mirror of
https://github.com/octoleo/restic.git
synced 2024-11-05 21:07:52 +00:00
210 lines
8.7 KiB
ReStructuredText
210 lines
8.7 KiB
ReStructuredText
FAQ
|
|
===
|
|
|
|
This is the list of Frequently Asked Questions for restic.
|
|
|
|
Will restic resume an interrupted backup?
|
|
-----------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Yes, restic will resume interrupted backups when they are re-run.
|
|
|
|
When backing up, restic periodically writes index files to keep a record of
|
|
the uploaded data. Even if there's no snapshot created in the end (due to the
|
|
backup being interrupted), these indexes are stored in the repository for the
|
|
data that has been uploaded so far. Next time restic runs, it is then able to
|
|
find the uploaded data through these indexes, and thereby reference it again
|
|
without having to upload it a second time. This effectively makes it continue
|
|
from where it saved the last index, which should be up to a few minutes ago.
|
|
|
|
It does not matter if the backup was interrupted by the user or if it was due
|
|
to unforeseen circumstances such as connectivity issues, power loss, etc.
|
|
Simply re-run the backup again and restic should only upload what it needs to
|
|
in order to complete the interrupted backup and create a snapshot.
|
|
|
|
Note however that during the initial backup run and any re-tries, until there
|
|
has been a first snapshot created for the backup set (list of files and
|
|
directories to be backed up), restic will need to re-scan the files on disk as
|
|
there is no parent snapshot to compare the filesystem with to determine which
|
|
files have changed. This process should however be far quicker than the
|
|
uploading, and it's normal to see restic scan the files again when re-running
|
|
the backup.
|
|
|
|
``restic check`` reports packs that aren't referenced in any index, is my repository broken?
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
When ``restic check`` reports that there are pack files in the
|
|
repository that are not referenced in any index, that's (in contrast to
|
|
what restic reports at the moment) not a source for concern. The output
|
|
looks like this:
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
$ restic check
|
|
Create exclusive lock for repository
|
|
Load indexes
|
|
Check all packs
|
|
pack 819a9a52e4f51230afa89aefbf90df37fb70996337ae57e6f7a822959206a85e: not referenced in any index
|
|
pack de299e69fb075354a3775b6b045d152387201f1cdc229c31d1caa34c3b340141: not referenced in any index
|
|
Check snapshots, trees and blobs
|
|
Fatal: repository contains errors
|
|
|
|
The message means that there is more data stored in the repo than
|
|
strictly necessary. With high probability this is duplicate data. In
|
|
order to clean it up, the command ``restic prune`` can be used. The
|
|
cause of this bug is not yet known.
|
|
|
|
I ran a ``restic`` command but it is not working as intended, what do I do now?
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
If you are running a restic command and it is not working as you hoped it would,
|
|
there is an easy way of checking how your shell interpreted the command you are trying to run.
|
|
|
|
Here is an example of a mistake in a backup command that results in the command not working as expected.
|
|
A user wants to run the following ``restic backup`` command
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
$ restic backup --exclude "~/documents" ~
|
|
|
|
.. important:: This command contains an intentional user error described in this paragraph.
|
|
|
|
This command will result in a complete backup of the current logged in user's home directory and it won't exclude the folder ``~/documents/`` - which is not what the user wanted to achieve.
|
|
The problem is how the path to ``~/documents`` is passed to restic.
|
|
|
|
In order to spot an issue like this, you can make use of the following ruby command preceding your restic command.
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
$ ruby -e 'puts ARGV.inspect' restic backup --exclude "~/documents" ~
|
|
["restic", "backup", "--exclude", "~/documents", "/home/john"]
|
|
|
|
As you can see, the command outputs every argument you have passed to the shell. This is what restic sees when you run your command.
|
|
The error here is that the tilde ``~`` in ``"~/documents"`` didn't get expanded as it is quoted.
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
$ echo ~/documents
|
|
/home/john/documents
|
|
|
|
$ echo "~/documents"
|
|
~/document
|
|
|
|
$ echo "$HOME/documents"
|
|
/home/john/documents
|
|
|
|
Restic handles globbing and expansion in the following ways:
|
|
|
|
- Globbing is only expanded for lines read via ``--files-from``
|
|
- Environment variables are not expanded in the file read via ``--files-from``
|
|
- ``*`` is expanded for paths read via ``--files-from``
|
|
- e.g. For backup targets given to restic as arguments on the shell, neither glob expansion nor shell variable replacement is done. If restic is called as ``restic backup '*' '$HOME'``, it will try to backup the literal file(s)/dir(s) ``*`` and ``$HOME``
|
|
- Double-asterisk ``**`` only works in exclude patterns as this is a custom extension built into restic; the shell must not expand it
|
|
|
|
|
|
How can I specify encryption passwords automatically?
