[BlueOnyx:26414] 5209R/5210R/5211R: "Easy-Backup" - a small preview

[Michael Stauber]

Hi all,

It's taken me a while (sorry about that!), but "Easy-Backup" is now in 
the final stages of testing and should be released in the next 7-10 days.

What is new in "Easy-Backup"?
==============================

Basically everything. \o/

It uses similar methods as "Easy-Migrate" to retrieve and transfer data 
and settings from users. But instead of direct transfer of these 
settings via CCE set transactions and transfer of the data via RSYNC, it 
generates an export data set. This consists of JSON files for the 
settings and tarballs for the data of the Vsites, users, DNS and SQL. 
Additionally, there is a checksum file which is used to check the data 
integrity of the dataset.

This export dataset is backed up to a remote location of your choice, 
using the Linux tool "Duplicity". "Duplicity" can handle various 
protocols (SSH, SCP, RSYNC, FTP, FTPS, SFTP, SSHfs, Samba, NFS and more).

Storage in some "clouds" (AWS, Azure, Dropbox, MegaNZ, Google Drive) is 
also possible in principle, but I don't want to integrate that for now 
due to lack of testing. And some of these (like Google Drive for Linux) 
aren't as straightforward as the other methods.

With "Duplicity", you can also store data sets in many generations quite 
easily and in a relatively space-saving way. That's because it can do 
incremental backups in addition to full backups and then also stores 
them smartly and in a space-saving way. It also takes away the work of 
managing the aging and recombination of full backups and increments 
yourself when the number of desired increments is reached.

The restore of the data can be done via command line or GUI and it is 
possible to restore the full backup or just specific aspects:

- Everything
- All Vsites and their users
- Individual Vsites selectively
- Individual Vsite users (the Vsite must already exist)
- All admin users (except "admin" and "alter-admin")
- MySQL only (complete)
- Only DNS (complete)
- Take over only the settings of the old server

During the restore you can also set the switch "--age". Without this 
switch the most recent backup will be used.

For example, if you set "--restore --age 7", the backup from seven days 
ago would be restored instead. Easy-Backup" then automatically fetches 
the data from the external storage location that corresponds to the 
export from seven days ago using "Duplicity".

Similar to "CMU" or "Easy-Migrate", "Easy-Backup" can be operated 
completely from the command line. I have attached a screenshot showing 
the available options and switches.

Each time the backup is run, an email can be sent that shows at a glance 
in the subject line whether the backup was successful or whether errors 
or warnings were generated during the backup. If errors or warnings 
happened, they will also be shown on top of the email body so that you 
don't have to go fishing for them in the detailed output.

The CLI components of the backup and restore are ready and working well.

What I still need to finish is the GUI integration and hopefully that 
will be done by the end of this week or early the next week.

"Easy-Backup" will be available for 5209R, 5210R and 5211R and the 
exports created with it are compatible with all BlueOnyx versions. So 
you can export on a 5211R and import on a 5210R or 5209R. Or export on a 
5209R and import that into a 5210R or 5211R.

-- 
With best regards

Michael Stauber
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