Ah, ok. Gotcha! I thought all you guys went beyond the splash page.

 

Leifgg is the reason I got back onto crashplan. I had almost given up when I got reconnection errors after my first outing with it, until I read his splendid tutorial. Guess I will give it a few days before I revisit it!

 

 

Probably will make an update on the guide thanks to ljm42, just need to get my things up and running to do some testing 

won't cause any problems, updating the Docker will wipe out all the manual customizations we made to the container.  If you are really concerned about it, you could delete the docker and reinstall it. [...] all manual customizations will be wiped out when you update the container.

 

Thanks, I'm a bit new to Docker -- still wrapping my head around it.  (And your crashplan desktop update is working perfectly.  Thanks again.)

 

Edit:

 

It seems the issue with the Crashplan desktop not being updated is related to Crashplan being run headless.  For those that want to run Crashplan Desktop, is there any benefit to having separate containers for the desktop app and the engine that outweigh this update issue?

 

 

is there any benefit to having separate containers for the desktop app and the engine that outweigh this update issue?

 

Not that I see. I think merging them would solve a lot of problems.

 

can you advise where I will find the \\tower\appdata folder? Is this in the container? So I need to log on to it?

 

It's in the folder you have mapped for /config in your CrashPlan  volume mappings.  For me it's /mnt/disk1/docker/appdata/crashplan/config

 

I don't export my appdata folders, so while still SSHed into my unraid server, but disconnected from the CrashPlan bash (after the first "exit"), I just edit directly using the command:

 

nano  /mnt/disk1/docker/appdata/crashplan/config/id/.ui_info

 

But for you, the "/mnt/disk1/docker/appdata/crashplan" portion will be different, depending on what you have entered in your volume mappings.  Probably somewhere on your cache drive, if you have one.

 

Thank you ljm24, your little fix helped me connect to the crashplan docker. Very much appreciated!

Here's a quick fix to solve the "disconnected from backup engine" error in CrashPlan Desktop.  This updates it to CP 4.4.1 and tweaks the .ui_info file

 

Modifying a docker in this way is typically frowned upon, but it is our only option until the docker itself is updated.

 

SSH to your server and type:

• docker exec -it CrashPlan-Desktop bash
  
• wget -nv https://download.code42.com/installs/linux/install/CrashPlan/CrashPlan_4.4.1_Linux.tgz -O - | tar -zx -C /tmp
  
• cd /usr/local/crashplan
  
• cat /tmp/crashplan-install/CrashPlan_4.4.1.cpi | gzip -d -c - | cpio -i --no-preserve-owner
  
• exit
  
• exit
  

* Full disclosure, all I did here was pull the relevant bits out of gfjardim's docker and update for 4.4.1:

  https://github.com/gfjardim/docker-containers/blob/master/crashplan-desktop/install.sh

 

 

 

Now modify \\tower\appdata\crashplan\id\.ui_info, changing 0.0.0.0 to 172.17.42.1.  It should look something like this when you're done:

 

4243,aaa-bbb-ccc-ddd,172.17.42.1

 

Note... In this example,

* "tower" is the default name of an unraid server, although yours could be different.

* "appdata" is what most people call the share that stores their docker data, although yours could be different.

* "crashplan" is a reasonable name for the directory that holds CrashPlan data, although yours could be different.

 

For me, the easiest way to edit this file is from a Windows box.  I would choose Start -> Run and type \\tower, then navigate to the appdata\crashplan\id folder and drag and drop the .ui_info file into a good editor like Notepad++

 

Another option would be to SSH to tower and then

* cd /mnt/user/appdata/crashplan/id

* nano .ui_info

Thanks brainbone for the reminder on nano, I really didn't want to talk about vi

 

At this point the CrashPlan Desktop should be able to connect to CrashPlan.

 

If you reboot your server (or otherwise restart the main Crashplan docker), you'll need to modify the .ui_info file again.  I believe the other changes will remain intact.

 

Pretty interesting solution.  I'll give it a shot.

 

Given the code for this is on github, and there's a lot of community knowledge regarding keeping this running here, does anyone know if there's a way to fork and make a community-maintained version of this? gfjardim did such a great job, but he has so many dockers I'm sure it's nearly impossible to keep them all up to date.

 

We've had CrashPlan maintainer issues for years and years going back to the early plugin days.  It seems like we could do better if there wasn't always a single person in charge of the project, and was managed by a group of us instead.  It seems feasible, but there must be some stumbling block, yes?

