pobsync/README.md

pobsync

pobsync is a pull-based backup tool that runs on a central backup server and pulls data from remote servers via rsync over SSH.

Key points:

• All backup data lives on the backup server.
• Snapshots are rsync-based and use hardlinking (--link-dest) for space efficiency.
• Designed for scheduled runs (cron) and manual runs.
• Minimal external dependencies (currently only PyYAML).

Requirements

On the backup server:

• Python 3
• rsync
• ssh
• SSH key-based access from the backup server to remotes

Canonical installation (no venv, repo used only for deployment)

This project uses a simple and explicit deployment model:

• The git clone is only used as a deployment input (and later for updates).
• Runtime code is deployed into /opt/pobsync/lib.
• The canonical entrypoint is /opt/pobsync/bin/pobsync.

Install

cd pobsync
sudo ./scripts/deploy --prefix /opt/pobsync

pobsync install --backup-root /mnt/backups/pobsync (install default configurations)
pobsync doctor (check if the installation was done correctly)

Update

cd /path/to/pobsync
git pull

sudo ./scripts/deploy --prefix /opt/pobsync
sudo /opt/pobsync/bin/pobsync doctor

Configuration

Global configuration is stored at:

• /opt/pobsync/config/global.yaml

Per-host configuration files are stored at:

• /opt/pobsync/config/hosts/.yaml

Some useful commands to get you started

Create a new host configuration:

pobsync init-host <host>

List configured remotes:

pobsync list-remotes

Inspect the effective configuration for a host:

pobsync show-config <host>

Running backups

Run a scheduled backup for a host:

pobsync run-scheduled <host>

Optionally apply retention pruning after the run:

pobsync run-scheduled <host> --prune

Scheduling (cron)

Create a cron schedule (writes into /etc/cron.d/pobsync by default):

pobsync schedule create <host> --daily 02:15 --prune

List existing schedules:

pobsync schedule list

Remove a schedule:

pobsync schedule remove <host>

Cron output is redirected to:

• /var/log/pobsync/.cron.log

Development (optional)

For development purposes you can still use an editable install, this is why pyproject.toml still exists:

python3 -m pip install -e .
pobsync --help

For production use, always use the canonical entrypoint:

/opt/pobsync/bin/pobsync