Easy, Robust, unRAID Cloud backup using CloudBerry and BackBlaze

[lotetreemedia]

This tutorial is for a simple Backup solution for your entire unRAID box, flash drive and all.

 

Please note, it will involve paying money for things. I'm aware this can be accomplished with tools like rclone and @SpaceInvaderOne has done a brilliant tutorial on how to do that. However, my requirements were as follows:

1. I just wanted a GUI solution that will offer the same fine grained control with minimum setup.
2. I wanted something reliable as my data in invaluable.
3. I didn't want to risk losing anything because I cheaped out on something.

 

Both the application I chose and the storage provider offer trial / free tier options so you can try this tutorial out.

 

If it's not for you, no harm no foul.

 

Some of you will also be averse to "Handing your data over to the corporations". I respect that, but I can't risk losing a lifetime of family photos so i'm willing to pay for a little piece of mind.

 

The Cost
1. CloudBerry Backup
This is the application that will be used to initiate, schedule, monitor, and track the backup.
It's a $29.99 one off cost and in my mind was well worth it. They are reputable and have a great suite of products.
If you don't want to use BackBlaze as I have, you can also connect CloudBerry to a host of other storage providers.
It also caters for encryption and in the event of a disaster it has restore functionality as well.
CloudBerry offer a 15 Day trail so you can test out the functionality and see if it fits your use case.

 

EDIT:

After some great sleuth work by @charlescc1000 , looks like the personal edition of CloudBerry is limited to 5TB worth of data. so this guide will work well if you're under that limit. Looks like if you're above that limit you will need to buy the Linux Ultimate Version which is $149.99. Please bear this in mind. Might be extortionate for some, but personally I think it's okay as a one off cost. You're able to upgrade and pay the difference once you hit the limit as well. 

 

2. BackBlaze
Another reputable company in the backup business, BackBlaze was my provider of choice.
It will cost you $0.005/GB/month so $5/TB/month.
It is much faster compared to offerings from CrashPlan and is cheaper than S3 (non-glacier), Azure, and Google Cloud.
There is no fee for getting your data into BackBlaze but there is a 0.01/GB cost for download.
They also integrate with many other vendors such so if you decide to switch to another NAS solution you can get your data onto there as well.
It's pay for what you use so I won't be capped / paying for anything I'm not using. BackBlaze give you the first 10GB Free for you to test.

 

The Solution
1. Buy CloudBerry
The variant you need to buy is CloudBerry Desktop Backup for Linux. After you've purchased it they will email you an activation code.
We'll keep this handy for the next step.

 

2. Install CloudBerry container.
Head over to the APPS tab in unRAID. If you can't see it you need to install the Community Applications plugin.
Search for CloudBerry and click the install button under it.

 

 

 

You can keep all the default values and click apply.

Head to the Docker tab in unRAID, click the play icon on CloudBerryBackup followed by WebUI.

 

 

1. Choose Activate (If you've purchased) or Trial
2. Enter your details and click finish.
3. Congratulations you've installed CloudBerry!

 

 

Click the Backup / Backup Files Button which will open the Cloud Storage window. Click on the little plus icon followed by BackBlaze B2.
We can leave this window as is and come back to it after we've setup BackBlaze.

 

 

3. Create BackBlaze account
You can sign up to BackBlaze free of charge and You can use a google account to sign in if that makes it easier.

1. In your account click on Settings on the left and scroll down to Enabled Products.
2. Next to B2 Cloud Storage, Click on the Link to Verify your Mobile Number.
3. Once your number is verified enable B2 Cloud Storage.

 

 

4. Create a Bucket and Get the Keys
A bucket is just a container for keeping files or like a top level folder. Why would you want more than 1 bucket? In the case that you wanted a different
set of rules for backup schedules and wanted to keep your data separate this is how you'd do it. Also if you wanted to backup more than one device to it's own bucket
you could create multiple buckets to do so.
For me I just wanted all my data stored in a single bucket (your folder structure will remain in the bucket so not to worry).

 

1. Click on create Bucket.
2. Chose a unique name (this will need to be globally unique, meaning no one else in the world can have this bucket name)
3. Click Create.

