How to Set Up Automated Linux Backups with Restic

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Restic is a modern backup solution that's fast, secure, and deduplicated. In this guide, you'll learn to set up automated, encrypted backups for your Linux servers.

What is Restic?

Restic is an open-source backup tool that offers:

Client-side encryption before data leaves your server
Deduplication across backup snapshots
Multiple storage backends (local, S3, Backblaze, etc.)

Prerequisites

Linux server (Ubuntu 20.04+, CentOS 8+, or similar)
sudo/root access
Backup storage destination

Step 1: Install Restic

sudo apt update
sudo apt install restic

Step 2: Initialize Repository

export RESTIC_REPOSITORY=/backup/my-backups
export RESTIC_PASSWORD_FILE=~/.restic-password
echo "YourSuperSecurePasswordHere" > ~/.restic-password
chmod 600 ~/.restic-password
restic init

Step 3: Create Your First Backup

restic backup /var/www/html /etc/nginx \
    --tag "web" \
    --tag "production"

Step 4: Automation with Cron

sudo crontab -e

0 2 * * * /usr/local/bin/restic-backup.sh

Best Practices

Store password file with 600 permissions
Use separate backup user account
Test restore procedures regularly

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a typical backup take?

For 10GB of data: Local storage takes 2-5 minutes, S3 takes 5-15 minutes depending on bandwidth.

How secure are the backups?

Restic uses AES-256 encryption with a key derived from your password using scrypt.