Time Machine guide with TrueNAS-SCALE-22.12.0

[beat_box]

Hi all,

I'm looking at a guide to setup Time Machine on my server running TrueNAS-SCALE-22.12.0. Couldn't find newer information here and while Google has many hits, some are referring older version of TrueNAS. So, after many trial and error, I'm still struggling. I was looking for an official way of doing this.

Presently, I'm running Time Machine on an old QNAP. At the time, the setup was fairly simple. Enable the service, select a username and a password and that was it. The share appeared in Finder automatically, without having to mount the drive first. Then, I would simply go in Time Machine and add the drive.

I've also search the doc site with no luck.

Thanks in advance,

Cheers!

 

[danb35]

Really isn't much to it: create a SMB share, and set its purpose to "multi-user time machine." See:

/scale/scaleuireference/shares/smbsharesscreens/

 

[beat_box]

Thanks for the prompt response!

SMB needs a Dataset. For Time Machine, some say to use Generic and others SMB. What's the difference and which one should I choose?

Regards,

 

[danb35]

SMB needs a Dataset.

Not really; it needs a directory to share, which doesn't have to be a dataset, but ordinarily it's a good idea to use a dataset. It's going to be a SMB share, so I'd use SMB. That means you'll use ACLs for permissions. And as for any share, you'll need to have a user with permissions on that share.

 

[beat_box]

You got me confused. For education purposes (I'll create a dedicated Dataset anyhow), what are the other options if not a Dataset?
Thanks, I'll give it another try.

 

[danb35]

The other option would be to just create a subdirectory. The dataset is generally the better way to go, but it isn't essential.

 

[beat_box]

Well, After some more trial and errors, I got it to work. Here are my observation so far:

• This TrueNAS Scale is hooked-up to an Active Directory
• Initial tests that were failing was while using local users for Time Machine.
  • The logon and adding the drive to Time Machine was all working fine
  • The error were when starting an actual backup. After a few minutes, I would get an error
• I then added an Active Directory user to the main Dataset use for Time Machine.
  • Re-did the logon to the share and add the disk.
  • Backup started and being process as I write this
• I was using the hostname of TrueNAS while authenticating:
  • smb://local_username@hostname_of_theNAS/Share_Name
  • When adding the disk to Time Machine, I am ask to authenticate once more
    • For local user, I was using hostname\username
    • For the Active Directory, just the username

Right now, I authenticated using the IP instead of the hostname (on the Active Directory).

Then, I stop the backup, remove the drive from Time Machine, Logout and Log back in. This time, I went straight ahead to Time Machine and added the Drive. It saw the previous backup and offered me to use it or start a new one, I opted for a new one since the previous one was cancelled before it reached the end. The backup is underway as I write this.

As it is the case with my current (and older) QNAP setup, you do not need to mount the share prior to add the drive in Time Machine. If you are not on the same subnet, you need to add multicast between these VLAN's (that was my case initially).

So, not exactly sure why but, it seems that when TrueNAS is joined to an Active Directory, that changes things...

Now that I have gain knowledge of some working (and non-working scenarios), I will do some more testing to double validate my statements above. If I come across something different or worth sharing, I'll update this post.

Regards,

 

[Stux]

There's a nice "Basic Time Machine" setup tutorial (ie a single data set/user time machine) in the SCALE docs, but none for a "multi user time machine" AFAICT

I set this up in CORE, following instructions, not sure where I found them... perhaps on the forum... they were similar to

Multi-user Time Machine purpose

Search finds a nice thread on this topic but it references something that is gone. So... To start... I'm new to TrueNAS. I created a Data set with nothing funny. Called it time_machine. It is case sensitive. I created an SMP share and with Purpose I put Multi-user Time Machine. It then...

www.truenas.com

One of the keys is that I create a unique user for each physical machine that gets backed up, and because %U is specified in the share config, the machines end up making sub-datasets in the time machine data set.

Now, this seems to have migrated across to SCALE well, so apparently works well... BUT I can't find any actual documentation on how to recreate from scratch!

Any links?