 

 

Now that we've created the bucket that will hold all the data we need the keys to it. For this we click on Show Account ID and Application Key.

 

 

Here again you have quite fine grained control over your bucket via multiple Application Keys. So if you had one of your friends backup up to your bucket.
you'd create an application key for them and not give them the master one. In the event you'd like to revoke access / change certain permissions without affecting
other keys you could do that.

For me, I've just got a single device backing up so I'm going to use the Master Application Key. Please note that Master Keys are only displayed once.
So once you click Create New Master Application Key keep the window open we're going to use it immediately.

Copy your application ID to your clipboard for bonus efficiency points.

 

5. Create The Backup Schedule
Head back to our CloudBerry Container WebUI and choose a display name for this Backup plan.
You can create multiple backup Plans if you wish but we're just creating a single one for now to backup the entire server.

The thing to note here is that we're VNCd into the containers WebUI so your computers clipboard isn't shared with it. The way we use the containers clipboard is
with the clipboard button on the top right in the Navbar. Click on the Clipboard button, paste your application ID into the box and click submit.

 

 

You can now paste your Application ID into the CloudBerry dialog box.

Now Do the same for the Master Application Key.

 

Click the drop down box next to Bucket.
After 1 or 2 seconds you will see the Bucket name that we created in the previous step. Hoorah!

 

 

Under Advanced Settings you can choose a prefix that this backup plan will use in the bucket. This is useful if you have more than one backup plan.
So in the BackBlaze you will see the structure:
 

Bucket > Prefix name > Folders-that-are-backed-up

 

Select Okay and click on the Plan we've just created and click Continue. Choose a Backup Plan Name and click Continue.

The next window shows a few drives. The one's you're interested in are the first two. The first one of which will just show up as "/".

 

 

If you'd like to backup the contents of your flash drive click the tick box next to it. Expand the first drive and scroll down to the folder labeled "storage"

This should immediately look familiar to you. Yes! They are your shares.

Select the folders you want to backup or choose "storage" if you want to backup everything followed by Continue.

 

Now the next settings namely:

• Advanced Filters
• Encryption
• Retention Policies
• Schedule
• Notifications

Are best answered by you alone. I personally Backup all the files in the storage folder, with encryption on, retain all the files, and backup daily at midnight.
The backup is an incremental backup so only files that have been added or changed will make their way up to BackBlaze.

That being said your options may vary.

To manually start your backup click on your backup plan in CloudBerry (myBackupPlan) and click Start. Your backup should immediately begin.

 

 

To see the fruits of your work head back to BackBlaze, Under B2 Cloud Storage click on Browse Files. You should see your bucket there and all your files under it.

 

 

Don't forget to set your container to AutoStart and you should be golden

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by yusuflimz
critical Information provided by user

[SpencerJ]

Great tutorial. Thanks

 

[olegbc]

Really well written and helpful thanks! Could you add a restore procedure as well?

[JasonK]

Nice tutorial!  I just created a Windows VM and use regular Backblaze (unlimited storage, $50 a year) client on it to back my stuff up.  Map a drive(s) to the share(s) necessary on your unRAID box via a service account (so the Backblaze client will be able to process them like a system drive), selected what i wanted to back up, done.

 

Backups, restores, etc, all easy peasy, even from the Backblaze web interface.

[charlescc1000]

This is a great write-up and should work well for many people with less than 5TB of data.

 

I previously used CloudBerry but quickly discovered that the backup software has a maximum of 5TB of data that it can manage unless you purchase the enterprise edition for $300.

 

So this is an important consideration as many unraid users probably have far more than 5TB of data they would like to backup.

[CyrixDX4]

4 minutes ago, charlescc1000 said:

This is a great write-up and should work well for many people with less than 5TB of data.

 

I previously used CloudBerry but quickly discovered that the backup software has a maximum of 5TB of data that it can manage unless you purchase the enterprise edition for $300.

 

So this is an important consideration as many unraid users probably have far more than 5TB of data they would like to backup.

Just checked:

 

5 TB Storage Limits [PRO]

Data volume you can manage with CloudBerry Backup is 5 TB in PRO version and 200 GB in freeware version. CloudBerry Lab doesn't offer storage, you need to buy from storage providers separately.

