fbrettnich / hcloud-snapshot-as-backup

Hetzner Cloud - Automatic Snapshots as Backups for more flexibility

Hetzner Cloud | Snapshot-as-Backup

This script automatically creates snapshots of your Hetzner Cloud Servers and deletes the old ones.
Snapshots then work like the automatic backups offered directly by Hetzner, with the advantage that more backups and at self-defined times can be created.
For ease of use, the script works with the powerful labels directly in the Hetzner Cloud Console. Just add labels to the servers and you are done.

• Installation
  • With Docker (Recommended)
  • With Docker Compose
  • Without Docker
• Configuration
  • Generate Hetzner Cloud Console API-Key
  • Choose how many backups you want to keep by default
  • Add label to servers that should be backed up
  • Choose a name for your snapshots (optional)
  • Docker: Specify how often the script should be executed via cron
• About Labels
• Why is this script useful?

Installation

Installation: With Docker (Recommended)

1. Run the docker image

docker run -d --name hcloud-snapshot-as-backup \
  -v /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro \
  --env API_TOKEN= \
  --env SNAPSHOT_NAME="%name%-%timestamp%" \
  --env KEEP_LAST=3 \
  --env CRON="0 1 * * *" \
  fbrettnich/hcloud-snapshot-as-backup

Put your Hetzner Cloud Console API-Key after API_TOKEN= in command line 3.

Optional: Set CRON to false to disable CronScheduler in the container and schedule outside of the container, especially for using services like Google Cloud Run jobs or Amazon ECS scheduled tasks.

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Installation: With Docker Compose

1. Download docker-compose.yml

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fbrettnich/hcloud-snapshot-as-backup/main/docker-compose.yml > docker-compose.yml

2. Edit configuration
Open the docker-compose.yml file to complete the configuration.
You can find more information about the configuration below (click here)

3. Run docker-compose

docker-compose up -d

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Installation: Without Docker

1. Clone this repository

apt install git
git clone https://github.com/fbrettnich/hcloud-snapshot-as-backup.git /opt/hcloud-snapshot-as-backup

2. Install requirements

apt install python3 python3-pip
pip3 install -r /opt/hcloud-snapshot-as-backup/requirements.txt

3. Copy config.json

cd /opt/hcloud-snapshot-as-backup/
cp config-example.json config.json

4. Edit configuration
Open the config.json file to complete the configuration.
You can find more information about the configuration below (click here)

5. Run script

python3 /opt/hcloud-snapshot-as-backup/snapshot-as-backup.py

To execute the script automatically, you can create a crontab: Crontab Generator

crontab -e

Add the crontab at the end of the file:

0 1 * * * python3 /opt/hcloud-snapshot-as-backup/snapshot-as-backup.py >/dev/null 2>&1

This crontab executes the script every day at 1am.

Configuration

Depending on how you run the script, you will need to configure.
When you run the script using Docker, the options are set by environment variables.
When you run the script via command/crontab, the options are set via the configuration file (config.json).

Generate Hetzner Cloud Console API-Key

1. Login to Hetzner Cloud Console
2. Select your project
3. Click "Access" on the left side
4. Switch to "API-Tokens" at the top
5. Click on "Create API Token" and create a new token with read & write permission
6. Copy the key and paste it into the environment variables under API_TOKEN or in the config under api-token

Choose how many backups you want to keep by default

You can specify in the environment variables under KEEP_LAST or in the config under keep-last how many backups you want to keep per server by default.
Labels can be used to overwrite the default value directly in the Hetzner Cloud Console.
Add the label AUTOBACKUP.KEEP-LAST with the value that should apply to the server.
The newest ones are kept and old ones are deleted.

Add label to servers that should be backed up

All servers that should be included by the script and automatic snapshot backups should be created must have the label AUTOBACKUP with the value true.

Choose a name for your snapshots (optional)

Specify how you want your snapshots to be named in the environment variables under SNAPSHOT_NAME or under snapshot-name in the config.
By default they are named <server name>-<timestamp>.

Placeholder	Value
%id%	ID of the server
%name%	Name of the server
%timestamp%	Current timestamp
%date%	Current date (%Y-%m-%d)
%time%	Current time (%H:%M:%S)

Docker: Specify how often the script should be executed via cron

If you run the script in Docker, a cron may be specified in the environment variables under CRON.
The cron is used to define how often and at which times the script should be executed.
Optionally, set CRON to false to disable CronScheduler in the container and schedule outside of the container.

Here you can create a cron: Cron Generator

For example:

0 1 * * *

This cron executes the script every day at 1am.

About Labels

This script works with the powerful Hetzner Labels.

• Server
  • AUTOBACKUP
    • Server with label AUTOBACKUP and value true are included by the script
    • This makes it possible to specify directly in the Hetzner Cloud Console for which servers automatic snapshot backups should be created
  • AUTOBACKUP.KEEP-LAST (optional)
    • The label AUTOBACKUP.KEEP-LAST can be used to specify how many backups should be kept for this server
    • If this label is not specified, the default value from the config is used
• Snapshots
  • AUTOBACKUP
    • Snapshots are provided with the label AUTOBACKUP
    • This makes it possible to see which snapshot was automatically created by the script
    • The script ignores all snapshots without this label (Therefore, only old snapshots with this label are deleted)
    • If you want to keep an automatically generated snapshot, just remove the label AUTOBACKUP

Why is this script useful?

Advantages	Disadvantages
Snapshot Backups can be created at own times (Backups at given time)	Snapshots are limited (but higher limit can be requested)
Any number can be kept (Backups only maximum 7)	May be more expensive for extremely large servers (lots of storage)
Are cheaper than backups for smaller servers (little storage space)
Are not server bound
New servers can be created directly from the snapshot