Rsync - Backup

omexlu

Hello,

Im backing up my server all night via rsync until now the following directories will be synced:

/root (with exceptions)
/opt/mailcow-dockerized
/opt/mailcow-backups (my mailcow backups)
/var/lib/docker

Does any other directories for docker and mailcow installation are needed?

Thanks in advance.

omexlu

omexlu /opt/mailcow-dockerized
/opt/mailcow-backups (my mailcow backups)
/var/lib/docker

So this 3 points are enough to cover the mailcow installation and his databases?

PS. I don’t have anything else on the server, only mailcow.

Other question: if any problem occurs I can rsync back and restart containers to get it working again or is something special to keep in mind?

Thanks.

MAGIC

No not for mailcow.
If you have other container running which are using bind mounts then you may need to backup too

MAGIC

Actually only your backup folder would be enough when you use the backup_restore script
https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized/blob/master/helper-scripts/backup_and_restore.sh#L79

And yes you only need to move the files back and restore them via the script and you are good to go
Also see https://mailcow.github.io/mailcow-dockerized-docs/b_n_r_restore/

omexlu

Ah cool, yes I use the backup script to backup daily mailcow.

So in the worst case I can reinstall mailcow an only restore via backup script and all is good on the last backup (all same)?

If yes that’s great 👍

But I still sync the whole Docker folder I think that’s not bad to have as security ☺️

Matthis

You could also take a look at my backup script.

I used borg instead of rsync but the principle is the same.
And the whole thing is of course much faster than using the backup script which zips everything over and over again.

omexlu

Hello,

Im fine with rsync all is done in 10 min. ☺️

For the backup script delivered with mailcow is done in 30 secs.

Matthis

If you don’t have that much data then as @MAGIC mentioned before the included backup script is very good and easy to use.

Then it is enough to give the script the parameter backup all, that zips all the necessary data.
Additionally you can specify where the backuplocation and how many old backups should be kept:
https://mailcow.github.io/mailcow-dockerized-docs/b_n_r_backup/

omexlu

Yes I don’t have much data so at this point it works great 🙂

And I only keep one backup because I create Snapshots of the vm all night and keep this 3 days 🙂