Automating incremental snapshot backups from a desktop Linux distribution also on ZFS root

TrueNAS General
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I see topics about backing up the TrueNAS machine to another site machine. I also see topics about backing up Linux machines using btrfs or other non-ZFS formats. I don’t see a whole lot about backing up from a Linux distribution that is also using a ZFS rootfs, automated. I found some things using sanoid and similar, but problems with those things. Not to mention, they don’t easily automate pruning the snapshots on the target side.

Does anyone know a good procedure for installing something on an Arch Linux machine, AUR is acceptable as a source of packages, which can automate timed atomic snapshots of selected datasets on the desktop, and send them over SSH to a TrueNAS Scale machine, to write to a dataset there? Preferably with the ability to prune both sides.

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I am in the same situation and my plan is roughly this:

  1. sanoid for PC snapshotting
  2. syncoid for syncing to truenas

TrueNAS side:

  1. A container with syncoid running configured to not take snapshots
  2. A data set to be managed exclusively by syncoid.

I am yet to start executing the plan. I just need to split my backup dataset into multiple ones first.

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Just remember to add recursive = zfs in your config file, otherwise recursive snapshots will not be atomic.

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Here’s how I did it on my Proxmox hosts using ZFS; I’d expect the same procedure would work on any other Linux system running ZFS:

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Wow, awesome, you did it entirely with a pull method from TrueNAS itself, with the only setup on the source machine(s) being something to create the snapshots. I’ll go ahead and mark this as a solution once I’ve managed to recreate it.

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…and adding a SSH key to authorized_keys. But yes, zfSnap handles the snapshots on the host machine (including pruning them), and entering the naming schema into the TrueNAS task allows it to prune appropriately as well.

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Pulling to a centralized backup server is always my method. Keeps from from having to log in to many different systems. I log in to one system and configure all my backups there instead of the other way around.

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The instructions needed some amending for the version of zfsnap available to me, but otherwise, excellent.

Old:
zfsnap -a 5d -r rpool

New:
zfsnap snapshot -a 5d -r rpool

Added, on a daily timer:
zfsnap destroy -r rpool

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I LOVE that. Never knew about zfsnap. sanoid/syncoid is an overkill compared to this :slight_smile:

Thank you

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I used GitHub - aaronhurt/zfs-replicate: POSIX compliant shell script to manage ZFS snapshot replication locally, or between hosts. for a long time but found the -R method really touchy for large replications.

I modified it to GitHub - tschettervictor/xync: POSIX compliant shell script to manage ZFS snapshot replication locally, or between hosts. Created with XigmaNAS in mind. which does it like zettarepl (no -R, but handles each dataset by itself)