freedombonee/backups.org

#+TITLE:
#+AUTHOR: Bob Mottram
#+EMAIL: bob@robotics.uk.to
#+KEYWORDS: freedombox, debian, beaglebone, red matrix, email, web server, home server, internet, censorship, surveillance, social network, irc, jabber
#+DESCRIPTION: Turn the Beaglebone Black into a personal communications server
#+OPTIONS: ^:nil
#+BEGIN_CENTER
[[./images/logo.png]]
#+END_CENTER

#+BEGIN_CENTER
#+ATTR_HTML: :border -1
| [[file:index.html][Home]]                |
| Backup to USB       |
| Restore from USB    |
| Distributed backups |
|                     |
#+END_CENTER

* Backup to USB
Insert a USB thumb drive into the front socket of the Beaglebone Black.

Log into the system and become the root user, then run the /backup/ command.

#+BEGIN_SRC bash
su username@domainname -p 2222
su
backup
#+END_SRC

You will be prompted for your GPG key password a couple of times.

When the backup ends remove the USB drive and keep it somewhere safe. Even if it gets lost or falls into the wrong hands the content is encrypted and so is unlikely to become a source of leaks.
* Restore from USB
Insert the USB thumb drive containing your backup into the front socket of the Beaglebone Black.

Log into the system and become the root user, then run the /restore/ command.

#+BEGIN_SRC bash
su username@domainname -p 2222
su
restore
#+END_SRC

When the restore is complete you can remove the USB drive.
* Distributed backups
Distributed backups are a better way of ensuring the persistence of your data, such that even if your system gets stolen or destroyed then the data will still be recoverable from your friends. Since the backups are encrypted your friends (or anyone else with access to their systems) won't be able to read your backed up content even if their systems are subsequently compromised.

Firstly you will need to have a user account on one or more of your friends servers.  They don't necessarily need to be using Freedombone, just some version of GNU/Linux with ssh access.  They can create a user account for you with the *adduser <username>* command when logged in as root and then give you the username and password via a secure method, such as on paper or via an encrypted email or via an XMPP chat using OTR. Make sure that the password used is a strong one - preferably a long random string stored in a password manager - so that dictionary attacks will fail. Also for maximum resilience put your password manager file onto a USB thumb drive and carry it with you.

To add friends servers create a file called /backup.list/ in the following way.

#+BEGIN_SRC bash
ssh username@domainname -p 2222
emacs ~/backup.list
#+END_SRC

Add entries like this. The numbers are the ssh port number to log in on.

#+BEGIN_SRC bash
username1@frienddomain1:2222//home/username1 ssh_password1
username2@frienddomain2:2222//home/username2 ssh_password2
...
#+END_SRC

Save and exit with *CTRL-x CTRL-s* then *CTRL-x CTRL-c*, then type *exit*.

The system will try to backup to these remote locations once per day.
* Restore from a friend
** With a completely new Freedombone installation
This is the ultimate disaster recovery scenario in which you are beginning completely from scratch with new hardware and a new Freedombone installation. It is assumed that the old hardware was destroyed, but that you have the passwords stored within a password manager on a USB thumb drive.

First log in and create a new friends list:

#+BEGIN_SRC bash
ssh username@domainname -p 2222
emacs ~/backup.list
#+END_SRC

Add entries like this. The numbers are the ssh port number to log in on.

#+BEGIN_SRC bash
username1@frienddomain1:2222//home/username1 ssh_password1
username2@frienddomain2:2222//home/username2 ssh_password2
...
#+END_SRC

Save and exit with *CTRL-x CTRL-s* then *CTRL-x CTRL-c*.

Now log in as root and edit the restore script.

#+BEGIN_SRC bash
su
emacs /usr/bin/restorefromfriend
#+END_SRC

Recover your backup password from your password manager and set the PASSPHRASE variable accordingly.

Save and exit with *CTRL-x CTRL-s* and *CTRL-x CTRL-c*.

Then use the command:

#+BEGIN_SRC bash
restorefromfriend <friends server domain name>
#+END_SRC
** On an existing Freedombone installation
This is for more common situations in which maybe some data became corrupted and you want to restore it.

Log in as root:

#+BEGIN_SRC bash
ssh username@domainname -p 2222
su
#+END_SRC

Then use the command:

#+BEGIN_SRC bash
restorefromfriend <friends server domain name>
#+END_SRC