Automated Borg Backup with Home Assistant OS

This guide explains how to set up automated backups for Home Assistant OS using BorgBackup and a cron job. The backups are stored remotely on BorgBase, and old files are pruned automatically. The deployment of the backup script is automated using Ansible.

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Prerequisites

• Home Assistant OS with Advanced SSH Add-on installed.
• Automatic backups enabled in Home Assistant to local storage.
• A BorgBase repository ready for use.
• Ansible installed on your local machine.

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Steps to Set Up

1. Set Up the Ansible Repository

1. Clone the repo.

2. Copy the variable template file and update it with your specific settings:

   cp group_vars/all.yml.tpl group_vars/all.yml

3. Edit group_vars/all.yml to set the required variables:

   • borg_repo: Your BorgBase repository URL.
   • borg_passphrase: Your Borg repository passphrase.
   • backup_dirs: The directory to be backed up.

   Example:

   borg_repo: 'ssh://[email protected]/./repo'
   borg_passphrase: 'YOUR-PASSPHRASE'
   backup_dirs: '/backup'

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2. Run the Ansible Playbook to Deploy the Backup Script

Execute the Ansible playbook to deploy the backup script to your Home Assistant machine:

ansible-playbook main.yml

This will:

• Deploy the backup script /homeassistant/borg/my-backup.sh to the target machine.
• Ensure the script has executable permissions (0755).

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3. SSH into Home Assistant and Configure Manually

1. Access your Home Assistant machine:

   ssh root@ha-ip

2. Create the required directories and generate SSH keys for BorgBase:

   mkdir -p /homeassistant/borg/.ssh
   ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f /homeassistant/borg/.ssh/borgbase-partial

3. Upload the public key (/homeassistant/borg/.ssh/borgbase-partial.pub) to your BorgBase repository.

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4. Configure the Advanced SSH Add-on

1. Install additional packages:

   cronie

2. Add the cron job for automatic backups:

   crond -f &
   (echo '15 1 * * * /homeassistant/borg/my-backup.sh >> /dev/null 2>&1') | crontab -

   Choose the time for the cron job to run (15 1 represents 1:15 AM daily).

3. Save and restart the Advanced SSH Add-on.

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5. Verify and Test

1. Test the backup script manually:

   /homeassistant/borg/my-backup.sh

2. Confirm the cron job is running:

   crontab -l

3. Verify that backups are being uploaded to BorgBase.

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Maintenance

• Logs: Redirect cron output to a log file for debugging by modifying the cron job:

  15 1 * * * /homeassistant/borg/my-backup.sh >> /homeassistant/borg-backup.log 2>&1