CrashPlan & CrashPlan GUI Merger Plugin


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So I have been trying to fuss around and get the CrashPlan plugins working properly for myself as of late and figured it was time to start tracking them and updating them. I take no credit in these two plugins and if SeeDrs or cleight want me to discontinue this just let me know. The first update is just a few things:

 

Credits:

- SeeDrs (for Crashplan plugin)

- cleight (for CrashPlan GUI plugin)

 

12-22-12 Updates:

-Moved CrashPlan GUI to Settings Menu

-Update CrashPlan plugin to use 3.4.1 of CrashPlan

-Cleaned up a few spelling things

 

Future:

- The plan moving forward, to combine the two into one plugin and make it work a lot smoother for everyone.

 

Installation (unRAID):

1. Browse to your server and setup a password for root, or create a new user with a password (this is needed for SSH)

2. Download the CrashPlan plugin from here CrashPlan (For version 3.4.1 currently)

3. Download the CrashPlan GUI plugin from here: CrashPlan GUI

4. Rename the extension if your browser names it a .txt or .xml file to .plg

5. Copy the plugins to /boot/config/plugins

6. Reboot unRAID or Open up telnet (PuTTy) and install the plugins:

installplg /boot/config/plugins/Crashplan.plg

installplg /boot/config/plugins/Crashplan_gui.plg

7. Assuming no failures, browse back to your server and go to Settings -> Crashplan. Before Enabling it set it up on your cache drive (/mnt/cache/apps/crashplan) or something like that. Enable and save! You should also see the CrashPlan GUI under Settings as well.

 

Installation (PC/MAC):

1. Install if you have not already CrashPlan on your Windows/MAC machine so we can connect to the "headless" install on your unRAID box. Once installed head to your install location (typically C:\Program Files\CrashPlan) and go to the 'conf' folder and open 'ui.properties' with a text editor. Add to the bottom:

servicePort=4200

Save and exit it.

2. Open up your PuTTy and setup an SSH Tunnel:

          a. Go to Connections > SSH > Tunnels

          b. Type 4200 for the SOURCE PORT

          c. Type localhost:4243 for the DESTINATION and click Add

          d. Go to Sessions, enter your unRAID box machine name or IP address in the HOST NAME field. Leave the port to 22 and select SSH for CONNECTION TYPE.

          *note: So you don't have to set this up every time you want to connect to your unRAID headless Crashplan install, give this session a name (how about 'unRAID'?) and click 'Save'.

          e. Click Open to create the tunnel (login to your server now)

3. Now run CrashPlan and hopefully it should launch, if everything is done correctly.

 

Any issues or questions with the above let me know and I will gladly tweak as needed!

 

NOTE: PuTTy is only needed to configure CrashPlan, it is not needed to be on all the time.

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How can I edit the local config file on my mac?

 

Found here: http://support.crashplan.com/doku.php/how_to/configure_a_headless_client

 

Linux (if installed as root): /usr/local/crashplan/conf/ui.properties

Mac: /Applications/CrashPlan.app/Contents/Resources/Java/conf/ui.properties

Solaris (if installed as root): /opt/sfw/crashplan/conf/ui.properties

Windows: C:\Program Files\CrashPlan\conf\ui.properties

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I've had issues in the past with coming back a few days after installing to backup, so I'll try to come back and report in a week or so how things are working.

 

I was able to tunnel in, use my same account info, and adopt my old backup files which is very useful in not transferring all those files again. I've also used my Windows 7 laptop to backup new files to the server, so this v.3.4.1 seems to work great.

 

Thanks for the updated versions! I hadn't even noticed it went up to 3.4.1 and I'm wondering if that's why the past couple months I had issues that one was automatically updating versions. If there is an option I'm unaware of to prevent autoupdate of versions please let me know.

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I've had issues in the past with coming back a few days after installing to backup, so I'll try to come back and report in a week or so how things are working.

 

I was able to tunnel in, use my same account info, and adopt my old backup files which is very useful in not transferring all those files again. I've also used my Windows 7 laptop to backup new files to the server, so this v.3.4.1 seems to work great.

 

Thanks for the updated versions! I hadn't even noticed it went up to 3.4.1 and I'm wondering if that's why the past couple months I had issues that one was automatically updating versions. If there is an option I'm unaware of to prevent autoupdate of versions please let me know.

 

Let me know how it goes. I had major connection issues with 3.3.1 this is why I tried rehashing this. I am on day 4 without issues, but I think the big test is 2/3 weeks for me.

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I was going through some files today and noticed the /mnt/cache/.apps/CrashPlan directory where everything is installed is set to root:root rather than the nobody:users permission. The one exception I noticed was the /mnt/cache/.apps/CrashPlan/jre/ directory with java that gets installed the the OpenSSHusername.

 

Everything is still working for me though, which is excellent!

