Backup to iDrive possible?

markgca

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Currently deploying FreeNAS to replace several ReadyNAS and Qnap boxes. ReadyNAS is now gone, currently working on Qnap, but ran into a small snag; FreeNAS doesnt seem to support iDrive (while Qnap does).
Is there any particular reason for this? Or am i missing something? i did some searches but cant find any tutorials about iDrive and FreeNAS, and iDrive support says they dont support FreeNAS (but maybe someone else has a plugin or tutorial that i cant find).

so do i need to change to another backup service? for now im syncing data from FreeNAS to the Qnap and backing up to iDrive from there, but that is not a good long term solution.

thanks

mark
 

danb35

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FreeNAS uses rclone for its cloud storage, and rclone doesn't support iDrive (I see some discussion on the rclone forum requesting this feature, but it isn't there now). Another popular backup system (that can easily be installed in a jail) is Duplicati, but it also doesn't support iDrive. The best deal I know of for cloud backup is Google Drive--with a business account ($10/mo), they'll provide unlimited storage. They say that the unlimited storage is only available with at least five users on one account, but anecdotally, even a single user gets that feature.
 

sretalla

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It may be more interesting to understand if iDrive provides a linux or BSD client, since the encryption key is client side.

If either of those options are available, a jail or VM would get the job done.

EDIT: first google hit from their site shows that it can be done in Linux with scripts that will probably also work in FreeBSD/FreeNAS... https://www.idrivedownloads.com/downloads/linux/download-for-linux/IDriveForLinux.zip
Now just needs somebody to see if they can follow the steps and get it set.
 

danb35

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It looks like they do:

It looks like the "Linux scripts" are all Perl scripts, which of course would run just fine under FreeBSD as well.
Edit: More about the scripts:

They list a requirement of "Linux", but unless there are some binaries in with that bundle, there's no reason that would be. And taking a quick look through the downloaded bundle, not only are there no binaries, there appears to be explicit FreeBSD support (in the form of a rc script). Seems it should run fine in a jail with Perl; it would probably even run in the base system since it's just a set of scripts (the only question would be whether it really needs the rc script).
 
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markgca

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Thanks for the info; i asked iDrive and they didnt mention the linux option.
downloaded the scripts, and should be testing it shortly.
 

anodos

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One thing to be aware of when using cloud providers for file-based backups is that they may not preserve file metadata (ACLs, xattrs, etc). This may or may not be relevant to your particular needs / workflow, but it's something to keep an eye out for if you use applications that rely on things like resource forks to store application-specific metadata.
 

markgca

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One thing to be aware of when using cloud providers for file-based backups is that they may not preserve file metadata (ACLs, xattrs, etc). This may or may not be relevant to your particular needs / workflow, but it's something to keep an eye out for if you use applications that rely on things like resource forks to store application-specific metadata.

The cloud is a hail mary backup in case of a fire, hurricane, something catastrophic. I hope i never need it, but then i hope i never need any backup....Thats why the latest boxes use RaidZ3 replicated to another RaidZ3 pool AND an rsync backup to a Raid6 box.
If all those fail, matadata loss will be the least of my concerns...unless i dont understand the magnitude of what you pointed out. Then again, what other options do i have for off site storage.
 

danb35

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markgca

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You could always do ZFS replication to rsync.net. Expensive though.
cant afford that, ill see if i can follow directions and get the scripts working. for now im rsycing to the qnap (2nd backup) and letting it manage it
 

igrehs

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Thanks for the info; i asked iDrive and they didnt mention the linux option.
downloaded the scripts, and should be testing it shortly.

Did you manage to make it work? Here it stucks preparing the file list.
 

markgca

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Did you manage to make it work? Here it stucks preparing the file list.
its next on my list; i got rsync straightened out for one backup, working on replication now for a pool copy (having lots of issues with that). then ill get this up, probably this next week. i'll post here
 

nmosterhaus

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I previously had the IDrive scripts working well in a jail for the past 1-2 years, but have recently had issues with the IDrive dashboard service stopping frequently. I believe I started having issues after updating using the check_for_updates.pl script. Since then, I see the preparing file list status using Status_Retrieval_Script.pl or on the web dashboard. If our baby liked to go to bed earlier, I probably would have kept track of the the script version and FreeNAS version I started to notice the issue, but that wasn't the case.
 

nmosterhaus

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I just updated the IDrive script to v2.27 a few days ago and it seems to be closer to working. I'm now getting daily emails with a backup summary, which I would get prior to the last script update. It still seems that the dashboard service stops running randomly so I'll probably need to open a ticket with IDrive on that.
 

Heracles

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Then again, what other options do i have for off site storage.

Ask a friend or a family member for deploying a second server at their place. They will even be able to put their own data in that server and you replicate between both servers, so both end up with offsite backups. Win - Win solution...
 

Wesche

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Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I was wanting to use iDrive to do this as well. Were you ever able to get this working reliably? I just built my FreeNAS server 7 or so days ago. Been using NetApp the past few years at work but it has been fun to learn this as well for my home lab.
 

achmetinternet

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Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I was wanting to use iDrive to do this as well. Were you ever able to get this working reliably? I just built my FreeNAS server 7 or so days ago. Been using NetApp the past few years at work but it has been fun to learn this as well for my home lab.
I am also interested, especially because iDrive just has an incredible deal for 5TB out. Less than 4USD/year!!!

And on a sidenote: does B2 from Backblaze support/preserve ACL and other metadata? I am using them now since they are built-in with FreeNAS...uhm...TrueNAS :)
 

achmetinternet

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Does that mean my files are stripped of their ACL and when Backblaze sends me HDD containing my backup-content, anyone could plug them in and read it?
 

anodos

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Does that mean my files are stripped of their ACL and when Backblaze sends me HDD containing my backup-content, anyone could plug them in and read it?
Well, root always can bypass ACLs once the filesystem is mounted. This is one of the reasons why encryption is a thing for protecting from physical access when server is powered off. The point is that you will most likely have to reconfigure permissions after receiving the drive. Depending on context this may not be a big deal (home user) or may be a very big deal (enterprise user with complex ACLs).
 
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