History: TRIM and Syncthing for automated offsite backups

Use case: I have some Tiki instances on ClearOS and I want automatic backups of different Tiki instances to various local computers for safekeeping. These are high level instructions as to how to combine TRIM and Syncthing to do so.

At a high level:

1. TRIM (installed on the same server) will make automated backups of each site to a distinct folder
2. Syncthing will copy each folder to one or many devices. These Tikis are for distinct projects/customers so you want flexibility on what to send where.

ClearOS as a web host

Install each Tiki as a distinct website using sub-domains: How to set up websites on ClearOS

Good:
example.org
example.com
projecta.example.org
projectb.example.org

Bad:
example.org/projecta/
example.org/projectb/

Setup TRIM

Install TRIM in /var/local/trim as per https://doc.tiki.org/TRIM#How_to_download_and_use

Use TRIM to make instances, or adopt them

• Use local with these instructions: How to install Tiki with TRIM

Configure TRIM to backup your Tiki instances

https://doc.tiki.org/TRIM#make_backup

The TRIM archive folders have the following pattern:

• /var/local/trim/backup/archive/1-example.org/
• /var/local/trim/backup/archive/2-example.com/
• etc.

Check that your backup is OK, and move on to the next step

Set up automatic backups

TRIM will make the backups and also has a retention cycle (keep last 7 days, last 4 weeks and once per month forever)

Of all the instances

https://doc.tiki.org/TRIM#To_setup_automated_backups

For just one of the instances

[root@trimclient trim]# echo 3 | make backup
bash scripts/backup.sh php -d memory_limit=256M
php
which: no cpulimit in (/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin)
dont use cpulimit
Default editor used (nano). You can change the EDITOR environment variable.
Default diff used (diff). You can change the DIFF environment variable.
Note: Backups are only available on SSH instances.

Which instances do you want to backup?
[2] vv.wikisuite.org                                           m@example.org
[3] ii.wikisuite.org                                           your@example.org
Performing backup for ii.wikisuite.org
Downloading files locally.
RSYNC Return var: 0
Obtaining database dump.
Creating archive.
Return var: 0

echo '0 0 * * * pushd /root/trim/ && echo 3 | make backup &&  popd' > /etc/cron.d/trim-ii.wikisuite.org-backup

Install Syncthing

On the server

• How to install Syncthing on ClearOS

On your laptop

• Install Syncthing for your local computer: https://docs.syncthing.net/intro/getting-started.html#installing

Setup Syncthing

• Connect the devices and setup shared folders as per https://docs.syncthing.net/intro/getting-started.html

Make sure Syncthing automatically restarts when you reboot so that you have unattended automatic backups. Just reboot to see if it's OK. If not, you need to look up the documentation for your Operating System.

Configuring Syncthing for your Tiki archive folder

You archives will be in something like /var/local/trim/backup/archive/1-example.org/: so sync that folder with your local computer.

Setting up Syncthing for backups

Syncthing by default is set two sync multiple folders so they get to the exact same set of files and folders. So if you delete a file in one folder, the deletion is propagated. In the contexts of backups, this could cause issues. Ex.: one the devices runs out of space, and its user decides to clear out old backups. Then, all devices would lose the old backups. The solution is the set Folder Type to "Send Only"

The other thing that could happen: The master server is compromised and the backups are corrupted. Then, all the devices would receive the corrupted data which replaces the valid data. The solution here is to set https://docs.syncthing.net/users/versioning.htmlFile Versioning. Recommended setting is "Staggered"

Because the master server is set to "Send Only", there is no point in setting to "Staggered" (It doesn't receive any data, and thus doesn't need versioning).