Data backup in the cloud with Duplicati
Exclusive
When you reach the Edit Filters dialog, you finally can exclude directories or files from the backup or define individual filters. The two options are to include files matching the filter (press the plus icon) or to exclude files matching the filter (press the minus icon). Along with the input line for a manual description of the filter, a button is provided for loading a predefined filter from a file, as well for directly selecting includable or excludable directories using a file picker.
You also can formulate manual filters and use conventional wildcard matching. To do so, select the Wildcard matching option to tell Duplicati to interpret the input line as a regular expression. The filter help link provides more information on filters and matching regular expressions as online help [5]. Internally, the program always uses regular expressions.
Assuming you enabled all the options previously, in the next step (Override settings), you can customize a large number of the settings and parameters, including the policies [6] mentioned previously. Each option is enabled by checking the box in the Enable column. You can fill in the cells of the Value column individually; at the bottom of the screen, the wizard explains in detail, for each of the parameters, the available types and legal values (Figure 5).
In the final step, the wizard displays all the settings again in the Summary tab in the Ready to Add Backup dialog. You can check Run backup now to start the backup immediately; otherwise, the scheduling settings that you configured will apply.
Press Finish to complete the backup job; Duplicati then waits for the next backup in the Waiting for Next Backup dialog. From here, you can access the wizard at any time by following the Duplicati Wizard link. Note that in the Command Line tab of the Ready to Add Backup dialog, the wizard displays the backup command as you would need to type it at the command line.
Control
Duplicati has a built-in scheduler. As long as the status dialog remains open or minimized, it is active. If you close the status dialog by pressing the close icon, then restart the program later via the menu or the command line, the program shows you the status dialog again with a message of Duplicati is currently paused, assuming that a backup job is queued.
If you then press the play button, a context menu appears; you can then choose to Resume the backup at any time or select a predefined interruption time (Pause period; Figure 6). Similarly, you can access the context menu in an active backup by clicking on the green icon. The status dialog also offers you a Quick actions combo box, through which you can stop or start the software.
Incidentally, after a restart, the status dialog automatically changes to the status Waiting for the next backup after five minutes, assuming that a job is queued. Following the Duplicati Options link takes you to the dialog with the settings.
You can adjust the Time to wait after startup in the Basic tab to suit your own needs. Here, you can select the user interface language and also take the opportunity to review and change some of the wizard's defaults, such as the encryption method and the password (Figure 7).
You can also change the limits in the Advanced tab. The S3 tab in the Options dialog shows you the credentials (AWS Access ID) that it has stored for the S3 storage service (Figure 8). Additionally, you can set the server name and the Bucket region code for the S3 back end in this dialog.
Conclusions
Version 1.34 of Duplicati turns out to be a powerful tool with many more features than you might think at first glance. The program is already near the top of the minor league with its support for LVM snapshots and VSS (under Windows) as well as numerous professional features – not least because it also offers it a very powerful command-line interface.
Another positive aspect is that Duplicati is a cross-platform product. Although the GUI is not exactly a highlight, newcomers might benefit from the simplicity it offers. The version for Linux, implemented using Mono and WinForms, clearly originated in the Windows world and suffers from gappy localization. Additionally, the numerous settings deserve a simpler interface than a serial wizard.
Easy-to-use cloud back ends made accessible by the GUI allow for fast and safe interim storage of all important data with your preferred cloud provider. Although the native clients offered by the providers would theoretically do the same thing, such an approach could compromise security.
Infos
- Duplicati: http://www.duplicati.com
- Download: http://www.duplicati.com/news/duplicati134available
- Cloud back ends: http://www.duplicati.com/howtos
- Installation: http://code.google.com/p/duplicati/wiki/LinuxHowto
- Filters: https://code.google.com/p/duplicati/wiki/FilterUsage
- Backing up open files: http://code.google.com/p/duplicati/wiki/HowToHandleOpenFiles
- Duplicati 2.0 trial version: http://www.duplicati.com/news/theduplicati20storageengineishere
« Previous 1 2
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
![Learn More](https://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/misc/learn-more/834592-1-eng-US/Learn-More_medium.png)
News
-
NVIDIA Released Driver for Upcoming NVIDIA 560 GPU for Linux
Not only has NVIDIA released the driver for its upcoming CPU series, it's the first release that defaults to using open-source GPU kernel modules.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 24.07 Released
If you’re into rolling release Linux distributions, OpenMandriva ROME has a new snapshot with a new kernel.
-
Kernel 6.10 Available for General Usage
Linus Torvalds has released the 6.10 kernel and it includes significant performance increases for Intel Core hybrid systems and more.
-
TUXEDO Computers Releases InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 Laptop
Sporting either AMD or Intel CPUs, the TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 is an extremely compact, lightweight, sturdy powerhouse.
-
Google Extends Support for Linux Kernels Used for Android
Because the LTS Linux kernel releases are so important to Android, Google has decided to extend the support period beyond that offered by the kernel development team.
-
Linux Mint 22 Stable Delayed
If you're anxious about getting your hands on the stable release of Linux Mint 22, it looks as if you're going to have to wait a bit longer.
-
Nitrux 3.5.1 Available for Install
The latest version of the immutable, systemd-free distribution includes an updated kernel and NVIDIA driver.
-
Debian 12.6 Released with Plenty of Bug Fixes and Updates
The sixth update to Debian "Bookworm" is all about security mitigations and making adjustments for some "serious problems."
-
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.