CLI Backup with Borg in DirectAdmin: Incremental Backup Strategy, Automation Script, and Full Restore Guide

This article provides a complete guide to using Borg as an advanced incremental backup system for DirectAdmin. It covers preparing DirectAdmin backups, installing Borg, creating local or remote repositories, automating backups with a post-backup script, managing retention policies, and performing full restores by mounting Borg archives. Borg serves as a powerful, free alternative to FTP-based remote backups.

Borg BackupDirectAdmin CLI BackupIncremental Backup

1. Why Use Borg for DirectAdmin Backups?

If you are not satisfied with FTP as a remote backup method and want a more advanced solution, Borg is an excellent choice. It provides:

Incremental backups
Deduplication and compression
Retention policies (daily, weekly, monthly)
Local or remote repository support

2. Step 1: Create DirectAdmin Backups Without Heavy Data

Go to:

Admin Backup/Transfer → Schedule

Then configure:

Schedule backups daily (or as needed)
Unselect Domains Directory and E-mail Data
Set backup path to /home/admin/admin_backups

3. Step 2: Install Borg

CentOS:

yum -y install epel-release
yum -y install borgbackup

Debian/Ubuntu:

apt install borgbackup

4. Step 3: Initialize a Borg Repository

Local repository:

borg init --encryption=none /backups

Remote repository:

REPOSITORY=borgbackup@YOUR_SERVER_IP:/backups/`hostname -f`

Set up SSH keys for passwordless access if needed.

5. Step 4: Automate Borg Backups After Each DirectAdmin Backup

Create the script:

/usr/local/directadmin/scripts/custom/all_backups_post.sh

Insert the following content:

#!/bin/sh
REPOSITORY=borgbackup@YOUR_SERVER_IP:/backups/`hostname -f`

borg create -v --stats \
    $REPOSITORY::'{hostname}-{now:%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M}' \
    /home \
    /var/www/html \
    /etc \
    /usr/local/directadmin > /tmp/borg-stat.tmp 2>&1

if [ "$?" -le 1 ]; then
    borg prune -v $REPOSITORY --prefix '{hostname}-' \
        --keep-daily=7 --keep-weekly=4 --keep-monthly=6
else
    date >> /tmp/borg-stat.tmp
    mail -s "backup failed on server `hostname -f`" [email protected] \
        < /tmp/borg-stat.tmp
fi

Set permissions:

chmod 700 /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/custom/all_backups_post.sh

6. Retention Policy

The script keeps:

7 daily backups
4 weekly backups
6 monthly backups

You can adjust these values as needed.

7. Restoring From Borg

The repository path is defined in the script. Example:

REPOSITORY=ssh://[email protected]:2200/home/rbackup/`hostname -f`

7.1 List all backups:

borg list ssh://[email protected]:2200/home/rbackup/`hostname -f`

7.2 Mount a specific backup

Create a mount point:

mkdir /mnt/mybackup

Mount the desired backup:

borg mount ssh://[email protected]:2200/home/rbackup/`hostname -f`::server.mycompany.tld-2019-11-13_05:06 /mnt/mybackup

Check contents:

ls -l /mnt/mybackup

7.3 Restore a specific file

cd /mnt/mybackup/home/admin/domains/clientdomain.com/public_html/wp-admin
cp -a index.php /home/admin/

7.4 Unmount the backup

umount /mnt/mybackup
rmdir /mnt/mybackup

8. Restoring Databases

Databases are stored in:

/home/admin/admin_backups/

Extract the desired backup and restore the required database manually.