Given the code for this is on github, and there's a lot of community knowledge regarding keeping this running here, does anyone know if there's a way to fork and make a community-maintained version of this?

 

You could fork it, modify your fork, and do a pull request for that modification and see if gfjardim  will merge it.  That, or someone else could fork it, and everyone could start using that fork instead -- but I don't believe github allows multiple maintainers for an individual repository, and there are obvious issues with sharing credentials for a single github user account.

 

It'd be great if a version could be created that:

1 - Allows the password for the "ubuntu" user account to be changed via an environment variable instead of having it hard-coded to "PASSWD".

2 - Changes "ubuntu" user account name to something else, like "crashplan" -- or allow it to be changed via environment variable as well.

3 - Allows the URL of the CrashPlan installation package to be modified via environment variable (best if environment variable is empty to use a hard-coded default, else use value of environment variable.)

4 - Allows XRDP installation/configuration to be optionally disabled, again via environment variable, enabling a "headless" mode. (see #5 for why)

5 - Last, but certainly not least, combines CrashPlan and CrashPlan Desktop into one container, allowing both the engine and UI to automatically update.

 

Once that's done, it probably wouldn't be a huge issue if the repository owner didn't get around to updating it immediately.

Interesting.  Just wondered.  Sounds like gfjardim was away on business and is in the process of catching up so it's certainly not a huge issue, but we've lost CrashPlan maintainers a couple times now.  It's easier with Docker and github since forking is easier if necessary, but it seems like having a few people somehow sharing the load would be safer and that's not easy to do with github.

 

Oh well.  Just thinking out loud, basically.

Any further word? I just installed, changed the ui file on my Windows client to the IP of my server, unclear on what I should do next. I'm pretty sure it's not backing up, but I don't know if I am having the same problems that others described here, or simply missed a step or three in setting it up.

If someone could write a current step-by-step for installing CrashPlan in unRAID and then using it alongside a Windows 7 client, that would be fantastic.

When I execute the commands to update the docker I'm having the following issues:

 

1) cd /usr/local/crashplan

 

I can do cd /usr/local however there is no "crashplan" folder inside the "local" folder?

 

 

2)  When I run "cat /tmp/crashplan-install/CrashPlan_4.4.1.cpi | gzip -d -c - | cpio -i --no-preserve-owner"

it returns:

-bash: cpio: command not found

 

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

@ljm42 - Many, Many thanks! Your fix sorted this out for me. There is some good karma coming your way - Thanks!

 

DZ

When I execute the commands to update the docker I'm having the following issues:

 

1) cd /usr/local/crashplan

 

I can do cd /usr/local however there is no "crashplan" folder inside the "local" folder?

 

 

2)  When I run "cat /tmp/crashplan-install/CrashPlan_4.4.1.cpi | gzip -d -c - | cpio -i --no-preserve-owner"

it returns:

-bash: cpio: command not found

 

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Based on those error messages, it sounds like the problem is related to step 1:

• docker exec -it CrashPlan-Desktop bash
  

If that returned an error message of some kind, then the remaining commands will not work.  I've updated the instructions to check for this.

When I execute the commands to update the docker I'm having the following issues:

 

1) cd /usr/local/crashplan

 

I can do cd /usr/local however there is no "crashplan" folder inside the "local" folder?

 

 

2)  When I run "cat /tmp/crashplan-install/CrashPlan_4.4.1.cpi | gzip -d -c - | cpio -i --no-preserve-owner"

it returns:

-bash: cpio: command not found

 

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Based on those error messages, it sounds like the problem is related to step 1:

• docker exec -it CrashPlan-Desktop bash
  

If that returned an error message of some kind, then the remaining commands will not work.  I've updated the instructions to check for this.

 

That was it... I didn't realize that the desktop docker needed to be running while I executed these commands.  Working now, thanks!

I had to reboot my server and now when I run the desktop docker I cannot RDP into it.  Docker shows as running but RDP will not connect.  I replaced the .ui_info file again but that doesn't help.  Do I need to do anything else on a reboot?

I might consider installing CrashPlan on a Linux VM instead of docker.

 

Should be painless.

 

I might consider installing CrashPlan on a Linux VM instead of docker.

 

Should be painless.

