Hi, I know this is a topic that is not that unique but I was having trouble figuring out what the best solution for myself would be.

I would like to set up an Unraid to Unraid backup between myself and my friend's server. His server is at his home and mine is at my home.

I am decently technical and can do the set up on both sides if someone can point me towards a suggested way to go about this.

I saw one suggestion about setting up a VPN tunnel between the two and using rsync? Would that give full access to each other's networks? That's not exactly ideal but if it's the only way I guess we would be okay with it.

Thanks for your help.

Edited August 28, 2025Aug 28 by unburt

I would recommend a file transfer ring network using sftp.

It really depends on the file type, confirmation and what you're tying to back up and send.

Yes a VPN is similar and can be used to act as if his severe is on the network and right next to your PC. (albite a bit more complicated than that)

I do a ring network of the sftp docker and filezilla (docker/windows over samba share) to move file between our systems.

There a few plugins and apps that exist in the CA as well that can help you here.

Like the appdata backup plugin to back up the unraid flash drive and docker configurations and data.
Even a rsync/rclone other docker solutions such as syncthing.

But I personally am a fan of the sftp filezilla SSH connect and share.
I've even update and made a docker for this that includes Fail2ban.



You can even use tail scale or WireGuard to make and self-host a inner communicated internet network for secure access to send and receive...

It comes down to what you want it to do and how you want to interact with it.

Since I'm mainly dealing with large files for data I thought it best to use the actual FTP for a proper protocol systems to interact between the 2 machines and have scripts using zfs to zfs send, snapshot and monitor the data. I edit unraids samba to force and set certain file permission as I run a windows VM out of the unraid system.

I would first recommend making and having a share setup as a staging area.

Edited August 29, 2025Aug 29 by bmartino1
data / spelling

https://unraid.net/blog/unraid-server-to-server-backups-with-rsync-and-wireguard?srsltid=AfmBOopLcU22z8MqJ3LXdItAT3Z-K4XxhD5RPDGsEaGg7USXlKwnwDdW

spaceinvader zfs backup script

https://github.com/SpaceinvaderOne/Unraid_ZFS_Dataset_Snapshot_and_Replications

https://github.com/SpaceinvaderOne/backup_server_scripts

looking for mgutt script as there is a post somewhere on the forum that goes over this as well

Edited August 29, 2025Aug 29 by bmartino1
unriad forum links to data.

Thanks for such a detailed reply. That gave me a lot to think about and was helpful for making me consider more clearly what I am hoping for:

1. We're planning on syncing our photo libraries to each other's servers as an offsite backup.

2. Some kind of protection to prevent snooping is optional. We're somewhat concerned we'd forget the encryption password if there are significant barriers to accessing the data.

3. Backups should be automatic.

4. Immediate transfers are probably unnecessary. Weekly or nightly is probably suitable.

Based on this, I think the sftp/filezilla suggestion might not suit me as that sounds like a manually initiated backup?

The solution from the unraid blog does seem like a good fit and I guess I was sort of aware of the concept. I will need to put some time into understanding the rsync flags. And what level of access a "server to server" wireguard tunnel provides.

1 hour ago, unburt said:

Some kind of protection to prevent snooping is optional

Unless you're sending an encrypted blob every backup cycle, the host will have the ability to see the contents. If you don't want to set up a tunnel, Urbackup is a possible candidate as it can be a backup target over the internet.

With rsync, you should realize that it backs from the source to the destination. (It is a requirement for rysnc to work that it be installed on both the source and destination computers if you are transferring between computers.) With Unraid, the requirement is met since rsync is included as a component of the Unraid OS. With rsync, it makes no difference where you start the command from. It runs the same if you start it from the destination computer or the source computer. You only change which which computer path is the source and which computer path is the destination.

In your case, you would run the two different commands-- one to send the new files from his computer to yours and the second to send the new files from your computer to his computer. They could both be in the same Shell script file. (I believe you could also setup User Scripts plugin to run this on a schedule if you want to automate the entire process. )

EDIT: Example:

I have used the Unassigned Devices plugin to mount a SMB share on a remote computer.

rsync -avhPX /mnt/remotes/ELSIE1_Media/All\ Movies/ /mnt/user/BackupMedia/All\ Movies/

.............|<<<.... Source....................>>| |<<<......Destination..........>>>|

....|switches|

Notice that the source and destination are complete paths as defined on the computer from where the script is started. Rsync could care less where the source and destination are located. In this case, the source is on the remote computer and the destination is the local computer. If the command were changed to this:

rsync -avhPX /mnt/user/BackupMedia/All\ Movies/ /mnt/remotes/ELSIE1_Media/All\ Movies/

The Source would now be the local computer and the destination would be the remote computer.

Edited August 29, 2025Aug 29 by Frank1940

5 hours ago, unburt said:

Thanks for such a detailed reply. That gave me a lot to think about and was helpful for making me consider more clearly what I am hoping for:

1. We're planning on syncing our photo libraries to each other's servers as an offsite backup.

2. Some kind of protection to prevent snooping is optional. We're somewhat concerned we'd forget the encryption password if there are significant barriers to accessing the data.

3. Backups should be automatic.

4. Immediate transfers are probably unnecessary. Weekly or nightly is probably suitable.

Based on this, I think the sftp/filezilla suggestion might not suit me as that sounds like a manually initiated backup?

The solution from the unraid blog does seem like a good fit and I guess I was sort of aware of the concept. I will need to put some time into understanding the rsync flags. And what level of access a "server to server" wireguard tunnel provides.

As Frank said you would most likely use rsync over sftp.

User script plugin to automate.

I have a docker Linux server filezilla that I user script to start the docker that is automated to sync file using file zila. It's pre pointed to directly not the easiest to setup but a example.

Most would use a ssu connection of some form to access the system.

As Michael said other apps like u backup, sync thing and other backup docker can be setup and automated.

Docker start XYZ name of backup.

Still comes down to what you want it to do and how you want to interact with it.

There are many ways to accomplish this.