Using Backup Manager on Bare Metal Servers

Here, we cover how to utilize the Backup Manager client on bare metal dedicated servers.

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Managing Backups Using Backup Manager
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NOTE: Troubleshooting Bare Metal servers is outside of our scope of support. Please consult your Operating System support for any issues.

OS Requirements

1. The following should be installed/configured prior to installing the Backup Manager client
   1. python3 (3.6+) interpreter
      • if Python is compiled from source, it needs openssl support
   2. a crond that can read /etc/cron.d/
   3. openssl
   4. curl
   5. bash
   6. If MySQL is installed, /root/.my.cnf should be setup for the default config to work
   7. libc / glibc (not musl)
   8. init system: sysv, systemd, or upstart

2. The Backup Manager client has been tested on the following operating systems

   Distro	Family	Python3	Works
   Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal	Debian	3.8	Yes
   Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy	Debian	3.10	Yes
   Debian 12 Bookworm	Debian	3.11	Yes
   Debian 11 Bullseye	Debian	3.9	Yes
   Debian 10 Buster	Debian	3.7	Yes
   CentOS 6	RedHat	2.6	No (GCC and Python are too old)
   CentOS 7	RedHat	3.6	Yes
   AlmaLinux 8	RedHat	3.6	Yes
   AlmaLinux 9	RedHat	3.9	Yes
   OpenSUSE Leap 15.5	SUSE	3.6	Yes
   Alpine 3.18.6	<none>	3.11	No (Alpine uses musl)

Installation

1. Install wget by running the applicable command as the root user

   1. Debian and Ubuntu

      apt-get -y install wget

   2. RedHat, Fedora, CentOS, and AlmaLinux

      yum -y install wget

2. Run the following to install the Backup Manager client

   sudo su -
   cd /root
   wget -O bakmgr-setup.sh https://repo-ded.inmotionhosting.com/pypi/bakmgr-setup.txt
   chmod +x bakmgr-setup.sh
   ./bakmgr-setup.sh --host $(hostname -s)  # must match the amp machine name!
   rm -f bakmgr-setup.sh

   IMPORTANT: If the server's hostname has been modified, the server ID (e.g. ded1234) will need to be specified  after --host, instead of using $(hostname -s).

Logs

1. The Backup Manager client logs to /var/log/bakmgr.log
2. If running a distro using SysV, the dashboard logs to /var/log/bakmgr-dash.log, otherwise the dashboard logs to syslog

Scripts

1. The following scripts are provided
   1. /usr/bin/bakmgr (symlink to /opt/bakmgr/bin/bakmgr): This is the CLI tool for bakmgr which provides a way to validate configuration changes and restore data. See -h on each subcommand
      1. /usr/bin/backup is also linked here
   2. /opt/bakmgr/bin/cron: This file is executed on cron to create backups
   3. /opt/bakmgr/bin/bakmgr-setup: This runs on both initial setup and after updates to perform steps that, if this was an RPM, would be done during %post
   4. /opt/bakmgr/bin/bakmgr-update: This runs on cron and provides automatic updates without needing to hook into a package manager
   5. /opt/bakmgr/bin/bakmgr-uninstall: This removes bakmgr ( but will leave /etc/bakmgr/.auth.json and /usr/bin/restic intact, just in case)

Config Files

1. Configuration files can be found in the following locations
   1. /etc/bakmgr/bakmgr.yaml: configuration for what gets included in backups
      NOTE: While this file can be modified manually, you should use the dashboard UI when possible.
   2. /etc/bakmgr/.auth.json: When the client registeres with the backup authority server, its API login is saved here
      NOTE: It should not be necessary to modify this file manually.

Dashboard UI

1. The dashboard runs on TCP port 4001
   EXAMPLE: https://ded1234.inmotionhosting.com:4001
   NOTE: It may be necessary to manually open the port in the server firewall.

2. The dashboard defaults to using a self-signed SSL certificate, but a real cert can be intalled using the following paths, if desired:

   1.  
      1. SSL Certificate: /etc/bakmgr/dash.crt
      2. Private Key: /etc/bakmgr/dash.key
      3. (Optional) CA Bundle: /etc/bakmgr/dash.cabundle

   NOTE: the "bakmgr" service will need to be restarted after replacing the files.

Restoring Data via CLI

1. The restore-files command can be used to restore files

   bakmgr restore-files /file/path

   REPLACE: /file/path with the path to the file or directory you wish to restore.

2. The restore-mysql command can be used to restore MySQL databases

   bakmgr restore-mysql /file/path/name.sql

   REPLACE: /file/path/name.sql with the desired name and file path to export the database to.

3. See each command's help page for more options

   bakmgr restore-files -h
   bakmgr restore-mysql -h
   bakmgr restore-pgsql -h

   NOTE: If there are multiple backups of the type requested, you will be prompted to select which one to restore from.
   TIP: The --latest option can be used to automatically select the most recent backup instead of being prompted.