Skip to content

inline-config.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
273 lines (206 loc) · 7.64 KB

inline-config.md

File metadata and controls

273 lines (206 loc) · 7.64 KB

Inline Configuration

BackItUp supports passing configuration options directly via command-line flags. This is useful for:

  • Quick one-off backups
  • CI/CD pipelines
  • Scripting and automation
  • Running without a config file

Available Options

Database

Option Description
--database <path> SQLite database file path

Sources

Option Description
--source <path> Source directory to backup (repeatable)
--pattern <glob> Glob pattern for file filtering (repeatable)

Local Storage

Option Description
--local-path <path> Directory for local backup storage
--no-local Disable local storage

S3 Storage

Option Description
--s3-bucket <name> S3 bucket name
--s3-prefix <prefix> S3 key prefix
--s3-region <region> AWS region
--s3-endpoint <url> Custom S3-compatible endpoint
--s3-access-key-id <key> S3 access key ID
--s3-secret-access-key <key> S3 secret access key
--no-s3 Disable S3 storage

Retention

Option Description
--retention-count <n> Maximum number of backups to keep
--retention-days <n> Maximum age in days for backups

Archive

Option Description
--archive-prefix <str> Prefix for archive filenames (default: backitup)
--compression <0-9> Gzip compression level (default: 6)

Safety

Option Description
--verify-before-delete Verify checksums before cleanup deletion
--no-verify-before-delete Skip checksum verification on cleanup

Docker

Option Description
--docker Enable Docker volume backups
--no-docker Disable Docker volume backups
--docker-volume <name> Docker volume to backup (repeatable)
--stop-containers Stop containers before volume backup
--no-stop-containers Don't stop containers (default behavior)
--stop-timeout <seconds> Timeout for graceful stop (default: 30)
--restart-retries <n> Retry attempts for restart (default: 3)

Usage Modes

1. Override Mode

When a config file exists, inline options override specific settings:

# Override storage path from config
backitup backup -s manual --local-path /different/path

# Override S3 bucket
backitup backup -s manual --s3-bucket different-bucket

# Add compression
backitup backup -s manual --compression 9

2. Config-Free Mode

Run without any config file by providing required options:

Requirements:

  • At least one source: --source or --docker-volume
  • At least one storage: --local-path or --s3-bucket
# Minimal example
backitup backup -s manual --source /data --local-path /backups

# With S3
backitup backup -s manual --source /app --s3-bucket my-bucket --s3-region us-west-2

# Multiple sources
backitup backup -s manual \
  --source /var/www/app \
  --source /var/log/app \
  --local-path /backups

Examples

Quick Local Backup

backitup backup -s manual \
  --source /home/user/documents \
  --local-path /mnt/backup

Backup to S3

backitup backup -s manual \
  --source /var/www/app \
  --s3-bucket my-backups \
  --s3-region us-west-2 \
  --s3-prefix "app-backups/"

With Credentials

backitup backup -s manual \
  --source /data \
  --s3-bucket my-bucket \
  --s3-access-key-id AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE \
  --s3-secret-access-key wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY

Or use environment variables:

export S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
export S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY

backitup backup -s manual --source /data --s3-bucket my-bucket

With Glob Patterns

backitup backup -s manual \
  --source /var/www/app \
  --pattern "**/*.js" \
  --pattern "**/*.ts" \
  --pattern "!**/node_modules/**" \
  --local-path /backups

Docker Volumes

backitup backup -s manual \
  --docker-volume postgres_data \
  --docker-volume redis_data \
  --local-path /backups

Docker Volumes with Container Stop

For data consistency (especially with databases), stop containers before backup:

# Stop containers before backup, restart after
backitup backup -s manual \
  --docker-volume postgres_data \
  --stop-containers \
  --local-path /backups

# With custom timeout and retries
backitup backup -s manual \
  --docker-volume postgres_data \
  --stop-containers \
  --stop-timeout 60 \
  --restart-retries 5 \
  --local-path /backups

S3-Compatible Storage (MinIO, R2)

# MinIO
backitup backup -s manual \
  --source /data \
  --s3-bucket backups \
  --s3-endpoint http://localhost:9000 \
  --s3-access-key-id minioadmin \
  --s3-secret-access-key minioadmin

# Cloudflare R2
backitup backup -s manual \
  --source /data \
  --s3-bucket my-bucket \
  --s3-endpoint https://ACCOUNT_ID.r2.cloudflarestorage.com \
  --s3-access-key-id YOUR_ACCESS_KEY \
  --s3-secret-access-key YOUR_SECRET_KEY

Full Example

backitup backup -s manual \
  --database /var/lib/backitup/db.sqlite \
  --source /var/www/app \
  --source /etc/nginx \
  --pattern "**/*.conf" \
  --pattern "**/*.js" \
  --pattern "!**/node_modules/**" \
  --local-path /mnt/backups \
  --s3-bucket company-backups \
  --s3-prefix "server-01/" \
  --s3-region eu-west-1 \
  --retention-count 7 \
  --retention-days 30 \
  --archive-prefix "server01" \
  --compression 9

Error Handling

If you run without a config file and don't provide sufficient options:

✖ No config file found and inline options are insufficient:
  - At least one --source or --docker-volume is required when running without a config file
  - At least one storage destination is required: --local-path or --s3-bucket

ℹ Either create a config file or provide required inline options.
ℹ Required: --source (or --docker-volume) AND (--local-path or --s3-bucket)

Defaults

When running in config-free mode, these defaults apply:

Setting Default
Database path ./backitup.db
Archive prefix backitup
Compression 6
Retention count 10
Retention days 30
Verify before delete true

Supported Commands

Inline config options work with:

  • backitup backup - Full support including config-free mode
  • backitup start - Override mode only (requires config file for schedules)

See Also