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
When you run ``restic backup``, you need to enter the passphrase on
|
|
the console. This is not very convenient for automated backups, so you
|
|
can also provide the password through the ``--password-file`` option, or one of
|
|
the environment variables ``RESTIC_PASSWORD`` or ``RESTIC_PASSWORD_FILE``.
|
|
A discussion is in progress over implementing unattended backups happens in
|
|
:issue:`533`.
|
|
|
|
.. important:: Be careful how you set the environment; using the env
|
|
command, a `system()` call or using inline shell
|
|
scripts (e.g. `RESTIC_PASSWORD=password restic ...`)
|
|
might expose the credentials in the process list
|
|
directly and they will be readable to all users on a
|
|
system. Using export in a shell script file should be
|
|
safe, however, as the environment of a process is
|
|
`accessible only to that user`_. Please make sure that
|
|
the permissions on the files where the password is
|
|
eventually stored are safe (e.g. `0600` and owned by
|
|
root).
|
|
|
|
.. _accessible only to that user: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/14000/environment-variable-accessibility-in-linux/14009#14009
|
|
|
|
How to prioritize restic's IO and CPU time
|
|
------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
If you'd like to change the **IO priority** of restic, run it in the following way
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
$ ionice -c2 -n0 ./restic -r /media/your/backup/ backup /home
|
|
|
|
This runs ``restic`` in the so-called best *effort class* (``-c2``),
|
|
with the highest possible priority (``-n0``).
|
|
|
|
Take a look at the `ionice manpage`_ to learn about the other classes.
|
|
|
|
.. _ionice manpage: https://linux.die.net/man/1/ionice
|
|
|
|
|
|
To change the **CPU scheduling priority** to a higher-than-standard
|
|
value, use would run:
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
$ nice --10 ./restic -r /media/your/backup/ backup /home
|
|
|
|
Again, the `nice manpage`_ has more information.
|
|
|
|
.. _nice manpage: https://linux.die.net/man/1/nice
|
|
|
|
You can also **combine IO and CPU scheduling priority**:
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
$ ionice -c2 nice -n19 ./restic -r /media/gour/backup/ backup /home
|
|
|
|
This example puts restic in the IO class 2 (best effort) and tells the CPU
|
|
scheduling algorithm to give it the least favorable niceness (19).
|
|
|
|
The above example makes sure that the system the backup runs on
|
|
is not slowed down, which is particularly useful for servers.
|
|
|
|
Creating new repo on a Synology NAS via sftp fails
|
|
--------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
For using restic with a Synology NAS via sftp, please make sure that the
|
|
specified path is absolute, it must start with a slash (``/``).
|
|
|
|
Sometimes creating a new restic repository on a Synology NAS via sftp fails
|
|
with an error similar to the following:
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
$ restic init -r sftp:user@nas:/volume1/restic-repo init
|
|
create backend at sftp:user@nas:/volume1/restic-repo/ failed:
|
|
mkdirAll(/volume1/restic-repo/index): unable to create directories: [...]
|
|
|
|
Although you can log into the NAS via SSH and see that the directory structure
|
|
is there.
|
|
|
|
The reason for this behavior is that apparently Synology NAS expose a different
|
|
directory structure via sftp, so the path that needs to be specified is
|
|
different than the directory structure on the device and maybe even as exposed
|
|
via other protocols.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Try removing the ``/volume1`` prefix in your paths. If this does not work, use
|
|
sftp and ls to explore the SFTP file system hierarchy on your NAS.
|
|
|
|
The following may work:
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
$ restic init -r sftp:user@nas:/restic-repo init
|
|
|
|
Why does restic perform so poorly on Windows?
|
|
---------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
In some cases the real-time protection of antivirus software can interfere with
|
|
restic's operations. If you are experiencing bad performance you can try to
|
|
temporarily disable your antivirus software to find out if it is the cause for
|
|
your performance problems. If you are certain that the antivirus software is
|
|
the cause for this and you want to gain maximum performance, you have to add
|
|
the restic binary to an exclusions list within the antivirus software.
|