Using in Windows + SFTP

[cristian-spiescu]

Hi there!

I found this piece of software = npbackup, which seems really interesting. I'm trying to use it to replace my current .bat files. I have 2 questions

1/ I assume many options from the GUI map to restic command line options. Is there a way to see the command line that is generated based on the input from the GUI? It may help.

2/ Using from windows + FTP: I understand it doesn't work out of the box. Hence my command line looks like this:

restic -o sftp.command="plink -s -l ??? -pw ??? -P ??? myserver.com sftp" -r sftp:host:/some-path -p password.txt ...

What are the corresponding settings for this in npbackup?

Thanks!

[deajan]

1. Indeed. Run with --debug to see what actually happens.
2. That's what additional_parameters is supposed to solve

Keep me posted if you need more control on parameters.

[cristian-spiescu]

Thanks for the info :)

1/ I don't understand. I ran w/ --debug, and I have this output:

2023-11-18 20:54:59,847 :: DEBUG :: Command ""C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Temp\onefile_30172_133448107262900131\npbackup\restic.exe" init --repository-version 2 --compression auto" returned with exit code "1". Command output was:
2023-11-18 20:54:59,847 :: DEBUG :: STDOUT: subprocess ssh: ssh: Could not resolve hostname host: No such host is known.

Fatal: create repository at sftp:host:/bla-bla failed: unable to start the sftp session, error: EOF

The command line of the restic executable is just init --repository-version 2 --compression auto, cf. output. But this cannot be true. The command complains about not being able to find the URL. So how does restic know the URL? I would have expected to see in the command line: -r sftp:....

[cristian-spiescu]

2/ adding something in additional_parameters => I don't see them neither in the console output

[cristian-spiescu]

Any idea what I'm doing wrong, cf. my replies above?

[deajan]

Sorry, yes I totally see what the problem is.
Additionnal parameters are given to backup execution, but not to init step.
Do you run the pre-built executables or the python version ?
I can make a quick fix for the python version if you can test it, than I can rebuild the executables.

[cristian-spiescu]

I am currently using the executable version, in Win. But I can switch to python mode. I guess I need to:

• install python
• pip install npbackup

Regarding:

tkinter via yum install python-tkinter or apt install python3-tk.

I'm under the impression that the python installer proposes them already.

[deajan]

You won't need to install tkinter on Windows since the official builds already include it ;)
Pretty straightforward, download latest python from python.org, install to let's say c:\python311 and decompress npbackup sources to let's say c:\npbackup

Then

cd c:\NPBACKUP
c:\python311\python.exe -m venv venv
c:\NPBACKUP\venv\scripts\python.exe -m pip install -r c:\npbackup\requirements.txt
SET PYTHONPATH=c:\npbackup
c:\NPBACKUP\venv\scripts\python.exe bin\npbackup

I can make a fix until tomorrow for this on a separate git branch.

[cristian-spiescu]

Thanks. I cloned the repo, and performed the instructions. The program complained that it didn't found restic. It appears that it needs to see the restic.exe file in one among some specific locations. In my case, it was installed via scoop. So it was available in PATH, but not there where npbackup wanted it.

So I downloaded the restic.exe binary and copied it. At version 0.16.2. Is this OK? Or should I download a specific version?

I can make a fix until tomorrow for this on a separate git branch.

Super. I'll give it a try asap.

Next, if everything works, I'm thinking in maybe contributing somehow our stuff that we have in our scripts:

• make snapshot for LVM volumes
• send message to healthchecks.io

[deajan]

Any restic version from 0.13 to 0.16.2 will do.
I also have a wrapper script for npbackup which handles qcow2 disk snapshots that I can share if needed.
How about healthchecks.io ? Aren't the prometheus metrics sufficient ?

PS: currently giving some love to another of my repos, I will probably have a fix up at the end of the weekend ;)

[cristian-spiescu]

How about healthchecks.io ? Aren't the prometheus metrics sufficient ?

For more "consumer" type users, I find this easier to use. Using prometheus, requires a "pro-user", that has already setup a prometheus infrastructure and associated processes. We have this for our apps. But for the backup, I started w/ healthchecks for my personal laptop, and I didn't want to migrate.

PS: currently giving some love to another of my repos, I will probably have a fix up at the end of the weekend ;)

Sure; no problem.

[deajan]

@cristian-spiescu I've uploaded branch urgent-fixes with a couple of hotfixes, including the one I intend for the SFTP usecase, which was introduced trying to resolve another bug. Mind giving it a try ?

[deajan]

Any updates on this ?

[cristian-spiescu]

I'm really sorry. Somehow I missed the notifications.

Thanks a lot for the commit.

I think I can find some time this week.

[deajan]

No problem.
Anyway, I'm mostly at the end of a major rewrite of NPBackup, that changes all the under the hood management, as well as overall UX.
If you have any issues with current implementation, let me know so I can get next one right ;)

[cristian-spiescu]

Hi @deajan,

W/ a bit of delay 🙂, I restarted the project of using npbackup. It seems that since quite a while there is default ssh support. Leveraging that, I could connect to the sftp repo w/o using additional params (plink ...).

I'd have a small piece of advice. I'm observing that this discussion post (and others as well) are closed. Actually, I didn't even know that discussions are closable (like issues). I would suggest not to close the discussions. Searching will be easier for people.

[deajan]

@cristian-spiescu Sounds like a good piece of advice to me.
Feel free to open other issues / discussions if needed.