Great news for Linux users! Datto just released an agent to back up and protect Linux. In fact, you can protect both Linux and Windows clients with the same Datto device.
With the new Linux agent, Datto users are able to use already-existing Datto appliances to protect other devices on the client’s network for no additional cost. Yes, you read correctly: this is a new backup solution using existing appliances at no additional cost. Now you can ensure business continuity in environments where formerly only manual workarounds and file-only protection was available.
Additionally, Datto has made several components of the Linux agent open source: the driver, a library for the agent to interact with the driver, and several utilities (one of which provides the ability to compare incremental backups). It allows for community involvement and therefore support for more Linux distros. Also allows for faster operation, maintenance, as well as improvements for supported distros.
The Linux agent is offered with unlimited licenses, allowing you to back up as many Linux clients to your Datto device as you wish (barring ALTO 2 devices, which are still limited to two or four licenses depending on the model, and first generation ALTO devices, which do not support Linux agents), space permitting.
The Linux agent is compatible with SIRIS 1 and 2, ALTO 2 and XL, Virtual SIRIS, Virtual ALTO, and all devices converted using GENISIS 1 or 2. However, SIRIS 1 devices and devices converted using GENISIS 1 must be upgraded from Ubuntu 10.4 to Ubuntu 12.04 to back up Linux machines. You can do this on the Device Upgrades page under the Configure menu. The Linux agent also supports Linux versions Fedora 20, 21, and 22; Ubuntu 12.04 and 14.04; CentOS 6 and 7; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7; and Debian 7. The filesystems and formats that the Linux agent supports are ext2, ext3, ext 4 and xfs.
To run the agent, machines are recommended to have a minimum of 8GB RAM. Installing the agent requires a few simple commands in the terminal to add the Datto repository to the list of sources and download the required package (no reboot is required).
There are a few differences in the Datto UI for Linux systems:
- Protecting Linux PCs must be done from the legacy Add Agent page rather than the new Agent Install Wizard, which is used solely for Windows PCs.
- The Manage Recovery Points page for a Linux machine will not show any screenshots
- Backup Insights won’t allow you to perform the analysis for Linux machines/volumes
- Configure Agent Settings page:
- Share Compatibility Mode removed
- Write Caching removed
- No Force differential Merge (to be added soon)
- VSS Writers are a Windows concept and so the writer exclusion section is removed for Linux agents
- Linux agent users can enable database quiescing scripts for MySQL, MondoDB and Ingres on a per-volume basis. These are prep/cleanup scripts that help ensure a clean backup, and perform steps similar to what the VSS Writer for SQL would do.
- At first, the agent will not feature screenshot verification or Backup Insights, but both can be expected soon in a future release
However, protected Linux machines have the same restore options as Windows machines, like file restore, local virtualization, bare metal restore, and image export. Cloud virtualization also works exactly the same for Linux as Windows. Finally, Linux Agent BMR supports a wide array of hardware, which allows the same range of hardware as the Windows system to be supported.
How to Install the Linux Agent
- Scope
This article describes the requirements and procedure to install the Datto Linux Agent on the Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, and RedHat distributions of Linux on 64-bit hardware.
- Requirements
To run the Datto Linux Agent, the machine must be 64 bit, have at least 8G of RAM, be connected to the internet, and be one of the following Linux distributions:
- Ubuntu 12.04 or 14.04
- Fedora 20, 21, or 22
- CentOS 6 or 7
- RHEL 6 or 7
- Debian 7.x
Currently, the Datto Linux Agent is not supported for virtual machines hosted on Citrix XenServer.
Kernel headers package for your current kernel must be installed:
- Ubuntu / Debian:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
- CentOS / RHEL / Fedora 20 & 21:
sudo yum install kernel-devel-$(uname -r) kernel-headers-$(uname -r)
- Fedora 22:
sudo dnf install kernel-devel-$(uname -r) kernel-headers-$(uname -r)
Also, the file system on the machine must be one of the following:
- ext2
- ext3
- ext4
- xfs
Other file systems may work, but we do not officially support them.
TCP Ports 139 (ICMP) , 3260 (ISCSI) and 25567 (Datto Linux Agent Port) must be open between the Datto device and all protected machines. See Datto Networking Requirements for additional networking requirements.
- Installing the Agent
To install the agent, run the following command:
curl -sS https://cpkg.datto.com/getLinuxAgent.txt | sudo bash
Once you’ve installed the agent, log into the web UI of the Datto device. Go to the Protect tab to pair the agent with the device. Keep in mind that the Add Agent Wizard does not yet work with the Linux Agent. You’ll need to use the “Legacy Add Agent” option.
- Installation Logs
Here are the locations of the installation logs on the supported distros. If you have an issue with installation, check these logs for clues:
Ubuntu
/var/log/apt/term.log
CentOS / RHEL and Fedora 20-21
/var/log/yum.log
Fedora 22+
- /var/log/dnf.log – Log of DNF actions
- /var/log/hawkey.log – Log of repository actions (DNF uses hawkey to read repo data)