[Borgbackup] a couple of questions

[Adrian Klaver]

On 07/08/2017 03:21 PM, Matej Kovacic via Borgbackup wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I just discovered Borg backup and it looks really cool.
> 
> Anyway, I have a couple of questions.
> 
> But first, about my setup.
> 
> I am running Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS and have installed Borg 1.0.7. I am
> backuping to a RaspberryPi with Borg 1.0.7 installed. I installed Borg
> ARM build from https://borg.bauerj.eu/.

The current stable is 1.10.

> 
> I am running first (full) backup over internet and it is really slow (as
> expected).
> 
> First I did (as normal user):
> borg init ssh://pi@backup.rpi/media/backup
> 
> borg create --compression zlib,4 ssh://pi@backup.rpi/media/backup::matej
> ~ --exclude '*.vdi' --exclude ~/Downloads
> 
> Since I had to set up passphrase, I understand my backup on RaspberryPi
> is encrpyted?

The manual is your friend.

http://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage.html#borg-init

"If you want “passphrase-only” security, use the repokey mode. The key 
will be stored inside the repository (in its “config” file). In above 
mentioned attack scenario, the attacker will have the key (but not the 
passphrase).

If you want “passphrase and having-the-key” security, use the keyfile 
mode. The key will be stored in your home directory (in 
.config/borg/keys). In the attack scenario, the attacker who has just 
access to your repo won’t have the key (and also not the passphrase)."

> 
> Next question is: what happens if I close my laptop and put it to sleep,
> or if I turn it off, and then run "borg create" again?
> 
> Does it continue where it has been interrupted or does it start backup
> all over again or something else?
Have never tried it. Try it a see what happens?

> 
> Next, what happens if I am using computer while it is backuping? For
> instance, I am adding or deleting files?

I personally have never seen any issues running against active directories.

> 
> What if I change a file while it is being backuped? Example of this
> would be, if I would be backing up VDI files (VirtualBox disks), which
> are large (for instance 20 GB), and while VDI file is being backuped,  I
> am using virtual machine and changing the content of VDI file?

Not sure.

> 
> What happens if I finish this first backup, but then run the "borg
> create" command again? I mean with the same repo name? Does it start the
> whole backup again, or will backup be incremental?

Starts a new archive. Did you mean repo or archive name? Archive names 
need to be unique so it will error out if that is the case.  If you are 
creating in the same repo then only new unique chunks will be added. For 
more detail see:

http://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/internals.html#

> 
> Unfortunately, I am not able to see the progress. I have opened the
> issue, but cannot find an obvious reason for this behavior:
> https://github.com/borgbackup/borg/issues/2419
> 
> Are you planning to add some additional switch to show some kind of
> progress indicator/status?

They are already there:

http://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage.html#

<Go to section>
Type of log output

http://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage.html#borg-create

  -s, --stats           print statistics for the created archive
   -p, --progress        show progress display while creating the archive,
                         showing Original, Compressed and Deduplicated 
sizes,
                         followed by the Number of files seen and the path
                         being processed, default: False
   --list                output verbose list of items (files, dirs, ...)


> 
> As I understand, remote borg "server" acts only as storage? I mean, I
> can list the status of my backups, but as I understand, system
> administrator cannot see the status of all machines. This could be
> useful for organizations, where administrator would be able to see the
> status of all backups and get warning for those machines which have too
> old backups. This could alert administrator that something is wrong with
> those machines. Is it possible that I backup several machines to
> RaspberryPi and check the status of those backups with some scripts to
> see which backups are OK and which failed?

http://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage.html#borg-check

http://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage.html#borg-list

http://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage.html#borg-info

I do my backups via cron so I get an email that shows success or failure.


> 
> An my final question - are you planning to develop some GUI? I am more
> console guy, but I understand that for most people lack of GUI is a
> great obstacle.

A simple GUI that needs more work:
https://github.com/borgbackup/borgweb

> 
> I hope my questions are not to annoying, thank you for yur answers in
> advance.

Some time with the manual would have made the post shorter:)

> 
> Regards,
> M.
> 


-- 
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver at aklaver.com