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start

Start the backup scheduler daemon. This runs BackItUp as a long-running process that executes backups according to your configured schedules.

Usage

backitup start [OPTIONS]

Options

Option Short Description
--config <path> -c Path to config file (default: ./backitup.config.yaml)
--verbose -v Enable verbose logging
--help -h Show help message

Inline Config Options

Override or provide configuration without a config file:

Option Description
--database <path> Database file path
--source <path> Source path to backup (repeatable)
--pattern <glob> Glob pattern for filtering files (repeatable)
--local-path <path> Local storage directory
--no-local Disable local storage
--s3-bucket <name> S3 bucket name
--s3-prefix <prefix> S3 key prefix
--s3-region <region> S3 region
--s3-endpoint <url> S3-compatible endpoint URL
--s3-access-key-id <key> S3 access key ID
--s3-secret-access-key <key> S3 secret access key
--no-s3 Disable S3 storage
--retention-count <n> Maximum backups to keep
--retention-days <n> Maximum days to retain backups
--archive-prefix <str> Archive filename prefix
--compression <0-9> Compression level (default: 6)
--verify-before-delete Verify checksums before cleanup
--no-verify-before-delete Skip checksum verification
--docker Enable Docker volume backups
--no-docker Disable Docker volume backups
--docker-volume <name> Docker volume to backup (repeatable)

How It Works

  1. Reads configuration - Loads schedules from config file or inline options
  2. Initializes scheduler - Sets up cron jobs for each schedule
  3. Runs continuously - Executes backups when schedules trigger
  4. Auto cleanup - Runs retention cleanup after each backup
  5. Graceful shutdown - Handles SIGINT/SIGTERM signals

Cron Format

Schedules use standard 5-field cron format:

┌───────────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0-6, Sunday=0)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Common Patterns

Pattern Description
0 * * * * Every hour at minute 0
0 2 * * * Daily at 2:00 AM
0 3 * * 0 Weekly on Sunday at 3:00 AM
0 4 1 * * Monthly on 1st at 4:00 AM
*/15 * * * * Every 15 minutes
0 */6 * * * Every 6 hours

Examples

Basic Usage

# Start with default config
backitup start

# Start with specific config file
backitup start -c /etc/backitup/config.yaml

# Start with verbose logging
backitup start -v

Config-Free Mode

Run without a config file (Note: schedules from config are required for the daemon):

# Override storage settings
backitup start --source /data --local-path /backups --s3-bucket my-bucket

# Override S3 region
backitup start --s3-region eu-west-1

Note: Config-free mode for start still requires a config file with schedule definitions. Inline options override storage and source settings.

Output

◆  backitup scheduler
│
│  Configured schedules:
│    hourly       0 * * * *       next: 1/15/2024, 3:00:00 PM
│    daily        0 2 * * *       next: 1/16/2024, 2:00:00 AM
│    weekly       0 3 * * 0       next: 1/21/2024, 3:00:00 AM
│
✔  Scheduler is running
│
ℹ  Press Ctrl+C to stop

Running as a Service

Docker

docker run -d --name backitup \
  -v ./config:/config:ro \
  -v ./data:/data \
  -v ./backups:/backups \
  ghcr.io/climactic/backitup:latest start

Docker Compose

services:
  backitup:
    image: ghcr.io/climactic/backitup:latest
    command: start
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config:ro
      - ./data:/data
      - ./backups:/backups
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock  # For volume backups
    environment:
      - S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-key
      - S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret
    restart: unless-stopped

systemd

# /etc/systemd/system/backitup.service
[Unit]
Description=BackItUp Scheduler
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/backitup start -c /etc/backitup/config.yaml
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl enable backitup
sudo systemctl start backitup
sudo systemctl status backitup

PM2

pm2 start backitup -- start -c /path/to/config.yaml
pm2 save

Logging

The scheduler logs backup activity:

  • INFO - Backup started/completed, schedule triggers
  • WARN - Non-fatal issues (e.g., volumes in use)
  • ERROR - Backup failures, S3 errors

Use -v for debug-level logging.

See Also