 

Goddamnitt...

[1812]

about a year and a half ago I bought the linux standard edition, which shows up as "server edition." 

 

My license says server edition and I'm currently at 6tb and have gone up to 10 or so before without hitting any limit. 

 

also of note, there is a way to run dual installs (or as many as you want) on the same registered license. but really you should just give them your money.

[lotetreemedia]

1 hour ago, JasonK said:

Nice tutorial!  I just created a Windows VM and use regular Backblaze (unlimited storage, $50 a year) client on it to back my stuff up.  Map a drive(s) to the share(s) necessary on your unRAID box via a service account (so the Backblaze client will be able to process them like a system drive), selected what i wanted to back up, done.

 

Backups, restores, etc, all easy peasy, even from the Backblaze web interface.

 

This is a great idea! I don't have the extra horsepower on my machine to keep a windows VM up all the time though

But never the less good shout!

 

[lotetreemedia]

1 hour ago, charlescc1000 said:

This is a great write-up and should work well for many people with less than 5TB of data.

 

I previously used CloudBerry but quickly discovered that the backup software has a maximum of 5TB of data that it can manage unless you purchase the enterprise edition for $300.

 

So this is an important consideration as many unraid users probably have far more than 5TB of data they would like to backup.

Updated the post! However there is a server version avaiable are you aware of any limits there? I can't seem to find any

[maxse]

This is perfect timing as I am looking for ways to backup my server using cloudberry. 

Except that I don't want to back it up to the cloud, I want to back it up to another unraid server in a remote location.

Can someone make a tutorial on how to do that, or what's the best way to do that? I have another post about this in general and came to the conclusion to use cloudberry. I do not mind paying, but I don't quite yet know how to back up to the remote server. VPN? What are the logistics of that? Meaning is it something that will always be connected, or I can set it to connect just before cloudberry backs up and then disconnects? or is there another way? Would appreciate it

[nasforthemass]

YUSUFLIMZ - OP, thanks for the fantastic write-up!
 

On 2/11/2019 at 10:16 AM, JasonK said:

Nice tutorial!  I just created a Windows VM and use regular Backblaze (unlimited storage, $50 a year) client on it to back my stuff up.  Map a drive(s) to the share(s) necessary on your unRAID box via a service account (so the Backblaze client will be able to process them like a system drive), selected what i wanted to back up, done.

 

Backups, restores, etc, all easy peasy, even from the Backblaze web interface.

definitely an interesting way to beat around the bush. just depends on which backup service you use. I'm assuming you did this because of the higher back blaze $ price tag for a server/nas box, right?...

[Zonediver]

...how to backup 42TB??? Backblaze takes $ 210/month - lel - i think its cheaper to buy a second server 🤣

[tr0910]

Yeah, I'm sure many folks will be delighted when Cloudberry has a bulletproof way to backup to another unRaid server.  Share your server with some friends with no risk of exposing each others files.

 

At $139 per 8tb drive, you would need $1000 in drives.  That sounds better than $216 per month

[lotetreemedia]

Yeah, I'm sure many folks will be delighted when Cloudberry has a bulletproof way to backup to another unRaid server.  Share your server with some friends with no risk of exposing each others files.
 
At $139 per 8tb drive, you would need $1000 in drives.  That sounds better than $216 per month

...how to backup 42TB??? Backblaze takes $ 210/month - lel - i think its cheaper to buy a second server

Well, BackBlaze do have a $5 / month unlimited option that you could use.

You’d have to create a Windows VM and mount the drive in a way that Windows sees it as a native drive. I think you have to mount it through a service account.

See@JasonK message above

[FixedState]

On 2/11/2019 at 6:16 PM, JasonK said:

Nice tutorial!  I just created a Windows VM and use regular Backblaze (unlimited storage, $50 a year) client on it to back my stuff up.  Map a drive(s) to the share(s) necessary on your unRAID box via a service account (so the Backblaze client will be able to process them like a system drive), selected what i wanted to back up, done.

 

Backups, restores, etc, all easy peasy, even from the Backblaze web interface.

