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The reliable pattern is simple: run Duplicacy from the directories that matter, send encrypted snapshots to storage outside the VPS, schedule backup, verification, copy, and retention jobs separately, and rehearse a restore before you need one. Duplicacy Web Edition on Linux is delivered as an executable, while the command-line edition can be placed on your PATH and called from scripts or a scheduler.

What a Duplicacy VPS backup should accomplish

A VPS backup is useful only if it survives the failure you are planning for. A snapshot stored on the same virtual disk as the live server will not help when that disk, VPS, or provider account is unavailable. Use a destination that is operationally separate from the VPS, keep encryption credentials under your control, and document the information needed to rebuild the backup on another computer.

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Duplicacy stores deduplicated, versioned snapshots. You define a repository (the directory to protect), a Backup ID, and a storage location. Later runs add changed data rather than creating an entirely independent full copy. The same repository can then be checked, copied to another storage target, pruned according to policy, or restored to a selected revision.

  • Backup: creates a new snapshot of the protected directory.
  • Check: verifies repository and storage integrity.
  • Copy: replicates snapshots to another configured storage location.
  • Prune: applies retention rules and removes data that is no longer needed.

These are separate operations. A successful backup does not automatically prove that every chunk is readable, that a second copy exists, or that old data has been removed.

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Choose where the VPS backups will live

Duplicacy supports cloud storage, local disks, and SFTP servers. For a VPS, an off-host destination is the normal starting point; a local destination can be an additional copy, but it should not be the only one when the VPS itself is the failure scenario.

Destination Geographic separation Credential and encryption control Cost considerations Restore speed Operational complexity
Cloud object storage Usually high when placed in a different region or provider; exact separation depends on your account and region. Duplicacy can encrypt data client-side. You control the encryption password and cloud credentials. Storage, request, and possible egress charges depend on the provider and retention period; no universal figure is established. Constrained by available download bandwidth and provider egress limits. Requires cloud endpoint configuration and careful key management, but no second server to maintain.
SFTP on another server or NAS Can be high if the system is in another facility or provider; low if it shares the same site or account. SSH/SFTP credentials and Duplicacy encryption are managed by you. Uses the destination system’s storage and network capacity; pricing is not stated because it varies by host. Often predictable over a private or high-bandwidth link, but limited by both servers. Requires an available SFTP service, a reachable remote folder, and key or password rotation.
Local disk or mounted volume None if it is attached to the same VPS; greater only when the mount is genuinely independent. You control the filesystem and Duplicacy encryption password. Uses provisioned disk capacity and any snapshot or volume fees; a local disk alone does not address VPS loss. Usually fastest when attached to the same host, subject to disk throughput. Simple to configure, but you must protect the mount from the same failure, deletion, or ransomware event as the VPS.

For important services, use two failure domains: for example, primary encrypted snapshots in cloud storage and a second copy on an SFTP server in another location. Duplicacy’s copy job is designed for this second-storage workflow.

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Install Duplicacy on the Linux VPS

Web Edition: executable deployment

On Linux, Duplicacy Web Edition is supplied as executables; it does not require a traditional package installer. Obtain the Linux build from Duplicacy, place it in a protected directory, and make sure the account that will run scheduled jobs can execute it. Keep the executable outside directories writable by untrusted application accounts.

  1. Choose a directory for administrative binaries, such as a root-owned location already used for local tools.
  2. Copy the Duplicacy executable there and set its execute permission with your normal system administration method.
  3. Run it as the dedicated backup account or as a service account with read access to the data you intend to protect and write access to its configuration area.
  4. Open Web Edition and complete its storage and repository setup, or use the command-line executable for initialization and scripting.

The exact executable name and Web Edition licensing terms depend on the release you download. Verify those details against the current Duplicacy distribution before automating deployment.

CLI: place the engine on PATH

The command-line version is the engine used by Duplicacy’s graphical versions, and it can be invoked directly from scripts. Place the executable on the backup account’s PATH (or call it by an absolute path), then verify that the account can run it non-interactively. A scheduler must be able to find the same binary and configuration that you used during setup.

Initialize the repository and storage

Run initialization from the directory you want to protect. The core CLI form is:

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duplicacy init <backup-id> <storage-url>

The <backup-id> is the name Duplicacy uses to identify that repository’s snapshots in storage. Treat it as durable metadata: you will need the original Backup ID when restoring on another computer. The <storage-url> identifies the cloud, local, or SFTP destination.

