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— Zeus

zeus

zeus is a tool for performing backups onto another zfs pool which is
physically connected to the machine.

Quick Start

1. Get zeus:
   go get github.com/reconquest/zeus/cmd/....

2. Create pool named zbackup.

3. Mark dataset which you want to backup:
   zfs set zeus:backup=on <your-dataset>.

4. Run zeus like this:
   sudo zeusd backup.

Encryption

It is possible to use zeus with encrypted filesystems.

Currently, only pools with root filesystem encrypted are supported.

To use zeus with encryption:

1. Create pool with encrypted root filesystem:
   sudo zpool create zbackup -O encryption=on -O keyformat=passphrase -m none <vdev-configuration>

2. Provide executable named zfs-encryption-key in your path which will accept
   single argument with your backup pool name (e.g. zbackup) and will output
   encryption key to stdout.

   Example:

   #!/bin/bash
   sudo -u operator sh -c "carcosa -p ~/.secrets/my -cG zfs/$1"

Note on holds

zeus will enforce additional protection for lately made snapshots by using
zfs hold with zeus tag to avoid accidental deletion which will make further
incremental backups impossible.

If you need to delete those snapshots, you always can release this lock by using:
zfs release zeus <snapshot>.

Note on backup filesystem names

By default zeus will receive source snapshots into paths like this:
zbackup/<hostname>/guid:<guid>/<your-backuped-filesystem>

• <hostname> part can be configured via config file.
• guid:<guid> is namespace based on source snapshot GUID which is unique and
  is required to avoid conflicts when you backup parts of the same hierarchy,
  like z/home/username/data and z/home/username.

Configuration

zeus has two ways of configuration:

• via config file
  • /etc/zeus/zeusd.conf if zeusd is run by root,
  • ~/.config/zeus/zeusd.conf if zeusd is run by user.
• via zfs properties, namespaced with zeus:.

Config file is used mostly for static configuration and meant to be changed
just once for initial configuration.

zfs properties are meant to be used for specifying which datasets you want to
backup and fine-tune other backup process parameters.

Config

Config file is written in TOML.

If you want to use different backup pool name you need to change it in config
file.

Check out zeus.conf.example for structure of configuration file and options
description.

zfs properties

All zeus-related properties are prefixed with zeus:.

Following zfs properties are supported:

• zeus:backup:

  • on — enable backup on given filesystem,
  • off — disable backup on given filesystem.

• zeus:housekeeping (default: by-count): specifying which housekeeping
  policy to apply after backup. Housekeeping is process of cleaning up old
  snapshots. zeus will attempt to clean up only snapshots managed by
  zeus.

  • none — do not apply any housekeeping.
  • by-count — clean up snapshots when their amount exceeds specified
    numbers. See next for more parameters for by-count housekeeping policy.

• zeusby-count:keep-on-source (default: 1): specifies how
  many snapshots keep on given filesystem. At least one snapshot required for
  incremental backups to work.

• zeusby-count:keep-on-target (default: 10): specifies how
  many snapshots keep on target backup pool. At least one snapshot required for
  incremental backups to work.

Testing

It is possible to test how zeus works without real backup pool.

1. Create test file-based temporary pool by using:

   truncate --size 10G test.img
   sudo zpool create zbackup `pwd`/test.img -f -m none

2. Set zeus:backup=on on any of yours filesystems.

3. Run zeusd backup --no-export.