Backup

In the past, I have followed a method of updating OpenWrt devices with an option to restore all installed packages and their configurations without needing to spend hours on reconfiguring and testing everything.

This method uses a simple script run in the terminal to generate a list of installed packages, followed by a web interface to generate a backup file used to restore everything.

As long as the backup file is generated correctly, the restoration process works well, but the problem arises when it isn’t!

On several routers with OpenWrt (24.10.x) that I worked with over recent weeks, I experienced a strange issue that caused me to rethink how I generate a backup file to later use to restore all packages and settings after updating OpenWrt to the latest version.

I discovered this issue the hard way when I wanted to extract a backup to retrieve some configuration from individual files. I noticed that the backup failed to extract correctly.

When I started working for my employer, they were using an on-site server and file storage with overnight backups to external drives. Everything was limited by the broadband (internet connection) speed, which in England is quite crazy — business parks rarely have access to inexpensive fibre connections, whereas at home you can get cheap Full Fibre. When things changed (or rather, the company needed to invest in change), we moved everything into the cloud.

We chose Microsoft 365 as our provider.

Once the migration was completed and people had got used to accessing their files in the new way (which hadn’t changed much thanks to the integration of the OneDrive app with Windows, apart from the use of file links), I needed to find a method to back up all files in case of an emergency (or the accidental removal of important files by an employee).

Although Microsoft provides an option to restore files for a short period (typically 30 days), sometimes that may be too short — by the time you notice files are missing, it could be too late. It’s better to have a backup (even an old version of the file) than to have no copy at all.

Without going into costly online backup solutions, or even investing in Microsoft 365 Backup (with its pay-as-you-go billing model), I decided to build an inexpensive and relatively cheap long-term backup system — and I did.

Whether you have reinstalled OpenWrt or updated it, even though you have backed up your settings, any additionally installed packages have not (will not) been preserved, so restoring the settings will not make everything as it was. For now, this is normal behavior with OpenWrt. Therefore, you need to think about how to approach this so that the update and restore of settings will proceed as expected, i.e. together with the packages.

Some time ago on my blog I touched on the topic of storing and managing a collection of photos. With the development of Picasa coming to an end, I decided to use Lightroom.

My adventure with Lightroom lasted for some time, but I always felt insecure when it came to storing photos.