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I was going through some files today and noticed the /mnt/cache/.apps/CrashPlan directory where everything is installed is set to root:root rather than the nobody:users permission. The one exception I noticed was the /mnt/cache/.apps/CrashPlan/jre/ directory with java that gets installed the the OpenSSHusername.

 

Everything is still working for me though, which is excellent!

 

I will look into this, although not promising much since I am learning plugin design as I go :)

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If you change the path to something like /mnt/cache/apps'crashplan will the binaries get moved to this location as well?  For some reason, perhaps because I tried the manual install method before the plugin, I never get the binaries to install on my unRAID system.  When I run the plugin it says that crashplan is already installed and is being skipped.  While it is true that Crashplan was at one time installed, it has been removed yet the installer still thinks it is there.  I was going to simply do a manual install of the Crashplan package but want to make sure that the files need to be in the path specified in the plugin configuartion.

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If you change the path to something like /mnt/cache/apps'crashplan will the binaries get moved to this location as well?  For some reason, perhaps because I tried the manual install method before the plugin, I never get the binaries to install on my unRAID system.  When I run the plugin it says that crashplan is already installed and is being skipped.  While it is true that Crashplan was at one time installed, it has been removed yet the installer still thinks it is there.  I was going to simply do a manual install of the Crashplan package but want to make sure that the files need to be in the path specified in the plugin configuartion.

 

By default it should install to: /usr/local/crashplan

 

Once installed, you have the ability to change the install dir and have all files get moved to the cache drive. If you manually installed it previously try removing the plugins (assuming your using both), reboot and clear out anything left behind on the cache drive. Then try it again. Can you also attach the log?

 

 

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By default it should install to: /usr/local/crashplan

 

Once installed, you have the ability to change the install dir and have all files get moved to the cache drive. If you manually installed it previously try removing the plugins (assuming your using both), reboot and clear out anything left behind on the cache drive. Then try it again. Can you also attach the log?

 

That worked like a charm.  Thanks for the help and the plug-ins.

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I am interested in this since I am building a new unRAID 5 on new hardware. My old 4.7 install will still exist and already has CrashPlan on it the old way, not on cache drive.

 

My only concern about installing/running this on my cache drive (80GB SSD) is that it is not protected by the array/parity. If the SSD dies then my CrashPlan installation on this server goes with it, right?  As I understand it there is some kind of unique CrashPlan key generated at install time that is specific to the installation. 

 

I guess though if the SSD cache drive breaks then I can buy a new cache drive and reinstall CrashPlan to it. I know that within CrashPlan I can "assume" an already created CrashPlan backup and make it tie to this new install.

 

Since I see that most of the applications are now meant to be installed to the cache drive do they all have functionality to create backups of themselves if the cache drive is lost?

 

thanks

 

 

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I am interested in this since I am building a new unRAID 5 on new hardware. My old 4.7 install will still exist and already has CrashPlan on it the old way, not on cache drive.

 

My only concern about installing/running this on my cache drive (80GB SSD) is that it is not protected by the array/parity. If the SSD dies then my CrashPlan installation on this server goes with it, right?  As I understand it there is some kind of unique CrashPlan key generated at install time that is specific to the installation. 

 

I guess though if the SSD cache drive breaks then I can buy a new cache drive and reinstall CrashPlan to it. I know that within CrashPlan I can "assume" an already created CrashPlan backup and make it tie to this new install.

 

Since I see that most of the applications are now meant to be installed to the cache drive do they all have functionality to create backups of themselves if the cache drive is lost?

 

thanks

 

You can install it anywhere you would like, installing to cache just makes that drive run faster (my understanding anyways) since it avoids parity but also avoids the fact that configuration needs to be installed every time you reboot (if you install via flash). If you lose the cache you would need to use Crashplan to "resume" the old backup, although thankfully I have never had to test that feature :)

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My only concern about installing/running this on my cache drive (80GB SSD) is that it is not protected by the array/parity. If the SSD dies then my CrashPlan installation on this server goes with it, right?  As I understand it there is some kind of unique CrashPlan key generated at install time that is specific to the installation. 

I have Crashplan installed on my cache drive, and the backup files go into a User Share "Crashplan_Backups" on the array. I have removed the installation on the cache drive several times, left the Crashplan_Backups share alone, and when I installed a newer version of Crashplan onto the cache drive again, I have always been able to "Adopt" the Crashplan_Backups. Of course, this is very useful when you have >1 TB already backed up.

 

The unique key is not important. I've always used the same email/username and password to login during setup, and the 'adoption' feature during setup works. I'm unsure if a new user can adopt on the same machine or not, so just hold onto your user and pw for crashplan.

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I am starting to wonder if CrashPlan has a soft "unlimited" number at 2.5TB. My CrashPlan was running 100% smooth until I went over that threshhold online. Now it wont connect to CrashPlan servers anymore. Anyone else see this behavior?.

