Backup your Linux Server with Duplicati

Self-Hosting Jan 21, 2021

What is Duplicati?

Duplicati is an Open Source backup client that can run encrypted incremental backups to local storage or offsite with support for a large array of different file transfer protocols.

Supported Storage Protocols:

FTP
OpenStack Object Storage
S3 Compatible
SFTP (SSH)
WebDAV

Proprietary Protocols:

Amazon S3
Azure Blob
B2 Cloud Storage
Box.com
Dropbox
Google Cloud Storage
Google Drive
HubiC
Jottacloud
Mega.nz
Microsoft Onedrive
Microsoft Sharepoint
Rackspace CloudFiles
Rclone
Sia Decentralised Cloud

Install

This will be using Ubuntu 20.04 with Docker Compose but it should work on other distributions without issues.

Install Docker
Install docker-compose:
sudo apt install docker-compose
Make a duplicati directory to place the docker-compose file within:
sudo mkdir duplicati
cd duplicati
Use the following docker compose template:

sudo nano docker-compose.yaml

version: "2.1"
services:
  duplicati:
    image: ghcr.io/linuxserver/duplicati
    container_name: duplicati
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Europe/London
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - <Path to store local backups>:/backups
      #Remove :ro (Read Only) when restoring! 
      - <Path to source for files to backup>:/source:ro
    restart: unless-stopped
    networks:
      default:
        ipv4_address: 10.10.10.10
        
networks:
  default:
    external:
      name: dockernet

Please change the volume locations and potentially the IP.

Startup the docker container:
sudo docker-compose up -d
Reverse Proxy Setup
The WebUI operates on port 8200.
Example Caddy setup:

backup.example.com {
  reverse_proxy 10.10.10.10:8200
}

Set a password for the WebUI, to prevent unauthorised access.
Configure a Name and Encryption Password (Make sure you save this) for your backup.
Select the storage type and enter your credentials.
Source Data
The source directory should contain the data you want to backup.
Select your Backup Schedule
Once a day is recommended but feel free to adjust this.
You are safe to save this and finish the setup.
Press Run now and hope it runs without errors.