Using Duplicati with Linux

This page describes how to use Duplicati with Linux

Before you can install Duplicati, you need to decide on three different parameters:

• The type you want: GUI, Server, Agent, CLI.

• Your package manager: apt, yum or something else.

• You machine CPU type: x64, Arm64 or Arm7

Deciding on type

To use Duplicati on Linux, you first need to decide which kind of instance you want: GUI (aka TrayIcon), Server, Agent, CLI. The section on Choosing Duplicati Type has more details on each of the different types.

Determine package manager

Next step is checking what Linux distribution you are using. Duplicati supports running on most Linux distros, but does not yet support FreeBSD.

If you are using a Debian-based operating system, such as Ubuntu or Mint, you can use the .deb package, and for RedHat-based operating system, such as Fedora or SUSE, you can use the .rpm packages.

For other operating systems you can use the .zip package, or check if your package manager already carries Duplicati.

Determine CPU architecture

Finally you need to locate information on what CPU architecture you are using:

• x64: 64bit Intel or AMD based CPU. This is the most common CPU at this time.

• Arm64: 64bit ARM based CPU. Used in Raspberry Pi Model 4 and some Laptops and Servers.

• Arm7: 32bit ARM based CPU. Used in Raspberry Pi Model 3 and older, and some NAS devices.

Installing the package

Once you have decided the on (type, distro, cpu) combination you are ready to download the package. The full list of packages can be obtained via the main download page, and then clicking "Other versions". Refer to the installation page for details on how to install the packages, or simply use the package manager in your system.

Using the TrayIcon

For users with a desktop environment and no special requirements, the TrayIcon instance is the recommended way to run Duplicati. If you are using either .deb or .rpm you should see Duplicati in the program menu, and you can launch it from there. If you do not see Duplicati in the program menu, you can start it with:

duplicati

When running the TrayIcon in a user context, it will create a folder in your home folder, typically ~/.config/Duplicati where it stores the local databases and the Server database with the backup configurations.

Using the Server

The Server is a regular executable and can simply be invoked with:

duplicati-server

When invoked as a regular user, it will use the same folder, ~/.config/Duplicati, as the TrayIcon and share the configuration.

Besides the configuration listed below, it is also possible to run Duplicati in Docker.

Using Server as a Service

If you would like to run the Server as a service the .rpm and .deb packages includes a regular systemd service. If you are installing from the .zip package, you can grab the service file from the source code and install it manually on your system.

If you need to pass options to the server, edit the settings file, usually at /etc/default/duplicati. Make sure you only edit the configuration file and not the service file as it will be overwritten when a new version is installed. The settings file should look something like this:

# Defaults for duplicati initscript
# sourced by /etc/init.d/duplicati
# installed at /etc/default/duplicati by the maintainer scripts

#
# This is a POSIX shell fragment
#

# Additional options that are passed to the Daemon.
DAEMON_OPTS=""

You can use DAEMON_OPTS to pass arguments to duplicati-server, such as --webservice-password=<passsword>.

To enable the service to auto-start, reload configurations, start the service and report the status, run the following commands:

sudo systemctl enable duplicati.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start duplicati.service  
sudo systemctl status duplicati.service

The server is now running and will automatically start when you restart the machine.

Note: the service runs in the root user context, so files will be stored in /root/.config/Duplicati on most systems, but in /Duplicati on other systems. Use the DAEMON_OPTS to add --server-datafolder=<path to storage folder> if you want a specific location.

To check the logs (and possibly obtain a signin link), the following command can usually be used:

sudo journalctl --unit=duplicati

Using the Agent

With the Agent there is a minimal setup required, which is to register the machine with the Duplicati Console. When installing either the .rpm or .deb packages, it will automatically register the duplicati-agent.service for startup. If you are using the .zip installation, you can find the agent service in the source code and manually register it:

sudo systemctl enable duplicati-agent.service
sudo systemctl start duplicati-agent.service 

When the Agent starts, it will emit a registration link to the log, and you can usually see it with the following command:

sudo journalctl --unit=duplicati

If you are using a pre-authenticated link, you can run the following command to activate the registration:

duplicati-agent register "<pre-authorized url>"

After registration is complete, restart the service to pick up the new credentials:

sudo systemctl restart duplicati-agent

Using the CLI

Using the CLI is simply a matter of invoking the binary:

duplicati-cli help

Since the CLI also needs a local database for each backup, it will use the same location as described for the Server above to place databases. In addition to this, it will keep a small file called dbconfig.json in the storage folder where it maps URLs to databases. The intention of this is to avoid manually specifying the --dbpath parameter on every invocation.

If you specify the --dbpath parameter, it will not use the dbconfig.json file and it will not store anything in the local datafolder.

Using the support programs

Each package of Duplicati contains a number of support utilities, such as the RecoveryTool. Each of these can be invoked from the commandline with a duplicati-* name and all contain built-in help. For example, to invoke ServerUtil, run:

duplicati-server-util help

Handling locked files

By default, Duplicati will honor Linux advisory locking and refuse to open files that are locked. The logic for this is that it is not guaranteed that reading the file while it is locked, will result in a useful file when restored. However, many Linux applications ignore the locks because the default file operations ignores them as well. If you prefer that Duplicati ignores locked files, and just reads what it finds, you can set the advanced option:

--ignore-advisory-locking=true