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back2back

The inspiration for this project is to provide a replacement for the "backup to a friend" feature of Code42's CrashPlan, which is going away in october 2018: https://www.code42.com/news-releases/code42-focus-business/

##Goals and assumptions

  • Local backup (from filesystem)
  • Peer-to-peer backup (and restore) through standard web protocols
  • No need for a centralized account (unlike CrashPlan).
  • Remote computer should be reachable via a URL, which implies the use of a fixed IP address or dynamic DNS.
  • Remote computer should also accept incoming connections, which might impliy some firewall/router configuration, but this is a fairly common issue.
  • Security: authentication of remote computer, encryption of backups
  • Cross-platform with idiomatic installation (e.g. setup.exe on Windows) and good native integration (e.g. as a Windows service on Windows)

##Architecture

  • Spring Boot application with Spring MVC
  • Embedded MongoDB for storing configuration and files (via GridFS)
  • Backup jobs implemented as Spring Batch jobs
  • Web interface using Vue.js

##Status Very preliminary stage: can backup files from a directory to GridFS and to the local peer through HTTP. Very incomplete GUI.

Installing back2back

Back2back is composed of 2 parts:

  • a daemon that runs in the background, performs the backup operations and provides a web GUI.
  • a system tray icon app that allows quick access to the GUI and provides control over the daemon.

Automatic installation through an installer or a package management system is not yet available. Following are instructions for manual installation of the daemon.

Manual Installation

Download the archive (zip or tgz).

Ectract the archive into a directory of your choice. This will be Back2back's home directory.

  • Under Windows, it is recommended to use a directory at the root of the disk, such as C:\back2back
  • Under macOS, a common choice is /Applications/back2back

Starting the daemon

The daemon consists of a standalone executable jar named back2back-bundle-standalone.jar. DO NOT double-click on the jar file's icon : the daemon might start but you will miss important information printed to the console.

To check that it starts correctly, open a command prompt, cd into the directory where the jar file resides, and type:

java -jar back2back-bundle-standalone

The daemon will start up and begin displaying log messages to the screen. During the first start, you need an internet connection because the daemon will download a copy of MongoDB, the database it uses to store configuration and backup files. When the log displays the message "Started Main in x.xxxx seconds", the daemon is ready and you can use the GUI.

The daemon listens to port 8080 by default. If there is already a process bound to this port on your computer, create a file named application.properties in back2back's home directory and add a line similar to the following:

server.port = 8081 //or whatever free port you wish to use

Accessing the GUI

Back2back's GUI is a web application; when the daemon is ready you can access it by opening a web browser and typing the address: http://localhost:8080 (of course if you've changed from the default port 8080, use the actual port). A web page with Back2back's logo should open.

Stopping the daemon

If the daemon was started from a command prompt, you may type Ctrl-C. Otherwise open the web interface and go to Admin page, then click "Shutdown".

Configuring the daemon for automatic start

When you have confirmed that the daemon runs correctly, you should configure your system to start it automatically at boot. There are a number of ways to do this, depending on the operating system:

  • on Windows, the recommended way is to configure it as a Windows Service
  • on macOS, the recommended way is to configure it as a launchd Global Daemon

Configuring as a Windows service

The archive comes with a copy of NSSM. To install back2back daemon as a Windows service, run:

installService.bat

The service is installed with name "back2back"

To uninstall type:

removeService.bat

Configuring as a macOS Global Daemon

To install back2back daemon as a macOS "global daemon" using launchtl, run:

sudo ./installDaemon.sh

You will need to enter your password. This will only work if your user has administrative rights.

To uninstall type:

sudo ./removeDaemon.sh