Backups create a snapshot of syslog-ng Store Box (SSB)'s configuration or the data which can be used for recovery in case of errors. SSB can create automatic backups of its configuration and the stored logs to a remote server.

To configure backups, you first have to create a backup policy. Backup policies define the address of the backup server, which protocol to use to access it, and other parameters. SSB can be configured to use the Rsync, SMB/CIFS, and NFS protocols to access the backup server:

The different backup protocols assign different file ownerships to the files saved on the backup server. The owners of the backup files created using the different protocols are the following:

  • Rsync: The user provided on the web interface.

  • SMB/CIFS: The user provided on the web interface.

  • NFS: root with no-root-squash, nobody otherwise.

Caution:

SSB cannot modify the ownership of a file that already exists on the remote server. If you change the backup protocol but you use the same directory of the remote server to store the backups, make sure to adjust the ownership of the existing files according to the new protocol. Otherwise SSB cannot overwrite the files and the backup procedure fails.

Once you have configured a backup policy, set it as a system backup policy (for configuration backups) or data backup policy (for logspace backups):

NOTE: Backup deletes all other data from the target directory, restoring a backup deletes all other data from SSB. For details on restoring configuration and data from backup, see Restoring SSB configuration and data.