Example setup sequence

  1. Create or select a dedicated directory for the backup account’s Duplicacy configuration.
  2. Change into the application or data directory that should be protected.
  3. Run duplicacy init <backup-id> <storage-url> and enter the storage credentials requested by the backend.
  4. For SFTP, confirm that the remote folder named by the storage URL already exists when using the quick-start pattern. A missing remote directory is a common initialization failure.
  5. Record the Backup ID, storage endpoint, encryption password, and the identity or credentials required to reach the destination in your recovery documentation.

Initialize each independent repository deliberately. If your VPS has several data roots with different owners or retention needs, keeping them as separate repositories can make permissions and recovery scope clearer; do not assume that protecting one directory includes another mount.

Encrypt snapshots and protect the secrets

Duplicacy supports client-side encryption, so data can be encrypted before it leaves the VPS. The official guidance strongly recommends using an encryption password when storage is on a cloud service. Encryption does not remove the need to protect access credentials: a person who obtains both storage access and your password may be able to read the backup, while losing the password can make the data undecryptable.

Document the minimum recovery set

  • Original Backup ID, including capitalization and punctuation.
  • Storage URL and any required remote path.
  • Cloud, SFTP, or local-storage credentials and the account that owns them.
  • Duplicacy encryption password, stored in a secure offline or separately managed location.
  • Destination directory and permissions needed for a restore.
  • Executable version and the scheduler or Web Edition job definitions used in production.

Keep secrets out of shell history, public repositories, and world-readable service files. Use the least-privileged storage account practical, restrict configuration-file permissions, and test that the backup account can read source data without granting it unnecessary administrative access.

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Schedule backups, checks, copies, and pruning

Using Web Edition

Web Edition provides separate scheduled job types for backup, check, copy, and prune. Create them intentionally rather than relying on one broad schedule:

  1. Backup job: run often enough to meet the amount of data you can afford to lose between snapshots.
  2. Check job: run periodically to detect integrity or access problems before an emergency restore.
  3. Copy job: replicate snapshots to a second storage target if you maintain another failure-domain copy.
  4. Prune job: apply the retention policy after newer snapshots and any required copies have completed.

Set schedules so jobs cannot overlap on the same repository. A long-running check, copy, or prune should not compete with the next backup. Use the Web Edition job history and operating-system logs to confirm start times, completion status, and errors.

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Using the CLI with cron or another scheduler

The CLI can be wrapped in cron or another service scheduler. Use an absolute path to the executable, an explicit working directory, and a service account whose environment contains the required configuration. Capture standard output and error in a log that is rotated and monitored.

A practical sequence is backup first, then check and copy at suitable intervals, with prune after the retention window has been protected. The exact cadence depends on change rate, storage budget, and recovery objectives; the important distinction is that each operation has a different purpose and failure signal.

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  • Alert on non-zero exit status or a missing completion record.
  • Prevent concurrent jobs for the same repository.
  • After changing credentials, storage paths, or the executable, run a manual operation before waiting for the next schedule.
  • Keep enough local disk and temporary space for the operation to finish; monitor the VPS while the first full snapshot is created.

Design a retention policy that you can explain

Retention is a business decision expressed as Duplicacy prune rules. The CLI quick-start shows patterns such as:

  • duplicacy prune -keep 1:7
  • duplicacy prune -keep 7:30
  • duplicacy prune -keep 0:180

These examples illustrate keeping different numbers of revisions over different age ranges. Choose values that match how far back operators may need to investigate, rather than copying an example without understanding it.

Why one prune may not reduce storage immediately

Duplicacy’s fossil collection is a two-step process. The first prune marks unreferenced chunks as fossils. A later prune can remove eligible fossils. Consequently, storage usage may not fall after the first successful run, and an apparent delay is not by itself evidence that pruning failed. Schedule and monitor subsequent prune runs, and never shorten retention until you have confirmed that required restore points are covered.

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Retention questions to answer

  • How many recent restore points are needed for accidental deletion?
  • How far back must you retain a weekly or monthly state?
  • Should copied storage use the same or a longer retention period?
  • Can the destination absorb fossils and delayed deletion during the transition?
  • Who approves a change that permanently removes older revisions?

Restore files on the VPS

In Web Edition, select the repository and a prior revision, then choose the destination and start the restore. Restore into a temporary directory first when you need to compare files or avoid overwriting a live service. Confirm ownership, permissions, symbolic links, and application-specific metadata before replacing production data.

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With the CLI, use Duplicacy’s restore command and select the required revision and destination using the options provided by the version you installed. Keep the original repository configuration available so the command can authenticate to the same storage.

