Crashplan question: How do I back up to FreeNAS?

[tophee]

Hi,

I've been doing a bit of searching and I have not found an answer to this yet, (perhaps I've missed it somewhere) but I want to back up my Macbook Pro to my server using Crashplan. There are a lot of guides I've found but these seem to revolve around backing up FreeNAS to Crashplan's cloud, so not suitable for my needs.

Let me explain what I am wanting to do.

I am going travelling for an extended period and I intend to take a lot of photographs. While I'll be taking an external hard drive, cloud would be an extra layer of protection and I would also like a copy to end up on my server, which will be living at my in-laws.

Is it possible to get Crashplan 'see' my FreeNAS box as a "computer' in the Crashplan GUI?

Many thanks.

 

[pirateghost]

Install Crashplan plugin.

Configure it.

Note the 'backup code' provided to you in the Crashplan GUI

Set up your client to back up to that server using that code.

 

[tophee]

Ok. Will that be in the my.service.xml file?
Also, when trying to configure the plugin I seem not to be getting java to listen for my client on 0.0.0.0 (as described in various posts / youtube videos).

 

[pirateghost]

Ok. Will that be in the my.service.xml file?
Also, when trying to configure the plugin I seem not to be getting java to listen for my client on 0.0.0.0 (as described in various posts / youtube videos).

no. backing up a client TO crashplan has nothing to do with my.service.xml. Crashplan will give you a backup code in the GUI to back up to crashplan

 

[tophee]

Hi Pirateghost,
Right, I think. I've been looking at this page: here. On FreeNAS I should find the authentication token for Crashplan which should be at this file: /var/lib/CrashPlan/.ui_info, but this doesn't seem to exist. Is this created when I log in for the first time?

Also, when trying to follow installation instructions, I don't appear to have java running.

USER COMMAND PID FD PROTO LOCAL ADDRESS FOREIGN ADDRESS
root python2.7 6637 3 tcp4 192.168.0.36:12354 *:*
root syslogd 6344 4 dgram /var/run/log
root syslogd 6344 5 dgram /var/run/logpriv
root syslogd 6344 6 udp6 *:514 *:*
root syslogd 6344 7 udp4 *:514 *:*

Any thoughts?

 

[tophee]

Having followed through the instructions again (still no java) when I try to connect from the gui on my macbook, it is still looking at my local file system. Very confused.

 

[depasseg]

Is it possible to get Crashplan 'see' my FreeNAS box as a "computer' in the Crashplan GUI?

Yes. Just follow any of the guides. You will need to follow the headless settings to configure the FreeNAS crashplan instance, but once that is done, you will install crashplan locally on your Mac. Once you configure your Mac Crashplan, you will see the FreeNAS crashplan as a destination, assuming you use the same login for both. Otherwise you will need to use the code as mentioned above.

 

[tophee]

So far, I've not managed to do achieve this. I've tried to follow various guides. I'll give it another go and post back with results....

 

[SweetAndLow]

Most guides will show you how to set up and access crashplan on freenas. After you do that you need to configure your Mac to backup to crashplan using the guide for Mac.

 

[pirateghost]

It really isn't that difficult.

Follow a recent guide in the forums to get crashplan installed and configured.

Then use the ID from the crashplan GUI, to configure your client machine to backup to the server.

 

[tophee]

Right, following this thread I believe have gotten my headless Crashplan working on the server. (Thanks to tigerfan) I am still slightly baffled how to get the client on my mac to talk to the headless server on my FreeNAS box...
I'm following different bits of advice in different threads and I am getting a little confused.

What I have done so far:
1. Updated Crashplan to the latest following the thread linked above.
2. Edited my local copy of .ui_info (on my mac) with the details from the FreeNAS .ui_info
3. Restarted Crashplan gui on my mac. Still showing local version of Crashplan.
Not sure what to do next.

 

[pirateghost]

Did you update the ui.properties file as indicated in the tutorials?

You know, to actually point the client to the correct IP address?

 

[SweetAndLow]

So have you setup freenas crashplan yet by following the headless guides?

After you have done that you will need to undo any changes you made to the app on your mac. Then you should be able to configure your Mac to backup to your freenas crashplan server.

 

[tophee]

Hi guys,

Where I have got up to is trying to connect the crashplan gui to the server.
I know my token and port number from the crashplan server.
I have put those details in:
/Library/Application Support/CrashPlan/.ui_info
/Library/Application Support/CrashPlan/conf/my.service.xml
/Library/Application Support/CrashPlan/ui_<username>.properties

I've not set up a ssh tunnel as I'm on my home network? Is that the missing piece? I was under the impression that this is no longer necessary.

Thanks

 

[SweetAndLow]

You aren't on your home network? That is going to make it easy more complicated. You need to do all this setup on the same network. Then look at getting it working externally.

 

[pirateghost]

Hi guys,

Where I have got up to is trying to connect the crashplan gui to the server.
I know my token and port number from the crashplan server.
I have put those details in:
/Library/Application Support/CrashPlan/.ui_info
/Library/Application Support/CrashPlan/conf/my.service.xml
/Library/Application Support/CrashPlan/ui_<username>.properties

I've not set up a ssh tunnel as I'm on my home network? Is that the missing piece? I was under the impression that this is no longer necessary.

Thanks

I have never used crashplan with ssh tunnel.

I don't know why you're having so many issues getting this working when so many others have it working just fine

 

[tophee]

Hi Pirateghost,
It's a mystery to me too.
I thought the ssh tunnel was unnecessary.
Think I'll blow it all away and start again. See if I've missed / messed up a step somewhere.

Oh, and SweetAndLo, yes - on home network.

Thanks guys for your input so far. I'll let you know how I get on. Especially if I work out what I've done wrong.

Cheers

 

[tigerfan]

Tophee,

1. in the crashplan plugin jail - edit /usr/pbi/crashplan-amd64/share/crashplan/conf/my.service.xml:

a. change <serviceHost>localhost</serviceHost> to <serviceHost>0.0.0.0</serviceHost>

b. restart plug-in

2. On the pc you want to run the gui from:

a. edit .ui_info to include port number, token
b. edit .ui_properties add the following line: serviceHost=ip address of crashplan jail

 

[tophee]

Finally I've got it to work. It was a combination of changing <serviceHost> entry to 0.0.0.0, failing to notice that after the last upgrade to the jail Crashplan had not restarted properly and once restarted, the token/port had changed.

Thanks for your input guys.