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Restic & Autorestic Backup Management Guide

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for managing backups stored in Backblaze B2 using Restic and Autorestic. It covers how to check snapshots, delete snapshots, prune old backups, and other useful commands.

Install autorestic:

sudo wget -qO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cupcakearmy/autorestic/master/install.sh | bash

 

1. Checking Existing Snapshots

To list all snapshots stored in your Backblaze B2 repository, run:

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups snapshots

Example Output:

ID        Time                 Host        Tags                                 Paths                                                  Size
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
80d2af5c  2025-03-11 12:44:05  mac-omen    ar:location:ansible_semaphore-mysql  /var/lib/docker/volumes/ansible_semaphore-mysql/_data  213.160 MiB
b7ca284a  2025-03-11 12:47:44  mac-omen    ar:location:ansible_semaphore-mysql  /var/lib/docker/volumes/ansible_semaphore-mysql/_data  213.160 MiB

📌 Key Information:

  • ID is the unique snapshot identifier.
  • Time is when the snapshot was taken.
  • Paths show the data stored in the snapshot.

To check snapshots for a specific volume:

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups snapshots --path /var/lib/docker/volumes/ansible_semaphore-mysql/_data

2. Deleting Snapshots

To delete a specific snapshot, use its ID:

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups forget 80d2af5c

To delete multiple snapshots:

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups forget b7ca284a 80d2af5c

📌 Note: This removes the snapshot reference but does not free space immediately.

3. Pruning Old Backups to Free Space

After deleting snapshots, run:

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups prune

📌 This permanently removes unreferenced data, freeing storage space in Backblaze B2.

To check available space after pruning:

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups stats

4. Automating Backup Cleanup (Retention Policy)

Instead of manually deleting snapshots, configure Autorestic to manage them automatically. In .autorestic.yml, add:

locations:
  ansible_semaphore-mysql:
    forget: prune
    options:
      forget:
        keep-daily: 7
        keep-weekly: 4
        keep-monthly: 12

Then enforce the retention policy with

5. Restoring Snapshots

To restore data from a snapshot:

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups restore 80d2af5c --target /restore/path

If the volume was deleted, recreate it first:

docker volume create ansible_semaphore-mysql

Then restore:

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups restore 80d2af5c --target /var/lib/docker/volumes/ansible_semaphore-mysql/_data

6. Managing Repositories

Creating a New Repository

To initialize a new Restic repository in Backblaze B2:

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups init

You will be prompted to set a repository password. Keep this password safe, as it is required for restoring data.

Deleting a Repository

To delete an entire repository and all backups:

Delete the repo manually is the easiest way

📌 Warning: This permanently deletes all backups. Use with caution.

Editing a Repository (Changing Password)

To change the repository encryption password:

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups change-password

7. Additional Useful Commands

Check Repository Integrity

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups check

Verify Snapshot Integrity

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups check --read-data

List Backup Statistics

restic -r b2:Macslodge:/docker-backups stats

Manually Run Backup

autorestic backup -a

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