I don't use CrashPlan servers. I rely entirely on the local backups to unraid and another desktop for the time being. Is it right at 2.5 TB or just never hits 100% backup? I ask because it seems I can never get to 100% backup complete... it always wants to stop at like 90-something% which seems to be a common comment others have mentioned when backup up to another local computer (nothing to do with the unraid plugin).

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I don't use CrashPlan servers. I rely entirely on the local backups to unraid and another desktop for the time being. Is it right at 2.5 TB or just never hits 100% backup? I ask because it seems I can never get to 100% backup complete... it always wants to stop at like 90-something% which seems to be a common comment others have mentioned when backup up to another local computer (nothing to do with the unraid plugin).

 

It is working smoothly for me prior to adding data over 2.5TB. I just removed a ton of data, (just adding Pictures and Music) which is only a total of 1.5TB. I can connect again fine. Once I add my movies, it starts crashing the service at 2.5TBs for some reason. I will keep monitoring it, but I think local is the way to go which is frustrating to me.

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I am starting to wonder if CrashPlan has a soft "unlimited" number at 2.5TB. My CrashPlan was running 100% smooth until I went over that threshhold online. Now it wont connect to CrashPlan servers anymore. Anyone else see this behavior?.

 

I guess I'll find out in 1.2 years. It says it's going to take that long to back up my 5.5TB of movies. I don't know why it's uploading so freaking slow. I have a 20Mbps up connection.

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I am starting to wonder if CrashPlan has a soft "unlimited" number at 2.5TB. My CrashPlan was running 100% smooth until I went over that threshhold online. Now it wont connect to CrashPlan servers anymore. Anyone else see this behavior?.

 

I guess I'll find out in 1.2 years. It says it's going to take that long to back up my 5.5TB of movies. I don't know why it's uploading so freaking slow. I have a 20Mbps up connection.

That is weird.  By my calculations if you were getting your theoretical maximums it would only be just over 26 days.
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I am starting to wonder if CrashPlan has a soft "unlimited" number at 2.5TB. My CrashPlan was running 100% smooth until I went over that threshhold online. Now it wont connect to CrashPlan servers anymore. Anyone else see this behavior?.

 

I guess I'll find out in 1.2 years. It says it's going to take that long to back up my 5.5TB of movies. I don't know why it's uploading so freaking slow. I have a 20Mbps up connection.

 

FYI: http://support.crashplan.com/doku.php/recipe/speeding_up_your_backup

 

Without this mine would have taken about 1 year, it ended up taking (before it crashed out) about 20 something days...

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I am starting to wonder if CrashPlan has a soft "unlimited" number at 2.5TB. My CrashPlan was running 100% smooth until I went over that threshhold online. Now it wont connect to CrashPlan servers anymore. Anyone else see this behavior?.

 

I guess I'll find out in 1.2 years. It says it's going to take that long to back up my 5.5TB of movies. I don't know why it's uploading so freaking slow. I have a 20Mbps up connection.

 

FYI: http://support.crashplan.com/doku.php/recipe/speeding_up_your_backup

 

Without this mine would have taken about 1 year, it ended up taking (before it crashed out) about 20 something days...

 

Did all that. Even tried a trick I saw to reset your GUID so you end up on a different server but it made little difference. After changing all the settings including encryption, compression and dupe checking all off my speed went up a little. I should be getting literally 10 times the speed I am getting based on my connection.

 

Rc1qU.png

 

 

 

 

I ran a speed test and there is no problem with my connection. I ran this test while CrashPlan was uploading.

 

2441605322.png

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I am starting to wonder if CrashPlan has a soft "unlimited" number at 2.5TB. My CrashPlan was running 100% smooth until I went over that threshhold online. Now it wont connect to CrashPlan servers anymore. Anyone else see this behavior?.

 

I guess I'll find out in 1.2 years. It says it's going to take that long to back up my 5.5TB of movies. I don't know why it's uploading so freaking slow. I have a 20Mbps up connection.

 

FYI: http://support.crashplan.com/doku.php/recipe/speeding_up_your_backup

 

Without this mine would have taken about 1 year, it ended up taking (before it crashed out) about 20 something days...

 

Did all that. Even tried a trick I saw to reset your GUID so you end up on a different server but it made little difference. After changing all the settings including encryption, compression and dupe checking all off my speed went up a little. I should be getting literally 10 times the speed I am getting based on my connection.

 

Rc1qU.png

 

 

 

 

I ran a speed test and there is no problem with my connection. I ran this test while CrashPlan was uploading.

 

2441605322.png

I got really horrible speed tests when testing speeds a long distance from me.  I live in middle of USA and the coasts have horrible speeds when I tested but I got close to my rated speeds closer to me.
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