122 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
122 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Backup Strategies
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description: Practical backup strategy guidance for self-hosted services, containers, and virtualized homelabs
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tags:
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- backup
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- self-hosting
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- operations
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category: self-hosting
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created: 2026-03-14
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updated: 2026-03-14
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---
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# Backup Strategies
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## Introduction
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Backups protect against deletion, corruption, hardware failure, ransomware, and operational mistakes. In self-hosted environments, a backup strategy should cover both data and the information needed to restore services correctly.
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## Purpose
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This guide covers:
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- What to back up
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- How often to back it up
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- Where to store copies
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- How to validate restore readiness
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## Architecture Overview
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A good strategy includes:
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- Primary data backups
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- Configuration and infrastructure backups
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- Off-site or offline copies
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- Restore testing
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The 3-2-1 rule is a strong baseline:
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- 3 copies of data
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- 2 different media or storage systems
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- 1 copy off-site
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For higher assurance, also consider an immutable or offline copy and zero-error verification.
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## Step-by-Step Guide
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### 1. Inventory what matters
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Back up:
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- Databases
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- Application data directories
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- Compose files and infrastructure code
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- DNS, reverse proxy, and secrets configuration
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- Hypervisor or VM backup metadata
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### 2. Choose backup tools by workload
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- File-level backups: restic, Borg, rsync-based workflows
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- VM backups: hypervisor-integrated backup jobs
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- Database-aware backups: logical dumps or physical backup tools where needed
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### 3. Schedule and retain intelligently
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Use a retention policy that matches recovery needs. Short retention for frequent snapshots and longer retention for off-site backups is common.
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### 4. Test restores
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Backups are incomplete until you can restore and start the service successfully.
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## Configuration Example
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Restic backup example:
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```bash
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export RESTIC_REPOSITORY=/backup/restic
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export RESTIC_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/restic_password
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restic backup /srv/app-data /srv/compose
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restic snapshots
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```
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Example restore check:
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```bash
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restic restore latest --target /tmp/restore-check
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```
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## Troubleshooting Tips
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### Backups exist but restores are incomplete
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- Confirm databases were backed up consistently, not mid-write without support
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- Verify application config and secret material were included
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- Check permissions and ownership in the restored data
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### Repository size grows too quickly
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- Review retention rules and pruning behavior
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- Exclude caches, transient files, and rebuildable artifacts
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- Split hot data from archival data if retention needs differ
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### Backups run but nobody notices failures
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- Alert on backup freshness and last successful run
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- Record the restore procedure for each critical service
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- Test restores on a schedule, not only after incidents
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## Best Practices
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- Back up both data and the configuration needed to use it
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- Keep at least one copy outside the main failure domain
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- Prefer encrypted backup repositories for off-site storage
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- Automate backup jobs and monitor their success
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- Practice restores for your most important services first
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## References
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- [restic documentation](https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)
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- [BorgBackup documentation](https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/)
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- [Proxmox VE Backup and Restore](https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/chapter-vzdump.html)
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