If I want to backup critical files ...

[gert4git]

Hello All,

I'm in the deployment phase of RPI4 with allsky.

One thing I want to do is to put a backup 'rsync' script into crontab that saves critical allsky stuff to another RPI on my network. But what are the files / folders to rsync? Any suggestions?

Goal is that once this RPI has been hit by lightning and is turned into a molten blob, I buy a new one, flash the SD card with OS and allsky, and then what???

Thanks & Clear Skies,
Gert

[EricClaeys]

Assuming you are on the latest Allsky and have the disk space, you can backup ~/allsky.
That gets all the configuration files, darks, images, and Allsky source files.
After a meltdown, copy that directory to ~ on the new Pi and then cd; mv allsky allsky-OLD and install the latest Allsky release using the regular instructions.

If there is anything in /opt/allsky, save and restore it as well. Those would be any modules you installed.

If Rsync is constantly syncing, then don't back up ~/allsky/tmp. All the files there are temporary and deleted every reboot.

The above is what I'd call the "brute force" method.

If you want to be more "surgical" just back up files Allsky writes to:

• ~/allsky/config
• ~/allsky/images if you want to be able to restore your images
• ~/allsky/darks if there's anything there.
• /opt/allsky

Keep in mind those are only the Allsky files.

I also make a backup of files in my HOME directory since it contains programs I wrote as well as Linux configuration files like .profile, .bashrc, and others.

I don't know where Linux stores settings like screen size, background colors, font sizes in the terminal editor, and a gazillion other changes we make to personalize our machines. If I knew where they were I would back them up.

Eric

[gert4git]

Thank you for the detailed info!

The rsync is incremental, so once the first backup was run it will only transmit the changes. Very light weight.

One follow-up. I assume ~/allsky/config is where my settings are stored? Thus if my intention is to copy my configs locally to my /home on the RPI (maybe other user account) just for safe keeping before I try adventurous things in the config screen, is that what I should do? Let's say I've done some garbage changes in the settings and want to revert back to my save known-good config. Will I just copy back the ~/allsky/config ??

Cheers,
Gert

[EricClaeys]

I suggest not backing up allsky/tmp. Just seems "cleaner" not to include junk.

Is your follow up question related to the rsync backups?

You are correct that settings are in ~/allsky/config, although I just remembered ~/allsky/env.json contains private settings for remote Websites and servers. It's in ~/allsky because the Pi webserver can't get to it, for security.

The settings you see in the "Allsky Settings" page are in config/settings.json and env.json. if those are the only settings you are going to change, you can copy those 2 files somewhere else, then restore those files in case of screwup.
I do this often.
Some things to consider:

1. I suggest first running cd; mkdir saved_configs (or any name you want)
2. Always copy the settings files there.
3. Don't use a separate account on the Pi - at some point you'll get a "Permission denied" message.
4. MOST IMPORTANT: settings.json is the generic name of the file that contains settings. It is linked to a file that contains the brand and model of camera in its name. If you have multiple cameras, each will have its own settings file. The settings.json file will be linked the currently active camera's settings file. It's important not to break that link. To see what I mean run ls -l ~/allsky/config/*settings*.

FYI, we plan to implement a backup / restore mechanism in a future release - see #3452
Not sure if in the next release or the one after that.