How too create offsite backup copy of UrBackup backup data

general discussion
1

Hi,

I’ve installed UrBackup on an Asustor NAS, which is being used to backup several client windows machines to the NAS. This is all working fine.

I have access to a volume on another offsite NAS, which I’d like to use to make a second copy of the backed up data, in case the first NAS is destroyed in a Fire.

Does UrBackup have a built in way of copying the data from the first NAS to the second NAS?

If not, what are recommended options to achieve the same outcome.

Regards,

Sijmen.

2

What file system are you using for the urbackup data?
If btrfs (great for speed due to Subvolumes) then it’s a pain to copy a whole fs.
However - nothing stops you from making offsite NAS a urbackup server AND installing urbackup CLIENT on the first NAS. Then the Offsite nas nominates the first nas client’s urbackup folders and away you go. This includes the configs, database as well as data. You tell the offsite that the onsite is an internet connection and it works.

Alternatively - if you cannot install a urbackup server on the offsite NAs - then the onsite NAS could do scheduled tasks to rsync what you want. I assume the NAS’s are running a linux derivative (most do). Even if you don’t have direct scripting and shell logins available - there are always back doors - like dropbear - to get you in. Even really old Nas’s that “appear to be locked down” can sometimes use Fonz Fun Plug (aka FFP).
If you want to know more - give more details - model numbers etc.

Regards

David

3

Two things that matter if you go the rsync route:

  • The server copies its own databases into the “urbackup” folder inside the backup storage once a day (the “backup database” setting, on by default). So if you sync the whole backup folder, the offsite copy also has the server’s settings and backup index, and a server installed on the second NAS can be pointed at it.
  • On ext4, UrBackup deduplicates file backups with hardlinks. A plain copy or rsync -a turns each hardlink into a full copy, so the offsite copy can end up many times larger than the original. Use rsync -aH to keep them (it needs a fair amount of RAM with many files). On btrfs every backup is a separate subvolume, so rsync copies each one in full; btrfs send/receive is the efficient option there, if the offsite NAS also uses btrfs.

Which file system is the backup volume on? That decides which of these applies.