Restore procedure for a replacement server

  1. Install the same Duplicacy edition or a compatible current executable on the new Linux system.
  2. Create an empty destination directory and assign the permissions needed by the restored application.
  3. Configure access to the original storage endpoint.
  4. Initialize or open the repository using the original Backup ID; a different ID will not identify the existing snapshot set.
  5. Provide the encryption password and select the revision to restore.
  6. Restore into the destination directory, then verify file counts, ownership, permissions, configuration values, and application consistency.
  7. Only after validation, switch traffic or service configuration to the recovered data.

A restore to another computer is a separate operational path from backing up the original VPS. Document it while the original server is healthy, including network allow-lists, DNS or firewall changes, and where the recovered service will obtain its runtime secrets.

Run a repeatable recovery drill

Do not wait for a production outage to discover that a password, Backup ID, or remote path is missing. At a planned interval, restore a small but representative directory to an isolated location or temporary server.

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  1. Retrieve the documented Backup ID, storage endpoint, credentials, and encryption password without using the production host’s private files.
  2. Start with a clean destination and follow the replacement-server procedure.
  3. Restore a known revision and compare expected files, permissions, and checksums where your application supports them.
  4. Record elapsed time, bandwidth constraints, operator prompts, and any manual fixes.
  5. Update the runbook and repeat after major changes to storage, credentials, retention, or Duplicacy version.

The drill validates both technical recoverability and human recoverability: another operator should be able to perform it from the documented information.

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Troubleshoot common VPS backup failures

The executable runs manually but not on schedule

The scheduler may use a different PATH, working directory, user, or configuration location. Call the executable by absolute path, set the intended working directory explicitly, and run the job as the same account used by the scheduler. Check the scheduler’s captured stderr rather than relying on an interactive terminal message.

Initialization cannot create an SFTP storage

Verify that the SFTP account can log in, that the host key and firewall rules permit access, and that the remote folder named in the storage URL already exists. Confirm write permission on that folder and test the connection from the VPS itself.

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A backup succeeds but a restore cannot decrypt data

Check that the encryption password is exactly the one used when the repository was initialized. Client-side encryption makes that password essential; Duplicacy cannot recover data for which the password has been lost. Do not rotate or discard the old password until all snapshots encrypted with it have expired under your retention policy.

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Prune reports success but storage remains high

Remember the fossil lifecycle: one run can mark unreferenced chunks, while a later run removes eligible fossils. Confirm that your policy actually makes chunks unreferenced, allow the next prune to run, and check that another repository or copied storage is not retaining the same data.

The replacement server cannot see the snapshots

Recheck the original Backup ID, storage URL, remote path, credentials, and encryption password. A typo in the ID can point Duplicacy at a different repository namespace even when network authentication succeeds.

Web Edition or CLI?

Decision factor Web Edition CLI
Scheduling Built-in job definitions for backup, check, copy, and prune. Use cron or another service scheduler and define each command yourself.
Scripting flexibility Lower; the interface favors configured jobs. High; commands can be wrapped with existing deployment and monitoring scripts.
Unattended credentials Managed through the Web Edition configuration and job environment. Managed through the service account’s configuration and scheduler environment.
Observability Job history and status are visible in the web interface, supplemented by host logs. Exit codes, stdout, stderr, and your own monitoring provide visibility.
Licensing Web Edition licensing applies; verify current terms for your release and use case. The exact licensing requirements depend on the distributed CLI version and should be checked before deployment.

Choose Web Edition when operators need a visual schedule and job history. Choose the CLI when infrastructure is managed as code, when an existing scheduler is mandatory, or when you need custom scripting. Both approaches use the same core concepts: repository, Backup ID, storage, encryption, retention, and restore.

Production checklist

  • Executable installed in a protected location and callable by the scheduled account.
  • Every required data directory identified; mounted volumes are included deliberately.
  • Primary storage is outside the VPS failure domain.
  • Client-side encryption enabled where appropriate, with the password stored separately from the VPS.
  • Backup, check, copy, and prune jobs scheduled without overlap.
  • Retention rules documented, including the two-step fossil cleanup behavior.
  • Backup ID, storage URL, credentials, destination path, and executable details recorded for recovery.
  • At least one restore to a clean directory or replacement server completed successfully.
  • Alerts configured for failed jobs, inaccessible storage, and missing completion records.

With those controls in place, Duplicacy becomes a repeatable backup system rather than a one-time snapshot command: encrypted data is stored away from the VPS, integrity is checked, retention is intentional, and recovery has been demonstrated.

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