Restic as a backup solution

Backup using Restic

Backing up your data is often essential, even for home use. There are many options out there, but if you want to create an off-site backup it usually makes sense to encrypt the backup. In Linux many options exist. Recently I discovered Restic. Restic turns out to be fairly simple to use and offers a wide range of options to use as remote backup locations. Options include Object storage such as S3(compatible) storage, local to i.e. a share or SFTP. Aside from the various Unix like OS-es like Linux, BSD and Mac it even supports MS Windows. Restic also features a Rest Server. This seems powerful, but I had trouble setting it up. For me using sftp was easiest solution. All that is required is a (virtual) server with SSH and enough storage.

A complication

I want to backup data of applications that are running in LXC containers on my Proxmox server. As I want to backup to another device I want to backup to an external drive connected to my Mikrotik Wifi Access point. I don’t want to backup to a drive connected directly to the Proxmox server. And the Mikrotik device is running 24/7 anyway. The (2.5 inch) external drive uses very little extra power. Mikrotik devices can do a lot more than just do your network. My access point has a USB port. That means that I can connect a external Hard Drive, and expose this using NFS. It can also use SMB, but for my use case NFS is the logical choice.

On my Proxmox machine I run a tiny VM that mounts the NFS

location. I would prefer a LXC container, but currently LXC containers in Proxmox can’t mount NFS. So this is nice low-power solution. The Proxmox server is running 24/7 anyway and has the data I need to backup. And the Mikrotik device is also running 24/7