 

I've been running Crashplan in a VM for a few months with no problems. I'm not savvy enough or have the time to constantly update files or troubleshoot why it doesn't work after an update. After the initial backup, you can drop down the memory to 1GB or even less. It is a basic Ubuntu install, auto updates and runs pretty good. I use VNCVIEWER to connect from any machine on the network. Backing up over 600GB.

 

 

I had to reboot my server and now when I run the desktop docker I cannot RDP into it.  Docker shows as running but RDP will not connect.  I replaced the .ui_info file again but that doesn't help.  Do I need to do anything else on a reboot?

Hmm I haven't rebooted yet, but this surprises me. The good news is that with docker it is easy to start over. Just delete the container and re-add it.

I had to reboot my server and now when I run the desktop docker I cannot RDP into it.  Docker shows as running but RDP will not connect.  I replaced the .ui_info file again but that doesn't help.  Do I need to do anything else on a reboot?

Hmm I haven't rebooted yet, but this surprises me. The good news is that with docker it is easy to start over. Just delete the container and re-add it.

 

Yes, that's exactly what I had to do to fix it - delete, re-add, and then apply your "fix" again..

 

I really wish someone would just update the desktop docker already!

Thank you gfjardim! 

 

Today's update to the CrashPlan and CrashPlan-Desktop dockers work great! There is no longer a need to manually upgrade the CrashPlan-Desktop docker.

 

Probably the best way to upgrade is:

• Stop both the CrashPlan and CrashPlan-Desktop dockers
  
• Update the CrashPlan docker, give it is a few minutes
  
• Update the CrashPlan-Desktop docker
  

 

When you start the CrashPlan-Desktop, if you get an "Unable to connect to the backup engine" message, do the following:

• Answer No to the prompt
  
• Modify \\tower\appdata\crashplan\id\.ui_info, changing 0.0.0.0 to 172.17.42.1.  It should look something like this when you're done:
   

4243,aaa-bbb-ccc-ddd,172.17.42.1

• Click the CrashPlan icon again to reload it
  

 

Note... In this example,

* "tower" is the default name of an unraid server, although yours could be different.

* "appdata" is what most people call the share that stores their docker data, although yours could be different.

* "crashplan" is a reasonable name for the directory that holds CrashPlan data, although yours could be different.

 

For me, the easiest way to edit this file is from a Windows box.  I would choose Start -> Run and type \\tower, then navigate to the appdata\crashplan\id folder and drag and drop the .ui_info file into a good editor like Notepad++

 

Another option would be to SSH to tower and then

* cd /mnt/user/appdata/crashplan/id

* nano .ui_info

THANK YOU!  LJM42 & gfjardim

 

The backup itself has been running trouble free but I have been checking this tread daily as the need to add 2 new folders was exploding!

Thank you gfjardim! 

 

 

No, thank you ljm42 for your assistance, ljm42 !!!

Thanks for fixing gfjardim and ljm42. Desktop worked straight away for me on my existing Crashplan container that had self upgraded.

 

Regarding the main application, given that it has automatically updated itself anyway, what does updating docker actually do? I'm a bit wary of upgrading it given it's already running the latest version and working fine. I had some issues when moving over from v5 with a plugin to v6 and docker that I don't wish to revisit

Thanks for fixing gfjardim and ljm42. Desktop worked straight away for me on my existing Crashplan container that had self upgraded.

 

Regarding the main application, given that it has automatically updated itself anyway, what does updating docker actually do? I'm a bit wary of upgrading it given it's already running the latest version and working fine. I had some issues when moving over from v5 with a plugin to v6 and docker that I don't wish to revisit

 

As a general rule for community-supplied plugins and dockers, you'll need to be running the latest version in order to get any kind of support.  The community members who provide help do so out of their own time, and they don't enjoy troubleshooting problems that have already been fixed So typically the first step in troubleshooting any kind of problem is to ask you to update to the latest version.

 

That's not to say you are required to update everything on day 1.  If your system is working and you prefer to wait and see if other people report problems, that is fine.  Just know that the longer you wait, the less anyone will remember about the upgrade process in the event you do have problems 

Well upgrading it, broke it initially.

 

It seems the Crashplan Desktop needed a restart after Crashplan(?). Initially the IP was still 0.0.0.0 in .ui_info. A second restart of Crashplan Desktop and/or Crashplan seemed to update that automatically to 172.17.42.1 and now it's working. Wasn't seamless but fixed itself.