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Linux (Other Distribution)

This is a distribution-agnostic package that can be used if eazyBackup does not have a more specific package available for your Linux distribution.

Please note that in order to avoid distribution-specific differences, the package does not automatically start on boot. You should configure your system to run the launch script in /opt/ on boot (e.g. via a systemd unit, upstart script, /etc/init.d/ script, or a line in init.rc).

System Requirements

  • CPU: x86_64, or x86_32 with SSE2, or ARM (see below)

  • Kernel 2.6.23 or later

  • Dependencies

    • bash, xz, GNU awk, and standard GNU/Linux system utilities

    • ca-certificates and tzdata (see below)

ARM CPU support

eazyBackup is available for multiple ARM platform variants. The eazyBackup installer will select the best available binary for your hardware at install-time.

Platform

Description

ARMv8l

ARM 64-bit (Aarch64), no glibc required

ARMv7l

ARM 32-bit with vfp, and a glibc-based OS with the "hard-float" ABI (gnueabihf)

ARMv6kl

ARM 32-bit with vfp, no glibc required

Timezone database dependency

eazyBackup on Linux requires the OS to provide an up-to-date timezone database, to perform timezone calculations

  • On many Linux distributions, installing the tzdata or timezone package should be sufficient

  • Otherwise, eazyBackup will look for a timezone database in all of the following locations;

    • /usr/share/zoneinfo

    • /usr/share/lib/zoneinfo

    • /usr/lib/locale/TZ

CA certificate database dependency

eazyBackup on Linux requires the OS to provide an up-to-date set of root certificate authorities, to validate HTTPS / SSL connections.

  • On many Linux distributions, installing the ca-certificates package should be sufficient

  • Otherwise, eazyBackup will look for a certificate bundle in all of the following locations;

    • /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt (used by Debian/Ubuntu/Gentoo etc.)

    • /etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt (used by Fedora/RHEL 6)

    • /etc/ssl/ca-bundle.pem (used by OpenSUSE)

    • /etc/pki/tls/cacert.pem (used by OpenELEC)

    • /etc/pki/ca-trust/extracted/pem/tls-ca-bundle.pem (used by CentOS/RHEL 7)

Installation

Run the .run file. This is a self-extracting archive, and will need to be executed in an elevated environment.

The installer will:

  1. install the software into a branded /opt/ subdirectory

  2. prompt you for an initial username and password

  3. register the current Linux device into that eazyBackup account

  4. start running eazyBackup in the background.

If you make a mistake with the username/password prompt, you should follow the below instructions to uninstall the software, and then start the installation again.

Linux Install options

You can control the installer by setting environment variables in your shell before running the .run file.

The following options are available: WRITE_INSTALL_LOG Set this to a file path, to record details of the installation. OVERRIDE_INSTALL_SERVER Set this to a URL (including http/https and trailing slash) to override the eazyBackup Server URL used by eazyBackup.

You can set an environment variable in bash either on the same line e.g. WRITE_INSTALL_LOG=install.log ./install.run or as a separate export command e.g. export WRITE_INSTALL_LOG=install.log followed by ./install.run .

Restarting at boot

The installer creates a backup-daemon-start.sh script that can start the service. The eazyBackup agent on "Other Distribution" Linux can be restarted by running the backup-daemon-start.sh script.

In order for eazyBackup to start after a system reboot, you must configure this script to be run on system boot. Different Linux distributions support different methods for running commands on system boot: choose the most appropriate method for your Linux distribution. Some common choices are documented below.

Preserve HOME environment variable

eazBackup uses the $HOME environment variable to find its saved credentials. When configuring eazyBackup to start at system boot, ensure that the $HOME environment variable is set (i.e. to /root/), to ensure that eazyBackup can find its saved credentials. If eazyBackup is unable to log in, it's possible that your Linux distribution does not set $HOME at this early-boot stage. In that case, you should try running HOME=/root/ /opt/eazyBackup/backup-daemon-start.sh & instead. eazyBackup will automatically try to use /root/ as the $HOME directory if $HOME is not already set or if it is set to a blank path.

Note: If you execute the .run installation script as root, this may have different results than if you execute the .run script using an elevated terminal session with 'sudo'. The 'sudo' command preserves the $HOME variable on Ubuntu; whilst on Debian the $HOME variable is erased, and sudo then sets it to the home directory of the originating user.

Start in the background

If you are running commands over SSH, please be aware that the backup-daemon-start.sh script runs in the foreground and will die when the SSH session is closed. You can avoid this by running the script in the background.

You can run the script in the background (daemonize) by using the backup-daemon-start-background.sh file instead.

Startup via rc.local

You can make eazyBackup start at system boot by adding an entry to the rc.local file.

First, find the rc.local file on your system:

  • /etc/rc.local (Debian/Ubuntu)

  • /etc/rc.d/rc.local (CentOS/RHEL)

Add the following content to the rc.local file:

/opt/eazyBackupBackup/backup-daemon-start.sh &

If the rc.local file contains an exit 0 statement, the additional command should be added before such a statement.

As of CentOS 7, the rc.local file is not executable by default. You should run chmod +x on the rc.local file to enable using this method for startup scripts.

Startup via rc.d

You can make eazyBackup start at system boot by adding a file to the rc.d directory.

First, find the rc.d directory on your system:

  • /usr/local/etc/rc.d (Synology DSM 6.1+)

Add a new file to the rc.d directory with the following contents:

#!/bin/bash
/opt/eazyBackupBackup/backup-daemon-start-background.sh

Mark the file as executable: chmod +x /usr/local/etc/rc.d/my-eazybackup-startup-script.sh

Startup via cron

You can make eazyBackup start at system boot by adding an entry to root's crontab.

  1. Run crontab -e -u root to launch a crontab editor

  2. Add the line @reboot /opt/eazyBackupBackup/backup-daemon-start-background.sh

Startup via init.d

No further documentation is available for this topic.

Startup via systemd

You can use the following unit as an basic example:

[Unit]

Description=eazyBackup Client

After=network.target

 

[Service]

Type=simple

RemainAfterExit=true

User=root

ExecStart=/opt/eazyBackupBackup/backup-daemon-start.sh

 

[Install]

WantedBy=multi-user.target

This unit file correctly starts the eazyBackup service at system boot.

However, the process management in systemd is not fully compatible with the way eazyBackup's multi-process model works. In particular, there are compatibility issues with the software updater. As a result, the above unit is (A) unable to take advantage of process group cleanup; (B) unable to auto-restart the eazyBackup agent service; and (C) after a software upgrade, eazyBackup will keep running but the unit will remain in "exited" state.

Autostart for graphical desktop application

In the "Other Distribution" package, the graphical application is not automatically configured to start when the desktop logs in. You may add backup-interface --background as an autostart command to your desktop environment's settings.

Upgrading

The "Other Distribution" version of eazyBackup supports upgrading the software, with some caveats:

  • The .run file will automatically upgrade the existing version

  • The software can be remotely upgraded via the eazyBackup Server web interface.

However, the existing service will only be replaced with the upgraded version if the product brand name is unchanged.

Future "Other Distribution" versions of eazyBackup will support upgrading between installations regardless of product brand name.

Uninstall

To uninstall "Other Distribution" versions of eazyBackup, you should

  1. Stop all eazyBackup processes

  2. Remove the relevant subdirectory under /opt/

  3. Remove any custom startup scripts

Change password on Linux client

Use the 'Change Password' function in the eazyBackup client area.

Then fully uninstall and reinstall the client, using the new credentials. Your device settings and Protected Items will be preserved.

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