Server backups using Restic

Backups are a critical part of software development and infrastructure management. If our servers ever crash or fail due to unexpected issues, backups allow us to quickly restore the application state on new machines.

To ensure reliability, we’ve implemented server backups using Restic. This way, even if users lose their server data, we can seamlessly bring their services back online.

Dokku Backups

dFlow runs on Dokku, and we’ve followed the official Dokku backup guide.
Dokku stores all application data across three key folders:

• /home/dokku
• /var/lib/dokku
• /var/log/dokku

We use Restic to back up these directories efficiently and securely.

Why Restic?

Unlike traditional gzip archives that duplicate the entire data set, Restic only backs up the files that have changed.

• Each backup creates a snapshot, comparing differences from the previous backup.
• Only new or updated files are uploaded.
• This makes our backups much faster and smaller in size.

Resticker

Out of the box, Restic doesn’t include scheduling or remote backup support. That’s where Resticker comes in. Resticker runs Restic inside a Docker container and adds features like:

• Scheduled backups
• Remote storage support

We’ve deployed Resticker on customer servers to automatically back up their services. This ensures that, if needed, we can quickly restore applications on other machines without hassle.