New post, BorgBackup encrypted and deduplicated !

2020-01-30 21:00:17 +01:00 · 2020-01-30 21:00:17 +01:00 · e0fdc1fff1
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+.. title: BorgBackup
+.. date: 2020-01-30
+.. slug: borgbackup
+.. updated: 2020-01-30
+.. status: published
+.. tags: backup, borgbackup
+.. category: backup
+.. authors: Elia El Lazkani
+.. description: It has been called the Holy Grail of backup! BorgBackup is coming to town.
+.. type: text
+
+I usually lurk around **Freenode** in a few projects that I use, can learn from and/or help with.
+This is a great opportunity to learn new things *all the time*.
+
+This story is familiar in that manner, but that's where similarities diverge.
+Someone asked around ``#Weechat`` a question that caught my attention because it was, sort of, out of topic. The question was around how do you backup your stuff ?
+
+.. TEASER_END
+
+I mean if I were asked that, I would've mentioned revision controlled off-site repositories for the code that I have.
+For the personal stuff on the other hand, I would've admitted simple rudimentary solutions like ``rsync``, ``tar`` and external drives.
+So I was sort of happy with my backup solution, it has worked. Plain and simple.
+
+I have to admit that, by modern standards it might not offer the ability to go back in time to a certain point.
+But I use *file systems* that offer *snapshot* capabilities. I can recover from previous snapshots and send them somewhere safe.
+Archiving and encrypting those is not a simple process, wish it was. That limits storage possibilities if you care to keep your data private.
+
+But if you know me, you'd know that I'm always open to new ways of doing things.
+
+I can't remember exactly the conversation but the name **BorgBackup** was mentioned (thank you however you are). That's when things changed.
+
+
+BorgBackup
+==========
+
+`Borg <https://www.borgbackup.org/>`_ is defined as a
+
+    Deduplicating archiver with compression and encryption
+
+Although this is a very accurate and encompassing definition, it doesn't really show you how *AWESOME* this thing is.
+
+I had to go to the docs first before I stumbled upon this video.
+
+.. raw:: html
+
+    <div class="custom-center" style="
+         width: 50%;
+         margin: 0 auto;
+    ">
+    <script id="asciicast-133292" src="https://asciinema.org/a/133292.js" async></script>
+    </div>
+
+It can be a bit difficult to follow the video, I understand.
+
+This is why I decided to write this post, to sort of explain to you how **Borg** can backup your stuff.
+
+Encryption
+==========
+
+Oh yeah, that's the **first** thing I look at when I consider any suggested backup solution.
+**Borg** offers built-in *encryption* and *authentication*.
+You can read about it in details in the `docs <https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/usage/init.html#encryption-modes>`_.
+
+So that's a check.
+
+Compression
+===========
+
+This is another thing I look for in a suggested backup solution. And I'm happy to report that **Borg** has this under the belt as well.
+**Borg** currently supports *LZ4*, *zlib*, *LZMA* and *zstd*. You can also tune the level of compression. Pretty neat !
+
+Full Backup
+===========
+
+I've watched a few videos and read a bit of their documentation and they talk about **FULL BACKUP**.
+Which means every time you run **Borg**, it will take a full backup of your stuff. A full backup at that point in time, don't forget.
+The implication of this is that you have a versioned list of your backups, and you can go back in time to any of them.
+
+Yes, you read that right. **Borg** does a full backup every time you run it. That's a pretty neat feature.
+
+If you're a bit ahead of me, you were gonna say woooow there bud ! I have **Gigabytes** of data, what do you mean **FULL BACKUP**, you keep saying **FULL BACKUP**.
+
+I mean **FULL BACKUP**, wait until you hear about the next feature.
+
+Deduplication
+=============
+
+Booyah ! It has deduplication. Ain't that awesome. I've watched a presentation by the project's original maintainer explain this.
+I have one thing to say. It's pretty good. How good, you may ask ?
+
+My answer would be, good enough to fool me into thinking that it was taking snapshots of my data.
+
+.. code:: text
+
+   -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+                               Original size      Compressed size    Deduplicated size
+   All archives:               34.59 GB           9.63 GB            1.28 GB
+   Unique chunks               Total chunks
+   Chunk index:                47772              469277
+
+
+It wasn't until I dug in deeper into the matter that I understood that it was a full backup and the deduping taking care of the rest.
+
+Check
+=====
+
+**Borg** offers a way to vefiry the consistency of the repository and the archives within.
+This way, you can make sure that your backups haven't been corrupted.
+
+This is a very good feature, and a must in my opinion from a backup solution. **Borg** has *YOU* covered.
+
+Restore
+=======
+
+A backup solution is nothing if you can't get your data backup.
+**Borg** has a few ways for you to get your data. You can either create an *archive* file out of a backup.
+You can export a file, a directory or the whole directory tree from a backup.
+You can also, if you like, mount a backup and get stuff out.
+
+.. warning::
+
+   Mounting a **Borg** backup is done using *fuse*
+
+Conclusion
+==========
+
+**Borg** is a great tool for backup. It comes in an easily installable self-contained binary so you can use it, pretty much,
+anywhere giving you no excuse *whatsoever* not to use it. Their documentation is very good, and **Borg** is easy to use.
+It offers you all the features you need to do off-site and on-site backups of all your important data.
+
+I'll be testing **Borg** moving forward for my data. I'll make sure to report back anything I find, in the future, related to the subject.