Backing up several Macs using a Linux based Time Machine server
Backups were one of my first concerns when we started Musikki. As soon as we got more than a few machines and a local all-purpose server, I started looking for a way of easily backing up everyone’s Macs.
The solution turned out to be quite simple, despite the initial setbacks caused by bad configuration.
So, if you want to do Time Machine based remote backups and have all of the following: a local network; one or more macs; a box running ubuntu - you are half way through. You just need to install and properly configure Netatalk.
On their own words, Netatalk isÂ
“[...] a freely-available Open Source AFP fileserver. A UNIX, Linux or BSD system running Netatalk is capable of serving many Macintosh clients simultaneously as an AppleShare file server (AFP)”
After doing sudo apt-get install netatalk, make sure you follow this checklist:
- Create a user on the linux box to deal with the backups. Let’s say you name it tmbackup.
- Create a folder to store the backups and make sure your previously created user has +rwx permissions. Let’s say you name it /timemachine.
- Append (or edit) /etc/netatalk/adpf.conf to look like this:
- -tcp -noddp -uamlist uams_dhx.so,uams_dhx2.so,uams_dhx2_passwd.so -nosavepassword
- Append (or edit) /etc/netatalk/AppleVolumes.default to look like this:
/timemachine “FriendlyBackupName” allow:tmbackup options:tm
- Restart netatalk.Â
At this point, you should be able to see the Time Machine volume on your Macs and be able to set the backups using the tmbackup user. There are other configurations available but these should be enough to get you going.
