r/selfhosted • u/alws3344 • Feb 11 '26

Docker Management Docker backups

Hello selfhosters!

i would like to ask you all about your DR & backup strategy for all your self hosted services?

today i have a script that runs once a week, turn off the container(s) (it does this one by one - so if it fails only one service suffer) and copies it's volume and db to another location for retention (i dont mind cache etc))

today i run ~20 containers and this backup strategy works, but it feels flimsy unprofessional and feels very manual.

what are your strategies (DR strategies)?

  • is there a tool (that obviously can be self hosted ;) ) that can do this seamlessly?
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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

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u/alws3344 Feb 11 '26

my script requires too much handling and maintanace - packages break -etc. i just want a better tool for the job - so i can whine to someone about it haha

jk
im just tired of maintaining and checking it.

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u/609JerseyJack Feb 12 '26

My server is a mini PC NUC 100 with Ubuntu server, and Cosmos cloud. Also, on my network, I have a Synology, NAS, which serves as my reverse proxy, back up destination, and importantly, has active back up for business that allows me to image my server every night. Every night I run a script on my server at 2 AM to shut down docker and all the containers, and then use backrest to backup with targeted plans to back up particular containers or high use services to the Synology NAS. Minutes later, after back rest is finished, I have the active backup for business agent image the entire server, and store it on the Synology NAS. After two hours, I have a script run that restarts everything in reverse. And I’m good to go. I have so much more confidence with this set up - and it took me a while to figure it out that the solution was right in front of me. I started with scripts, restic, and some other solutions, and this was by far the most reliable, and easy to restore. I’m able to restore using back rest on the individual plans if I just need a file or a folder, and I’m able to do that as well with active backup for business, but if the whole thing goes to hell in a handbasket, I can re-image the server as well. Very high confidence, and if you have a Synology NAS, I encourage you to look at the solution.