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UrBackup smart home integration, free and open source

UrBackup integration for Gladys Assistant

Your UrBackup clients in Gladys: online, last backups, an alert when one fails or is late.

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UrBackup is a free client/server backup system: a server backs up the files (and, on Windows, the disk images) of the computers of your home or office. This integration brings the clients of an UrBackup server into Gladys: each client (a computer backed up) becomes a device with its state, whether it is online, its last file and image backups, the backup running and its progress. Scenes can react when any backup succeeds, fails or is overdue, a dashboard widget lists the failed clients first, and a scene can start an incremental file backup.

Tested against a real UrBackup server 2.5 (Docker image uroni/urbackup-server 2.5.37, client uroni/urbackup-client 2.5.31): login with and without users, a backup that succeeds, one that fails, a backup started from the integration, a client offline. Not yet tested on a real Gladys: feedback welcome on the issues.

What you need​

  • Gladys Assistant 5.1.0 or later.
  • An UrBackup server reachable from the Gladys machine, with its web interface (port 55414 by default).
  • A user of that web interface (Settings → Users): the admin, or better a dedicated user with the rights status, progress, lastacts, logs and start_backup (the last one only to start backups from Gladys). A server without any user accepts anyone: the integration then works without a password, but protect your server.

The integration reads UrBackup every 5 minutes by default (every 30 seconds while a backup runs): three light requests on your own network.

Getting started​

1. Prepare the UrBackup server​

In the web interface of UrBackup, Settings → Users → Create user: a name (gladys for example), a password, and the rights listed above. With the admin account, nothing to do.

2. Configure the integration​

In Gladys, Integrations → UrBackup → Configuration:

  • UrBackup address: http://192.168.1.2:55414 for example. A bare address (192.168.1.2) means http:// on port 55414; an address copied from the browser works too. Behind a reverse proxy, its https:// address (with a valid certificate).
  • Username and Password: the user of the web interface.
  • Refresh interval: 1, 5 (default) or 15 minutes.
  • Overdue after: when a client without a successful backup becomes overdue. Automatic (default) follows UrBackup: a client is overdue when UrBackup no longer marks its file backups OK (no backup within the interval of its settings, the incremental one by default). Or a fixed delay, from 12 hours to a week, since its last successful backup, file or image.
  • Allow starting backups: lets the scene action "Start a file backup" work. Disable it if nobody should start a backup from Gladys.
  • Language of the names: language of the feature names, of the states and of the scene results.

Test the connection reads UrBackup and sums up: the number of clients, online, failed and overdue.

3. Add the clients​

In the Discover tab, add the clients to follow, and the "UrBackup" device for the server. Scene triggers work for every client, added or not.

The devices​

Each client:

FeatureValue
StateOK, Failed, Overdue, Running or No backup
Online1 when the client is connected to the server
Last file backupday/month hours:minutes, "-" if none
Hours since last file backupin hours
Last image backupday/month hours:minutes, "-" if none
Hours since last image backupin hours
Backup running1 while a backup of this client runs
Progressin %, of the backup running
Errors of the last backuperrors in the log of its last backup

The "UrBackup" device, for the server, counts:

  • Clients online;
  • Backups running;
  • Failed clients;
  • Overdue clients.

A backup "fails" when its log holds errors: a backup that UrBackup could not complete, or that ended with errors. A client offline gets the "unreachable" badge in Gladys. The state shows what needs attention first: a failed client shows "Failed" even when it is also overdue.

Dashboard​

The UrBackup widget shows the number of clients failed, overdue and online, then one row per client: failed first, then overdue, running, without backup, OK, with the last backup (or the progress of the one running); an OK client offline is grey. Every client by default, or the ones chosen in its settings. The Refresh button reads UrBackup again.

Scenes​

Triggers​

  • A backup succeeds: a backup (files or image) ends without error. Information: client, kind (files, image), duration (minutes), size transferred.
  • A backup fails: a backup ends with errors in its log. Information: client, kind, first error, errors.
  • A client is overdue: a client has had no successful backup for longer than the "Overdue after" delay. Once, again after a new success. Information: client, hours since last success, last success.

Each trigger can be limited to some clients (empty: any).

Actions​

  • State of a client: reads the state of a client for the next actions: failed, overdue, online, the state in words, the client, the last success, hours since last success (-1 if none), and a ready-made sentence ("laptop-anna: Failed, last backup 18/10 02:05.").
  • Start a file backup: starts an incremental file backup of the client now. Refused when "Allow starting backups" is disabled, or by UrBackup when the client is offline.

Scene ideas​

  • A backup fails → send a message with the client and its first error, picked from the information of the trigger.
  • A client is overdue → notify with the client and the hours since its last success: the laptop was not switched on for days.
  • Every Sunday at 10:00 → State of a client → send the sentence; or start a file backup of the office computer at 19:00 with Start a file backup.

Troubleshooting​

  • "UrBackup does not answer": check the address and the port from the Gladys machine (http://…:55414, the port of the web interface, not 55413 or 55415).
  • "username or password refused by UrBackup": type them again; they are the ones of a user of the web interface.
  • "this UrBackup user lacks a right": give the user the rights status, progress, lastacts, logs (and start_backup). Without logs, the states still show but no backup succeeded or failed is announced.
  • "UrBackup did not start the backup": the client is offline, or a backup of it already runs.
  • "UrBackup is upgrading its database": after an update of UrBackup; wait until it is done.
  • A client never becomes overdue: in Automatic, a client whose file backups are disabled, or never backed up, is not overdue; choose a fixed delay for the image backups.
  • To see more, set the LOG_LEVEL variable of the integration to debug.

Limits​

  • One UrBackup server per integration.
  • After an outage, only the backups ended in the last 24 hours are announced; the older ones are recorded silently.
  • A backup is known when it ends, by its log: the triggers come at the next reading (5 minutes by default).
  • The integration does not restore, delete or configure backups: it watches them, and starts incremental file backups if allowed.
  • HTTPS only with a certificate signed by a known authority (a reverse proxy).
  • Not affiliated with UrBackup. Report a problem or an idea on the issues.

Configuration settings​

These are the settings UrBackup asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.

SettingTypeRequiredDescription
Your UrBackup serversectionNoThe web interface of the UrBackup server (port 55414). Enter its address and a user of that interface, then add the clients to follow from the Discover tab.
UrBackup addressstringYesThe address of the web interface, port 55414 by default. https:// behind a reverse proxy.
UsernamestringNoA user of the web interface (Settings → Users), admin or with the rights status, progress, lastacts, logs and start_backup.
PasswordsecretNoIts password. Empty for a server without any user (not recommended).
OptionssectionNo
Refresh intervalselectNoHow often UrBackup is read. Every 30 seconds while a backup runs.
Overdue afterselectNoA client without a successful backup for this long is overdue. Automatic: as UrBackup says, from the file backup interval of its settings.
Allow starting backupsbooleanNoLets the scene action "Start a file backup" start an incremental file backup in UrBackup.
Language of the namesselectNoLanguage of the feature names (set when a device is added), of the states and of the scene results.

How to install UrBackup in Gladys​

  1. In Gladys, open Integrations: UrBackup appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
  2. Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (ghcr.io/guim31/gladys-urbackup:1.0.1), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration).
  3. Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
  4. You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/guim31/gladys-urbackup.

UrBackup requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.

Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.

About external integrations​

UrBackup is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by guim31, not by the Gladys core team.

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