How can you map the drives to windows so they are recognized by backblaze? I dont understand the 'via a service account' bit. Thanks in advance! Any who can help!

[lotetreemedia]

How can you map the drives to windows so they are recognized by backblaze? I dont understand the 'via a service account' bit. Thanks in advance! Any who can help!

Just add a sheduled task, insert "system" in the "run as" field and point the task to a batch file with the simple command

 net use z: /delete and net use z: \\servername\sharedfolder /user:username password

Then select "run at system startup" (or similar, I do not have an English version) and you are done.


Taken from stackoverflow http:// https://stackoverflow.com/questions/182750/map-a-network-drive-to-be-used-by-a-service#comment25569654_4763324


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BR0KK]

Is there a way to use a local (or remote) nas to point the backup to? 

 

As i understand the local filesystem can't access my nas because cloudberry is inside a docker. This means i need to mount the nas to the docker? 

[SNDS]

Has anyone noticed if Backblaze has any upper storage limit? I have ~50TB and more ongoing that I'd like to be able to backup offsite.

[lotetreemedia]

I doubt the B2 tier would. As you pay for what you use.

 

Regarding BackBlaze Desktop - they do say unlimited and I've seen posts where people are uploading a lot, but not sure TBH.

[DBJordan]

I tried setting this up with a BackBlaze trial and CloudBerry trial. CloudBerry generated a lot of errors indicating I hit some kind of BackBlaze bandwidth/data daily cap. Yet BackBlaze says they offer unlimited space? I've found some stuff in their help pages that seems to indicate their "Personal Backup" cloud vaults are unlimited, but using the "B2 Cloud" has all sorts of data and bandwidth daily caps. Also, I found the B2 data caps information page for my account and I do seem to have hit their daily free limits.

 

Is there a way to use the docker to back up to the unlimited uncapped cloud offering? Or is doing a VM the only way to get that?

 

Apologies if anything I wrote above is incorrect, I'm still a little confused by this!

Edited May 30, 2020 by DBJordan
Added note that I did find the data caps page for my account

[Ariannus]

On 5/30/2020 at 5:32 PM, DBJordan said:

I tried setting this up with a BackBlaze trial and CloudBerry trial. CloudBerry generated a lot of errors indicating I hit some kind of BackBlaze bandwidth/data daily cap. Yet BackBlaze says they offer unlimited space? I've found some stuff in their help pages that seems to indicate their "Personal Backup" cloud vaults are unlimited, but using the "B2 Cloud" has all sorts of data and bandwidth daily caps. Also, I found the B2 data caps information page for my account and I do seem to have hit their daily free limits.

 

Is there a way to use the docker to back up to the unlimited uncapped cloud offering? Or is doing a VM the only way to get that?

 

Apologies if anything I wrote above is incorrect, I'm still a little confused by this!

As I understand it, BlackBlaze's personal unlimited cloud only works through their client and only on Windows or MacOS.  It also will only back up local drives on the pc its running on.

[DBJordan]

1 hour ago, Ariannus said:

As I understand it, BlackBlaze's personal unlimited cloud only works through their client and only on Windows or MacOS.  It also will only back up local drives on the pc its running on.

Yeah, seems to be the case. Since Windows 10 WSL has a 9p built-in for its own use, I started wondering if I could mount a 9p drive on a Windows VM but didn't get very far. Even if I figure it out, Windows would probably see it as a network drive and BB wouldn't back it up.

[Flyinace2000]

My main backup is working fine, but my second job for my flash drive always fails.  Not sure why.  "Warning One or more backup paths cannot be opened for reading"

 

Tried block level with the same results

 

 

 

[Bindesh P]

On 7/7/2020 at 1:04 AM, Flyinace2000 said:

My main backup is working fine, but my second job for my flash drive always fails.  Not sure why.  "Warning One or more backup paths cannot be opened for reading"

 

Tried block level with the same results

 

 

 

I believe the array needs to be stopped before taking a back up of the Flash Drive. Not sure how you would go about automating this thou. 

[Moka]

Some files are failed to backup because: "empty files or folders are not accepted by the storage provider"

 

I am using Backblaze B2. Any idea? Thanks!