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tutorials • 4 min read

Modern Backup Playbook for Small Teams

A quick, opinionated checklist for reliable, low-friction backups using only open tools.

OBIT
Orange Blossom IT Team
Orange Blossom IT
#backups #smb #foss
Server rack with backup hardware and status lights

TL;DR

  • 3–2–1 rule: 3 copies, 2 media types, 1 offsite
  • Daily incremental + weekly full
  • Test restores monthly; automate checksum verification

Minimal FOSS Stack

  • BorgBackup or Restic for deduped encrypted backups
  • Rclone for pushing to offsite object storage (Wasabi, Backblaze B2)
  • Health checks via Healthchecks.io (self-hosted OK)
# example: restic + rclone remote
export RESTIC_PASSWORD=change-me
restic -r rclone:wasabi:org-backups init
restic -r rclone:wasabi:org-backups backup /srv/data /etc
restic -r rclone:wasabi:org-backups forget --keep-daily 7 --keep-weekly 4 --prune

Restore Drills

  1. Spin up a throwaway VM
  2. Pull snapshot, verify sha256
  3. Document timing + gaps; fix exclusions

Backups aren’t real until you’ve restored them.

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