

another_pi.img.0

```

## Restoring

Doing backups is a good thing, however you know to know how to restore them. Right now, I haven't looked at the newest feature which allows to boot from the network, but I might add a section about it later.

Use a computer with access to the storage drive. If you compress your images, you will need to decompress them first:

```bash

# -Z ; xz

cp /path/to/backup.xz.0 backup.xz

unxz backup.xz

# -z ; gzip

cp /path/to/backup.gz.0 backup.gz

gunzip backup.gz

```

Now you have a suitable image for flashing an SD card. Plug the SD card you want to overwrite and copy the image:

```bash

sudo dd if=backup.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M conv=noerror,sync status=progress

```

Insert the SD card in your PI and you recovered all your data!

## Automation

The recommended way to use `pibackup.sh` is to create a `systemd` timer-service duo, but a `cron` job will work fine. You also need to make sure your nodes have a proper SSH config which allows the main node to connect to them without asking for password (see `~/.ssh/authorized_keys` file).

### systemd timer

You will first need to create the timer and the associated service. Then, enable and start the timer:

```bash

# systemctl enable pibackup.timer

# systemctl start pibackup.timer

```

Check [the docs](https://man.archlinux.org/man/systemd.time.7#CALENDAR_EVENTS) for `OnCalendar=` syntax.

  systemd timer example

  


    /etc/systemd/system/pibackup.timer

    

    [Unit]

    Description=Run pibackup.sh every monday at 2am

    

    [Timer]

    Unit=pibackup.service

    OnCalendar=Mon, 2:00

    [Install]

    WantedBy=timers.target

  


    

  systemd service example

  


    /etc/systemd/system/pibackup.service

    

    [Unit]

    Description=Run pibackup

    [Service]

    Type=oneshot

    ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/pibackup.sh ...

    User=pi

  


Thanks to [Mcdostone](https://github.com/Chocorean/pibackup/issues/8) for the suggestion.

### cron job

I recommend to seperate `cron` logs from `syslog` logs for easier troubleshooting. If not the case already, edit `/etc/rsyslog.conf` and uncomment `cron.*  /var/log/cron.log`.

As stated in the [Prerequisites](#prerequisites) section, you may also need to install `postfix` because `cron` sends mails if a job has an output.

**Also**, I had to set `SHELL` and `PATH` variables inside the crontab to make it work, but that might not be necessary for you.

Check [the docs](https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/crontab.5.html) for `crontab` syntax.

  crontab example

  


    $ crontab -e

    # default shell

    SHELL=/bin/bash

    # set PATH variable

    PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/snap/bin

    # Do a backup once a week on Mondays at 2am

    0 2 * * MON /usr/local/bin/pibackup.sh ...

  


## Contributing

Quoting Drewsif:

> If you find a bug please create an issue for it. If you would like a new feature added, you can create an issue for it but I can't promise that I will get to it.

>

> Pull requests for new features and bug fixes are more than welcome!