Hey folks, hope you're all doing well! If you've ever had to deal with backups, you know it can be a chore. Enter Restic — an excellent command-line tool for backups. But wouldn't it be nice to skip the bash scripting for simple projects? That's exactly why I decided to build Resticara over a weekend. I was working with a client and realized that both of us needed a more streamlined way to use Restic.
Simply put, Resticara is a wrappera around [Restic](https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/stable/020_installation.html) . If you're not yet acquainted with Restic, I highly recommend checking it out. But even though Restic is powerful, it can be cumbersome to use at times. That's where Resticara steps in. It provides an easy-to-use interface for Restic, aiming to make your backup process more straightforward.
Currently, it supports backup of directories and MySQL/MariaDB databases. PostgreSQL support is on the TODO and pull requests with more functionality will be highly appreciated!
## Simplicity
The configuration is made in a single INI file, no complex scripting involved. This is an example config:
```ini
[general]
; if hostID=hostname, the actual hostname of the machine will be shown
As the saying goes, a good system administrator should be lazy—in a smart way, of course! The idea is to reduce repetitive tasks to a minimum for maximum effectiveness. And what could be lazier, in the best sense of the word, than putting all your backup configurations in a single, straightforward INI file? No intricate scripts, no lengthy commands—just pure, unadulterated simplicity. It's also easier for automating with tools like Ansible!
## Reporting
As you see, Resticara already supports integrated reports through SMTP and it's pushing the logs to Syslog.
# Example usage with SystemD timers
First, install [Restic](https://restic.readthedocs.io) independently. Here is the official documentation: https://restic.readthedocs.io/en/stable/020_installation.html
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Then, install Resticara from an RPM or a DEB package or extract it from a ZIP. It can be downloaded from the [GitHub Releases page](https://github.com/VuteTech/Resticara/releases)
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Once the two packages are both installed. initialize the repositories with `restic init`. This functionality is not included inside Resticara. You might need some secrets given as ENV variables, depending on the cloud provider. For MySQL/MariaDB backups, the user which is running Resticara will also need credentials to the database. They must be set in the ~/.my.cnf file.
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When the repositories are initialized, configure them in `/etc/resticara/config.ini`, as it is described in the file.
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## SystemD setup
Create a service file config but don't enable it, it's not a daemon. The service will be triggered by the SystemD timer:
The required secrets will be stored in the service (RESTOC_PASSWORD is the key for encrypting the Restic repositoies). This might be not the best practice but it works for me for now.
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Create the timer configuration `/etc/systemd/system/resticara.timer`:
```
[Unit]
Description=Run Resticara twice daily
[Timer]
OnCalendar=*-*-* 12,18:00:00
Persistent=true
[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target
```
The current config will run the backup twice a day - at 12:00PM and 6:00PM. Also, you will need to enable the timer (Only the timer, not the service!):
```bash
systemctl enable resticara.timer
```
This is everyting for now. Any contributions welcome!
