Script to backup/restore Mailcow and the host system using borgbackup. Handles 503 error page generation, mailflow stop/restart, SQL database dump, borg backup and prune and integrates with Logwatch for easy monitoring.
This script automates backing up your Mailcow installation using borgbackup and a remote ssh-capable storage system. I suggest using rsync.net since they have great speeds and a special pricing structure for borgbackup/attic users (details here).
This script automates the following tasks:
Clone this repo or download a release file into a directory of your choosing. For all examples in this document, I will assume you will run the script from /scripts/backup. Make sure the script file is executable and you protect the .details file since it contains things like your repo password:
# run commands as root
sudo -s
# find somewhere to clone the repo
cd /usr/local/src
# clone the repo from my server (best choice)
git clone https://git.asifbacchus.app/asif/MailcowBackup.git
# or clone from github
git clone https://github.com/asifbacchus/MailcowBackup.git
# make a home for your backup script
mkdir -p /scripts/backup
cd /scripts/backup
# copy files from cloned repo to this new home
cp /usr/local/src/MailcowBackup/backup/* ./
# make script executable and protect your .details file
chmod +x backup.sh
chmod 600 backup.details
You will need to let the script know how to access your remote repo along with any passwords/keyfiles needed to encrypt data. This is all handled via the plain-text 'configuration details' file. By default, this file is named backup.details. The file itself is fully commented so setting it up should not be difficult. If you need more information, consult page 4.0 in the wiki.
After setting up the .details file correctly and assuming you are running a default set up of mailcow according to the documentation, you just have to run the script and it will find everything on it's own. In particular, the defaults are set as follows:
To get a list of all configuration options with defaults:
./backup.sh --help
To run with defaults:
./backup.sh
To run with a custom log file name and location:
./backup.sh --log /var/log/mailcow_backup.log
To copy a 503 error page to your webroot:
# assuming default NGINX webroot (/usr/share/nginx/html)
./backup.sh -5
# custom webroot
./backup.sh -5 -w /var/www/
Common usage: custom log file and copy 503 to custom webroot
./backup.sh -l /var/log/mailcow_backup.log -5 -w /var/www/
Non-default mailcow location (example: /var/mailcow):
./backup.sh --docker-compose /var/mailcow/docker-compose.yml --mailcow-config /var/mailcow/mailcow.conf
For more configuration options, see page 3.0 in the wiki and page 4.4 for some configuration examples. Consult section 7 of the wiki for information about the log file and how to integrate it with logwatch.
Edit your root user's crontab and add an entry like this which would run the script using defaults at 1:07am daily:
7 1 * * * /scripts/backup/backup.sh -l /var/log/mailcow_backup.log > /dev/null 2>&1
Starting with version 3.0, a restore.sh file has been included to semi-automate restoring your backups to a clean mailcow instance. There are a few steps required and they are better explained in the wiki than would be possible in a short write-up like this. Please check out the restore process overview for more information.
I think that's everything. For detailed information, please review the wiki. If I've forgotten to document something there, please let me know. I know the wiki is long but, I hate how much stuff for Linux and open-source programs/scripts in general are so poorly documented especially for newbies and I didn't want to make that same mistake.
I don't script too often and I'm a horrible programmer, so if you see anything that can be/should be improved, please let me know by filing an issue or submit your changes via a pull request! I love learning new ways of doing things and getting feedback, so suggestions and comments are more than welcome.
If this has helped you out, then please visit my blog at https://mytechiethoughts.com where I solve problems like this all the time on a shoe-string or zero budget. Thanks!