Setup Urbackup server on Ubuntu

Overview

The following post will showcase the steps how to setup Urbackup server on Ubuntu. By this we mean that we’ll be install Urbackup server on Ubuntu and also, we’ll show to add a client on the server and how to run a backup job.

UrBackup is an Open Source client/server backup system, that through a combination of image and file backups features, differential backups and other tools can do various backup jobs while the system is running without interrupting current processes.

Urbackup  is managed through a web interface and the files can be restored through the web interface as well, via the client or the Windows Explorer while the backups of drive volumes can be restored with a bootable CD or USB-Stick (bare metal restore).

Small side note: Besides this method, we also covered the procedure how to install Urbackup server using Docker(Deploy it as a Docker container). You can check it out on this POST.

How to setup Urbackup server on Ubuntu

Urbackup server can be installed with two methods – via the official repository and by downloading and installing the binary package file. We’re going to cover both of these methods.

Install Urbackup server on Ubuntu via repository

For Ubuntu there are two repositories you can use to Urbackup server, the PPA repository and the Opensuse service repository. To install Urbackup via the PPA, run the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:uroni/urbackup
sudo apt update
sudo apt install urbackup-server

Please note, on the Urbackup site, it is stated that some server releases may not be available on the PPA repo and if that ever happens, then use the Opensuse service repo to install Urbackup.

In order to to install Urbackup server on Ubuntu via the Opensuse service repositories, run the following commands in the terminal:

echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/uroni/xUbuntu_20.04/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:uroni.list
curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:uroni/xUbuntu_20.04/Release.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home_uroni.gpg > /dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt install urbackup-server

The commands require curl and gpg tools to be installed on your Ubuntu server, so don’t surprised if you get errors that the commands are not found. If that happens, just install both of tools with apt and run the commands from above again and it will work:

sudo apt install gpg curl

The installation may take a while and during the installation the urbackup server will ask for a default directory to use to store files. It will suggest a default one which urbackup uses or you can add one which you want to use. After that prompt, the installation will complete automatically.

The Urbackup server should start automatically after the installation and the web dashboard should be accessible in web browser via the IP address of the Ubuntu server.

Install Urbackup server on Ubuntu using the binary package file

This install process is pretty simple. Download the binary package from their site, open the terminal and navigate to the download location and run the following command to install the Urbackup server:

sudo dpkg-i urbackup-server-2.4\*.deb

Accessing the Urbackup web dashboard and adding clients

The Urbackup server dashboard can be accessed via the web browser on the 54414 port number. If you’re using a firewall on your Ubuntu and is active, you’ll need to open port on the firewall, otherwise the dashboard won’t be accessible.

Open port on UFW

ufw allow 55414

Open port on iptables

iptables -A INPUT -d tcp --dport 55414 -j ACCEPT

iptables -I INPUT -d tcp --dport 55414 -j ACCEPT

You’ll be greeted with the admin dashboard:

In order to create the backup jobs, we need to add clients and connect them with the server.

Installing the Urbackup client

To install the Urbackup client on any of the supported distros, we can just run this command and it will install the client automatically:

TF=$(mktemp) && wget "https://hndl.urbackup.org/Client/2.4.11/UrBackup%20Client%20Linux%202.4.11.sh" -O $TF && sudo sh $TF; rm -f $TF

The Urbackup client should start automatically right away after the installation process is complete:

Once the Urbackup client is installed, on the server dashboard menu click on the option add new client. New setup screen will open where it will ask you the client information. Choose the second the option – Discover the new client via IP/ hostname. This option is to add the client that is within your local network(or LAN) and it will scan your local network to find the network.

It can find the client via IP address and with the hostname of the device/PC you want to backup. To find the IP address and the hostname of a Linux device, use these commands:

ip a

hostname

If your device doesn’t have a static IP address – in other words, acquires an IP address from the DCHP in your local network, that means the IP address will change over time on your device. For this scenario it is then better to add the client device on the Urbackup server with the hostname. That way the Urbackup can scan the device and discover each time as long it’s in the local network. Other option is just simply to set an IP address on your device.

After you add the client, Urbackup server will automatically return to the homepage and in the middle of the dashboard will be a list of client and there should be your device. Picture bellow as example:

On the left side of the list, left from the computer name, there’s a dropdown menu of backup jobs to run. You can do a file level backup, backup an entire machine as snapshot and so on…

Summary

We covered the steps on how to setup Urbackup server on Ubuntu. For those who prefer the client/server backup model, this is a very good open-source backup solution. The best thing about it, when the backup jobs are running it’s almost seamless on you don’t notice it on the client machine that it’s running a backup. Apart from that, it supports many platforms and you can run it almost anywhere(on a dedicated linux host, on a NAS appliance sunc as QNAP and Synology, you can deploy on Docker and etc.)

The only downside of it, is that it requires extra resources to run it – meaning, you need a separate dedicated machine to install the urbackup(a seperate PC in your LAN, a Cloud VPS, a NAS device, virtual machine etc) and have it running as the server in order to backup your devices. But still a great solution…

Thank you very much for your time…