Repositories
A repository is a place where Kopia stores its snapshot data. Kopia currently supports the following storage backends:
- Google Cloud Storage
- Azure Blob Storage
- Amazon S3 (and compatible)
- Backblaze B2
- SFTP
- WebDAV
- Rclone
- Local storage
In addition, Kopia can connect to a Kopia Repository Server that acts as a proxy for the storage backend.
Many storage providers offer products with a variety of “tiers” suitable for different use cases. Choosing appropriate storage tiers may result in lower costs depending on, for example, how frequently data needs to be retrieved. See Storage Tiers for further details.
Google Cloud Storage
Google Cloud Storage is a globally unified, scalable, and highly durable object storage for developers and enterprises.
Creating a repository
To create a repository in Google Cloud Storage you need to provision a storage bucket and install local credentials that can access that bucket. To do so:
- Create a storage bucket in Google Cloud Console
- Install Google Cloud SDK
- Log in with credentials that have permissions to the bucket.
$ gcloud auth application-default login
After these preparations we can create Kopia repository (assuming bucket named kopia-test-123):
$ kopia repository create gcs --bucket kopia-test-123
At this point we should be able to confirm that Kopia has created the skeleton of the repository with 3 files in it:
$ gsutil ls gs://kopia-test-123
gs://kopia-test-123/kopia.repository
gs://kopia-test-123/n417ffc2adc8dbe93f1814eda3ba8a07c
gs://kopia-test-123/p78e034ac8b891168df97f9897d7ec316
Connecting To Repository
To connect to a repository that already exists, simply use kopia repository connect instead of kopia repository create. You can connect as many computers as you like to any repository, even simultaneously.
$ kopia repository connect gcs --bucket kopia-test-123
Detailed information and settings
Amazon S3
Kopia can connect to S3 compatible storage, such as Amazon S3, minio.io, Wasabi
Creating a repository
You will need your S3 bucket name, access key and secret access key.
$ kopia repository create s3 \
--bucket=... \
--access-key=... \
--secret-access-key=...
Connecting To Repository
$ kopia repository connect s3
Detailed information and settings
B2
B2 is a very cheap yet fully featured S3 compatible storage.
Creating a repository
You will need your B2 bucket name, key-id and key.
$ kopia repository create b2 \
--bucket=... \
--key-id=... \
--key=...
Connecting To Repository
$ kopia repository connect b2
Detailed information and settings
SFTP
The SFTP provider can be used to connect to a file server over SFTP/SSH protocol.
You must first configure passwordless SFTP login by following these instructions. Choose an empty passphrase because Kopia does not allow password prompts for the backend.
If everything is configured correctly, you should be able to connect to your SFTP server without any password by using:
$ sftp [email protected]
Connected to my-server.
sftp>
Creating a repository
Once the passwordless connection works, then you can create a Kopia SFTP repository. Assuming you want the files to be stored under /remote/path, run the command below. Adjust the username and paths to the key file and known hosts file as necessary.
$ kopia repository create sftp \
--host my-server \
--username some-user \
--keyfile ~/.ssh/id_rsa \
--known-hosts ~/.ssh/known_hosts \
--path /remote/path
When prompted, enter Kopia password to encrypt the repository contents.
If everything is done correctly, you should be able to verify that SFTP server indeed has Kopia files in the provided location, including special file named kopia.repository.f:
$ sftp [email protected]
sftp> ls -al /remote/path
-rw-r--r-- 1 some-user some-user 661 Sep 18 16:12 kopia.repository.f
Connecting To Repository
To connect to an existing SFTP repository, simply use connect instead of create:
$ kopia repository connect sftp \
--host my-server \
--username some-user \
--keyfile ~/.ssh/id_rsa \
--known-hosts ~/.ssh/known_hosts \
--path /remote/path
If the connection to SFTP server does not work, try adding --external which will launch external ssh process, which supports more connectivity options which may be needed for some hosts.
Detailed information and settings
Rclone
Kopia can connect to certain backends supported by Rclone as long as they support server-side timestamps.
WARNING: Rclone support is experimental, use at your own risk.
Creating a repository
First you should follow rclone instructions for setting up a remote. This is provider specific, detailed instructions can be found at https://rclone.org/#providers.
Assuming you’ve configured a remote named my-remote, you may create Kopia repository using:
$ kopia repository create rclone --remote-path my-remote:/some/path
Connecting to repository
$ kopia repository connect rclone --remote-path my-remote:/some/path
Detailed information and settings
Local storage
Local storage includes any directory mounted and accessible. You can mount any readable directory available on your storage, a directory on usb device, a directory mounted with smb, ntfs, sshfs or similar.
Creating a repository
$ kopia repository create filesystem --path /tmp/my-repository
Connecting to repository
$ kopia repository connect filesystem --path /tmp/my-repository
We can examine the directory to see which files were created. As you can see Kopia uses sharded directory structure to optimize performance.
$ find /tmp/my-repository -type f
/tmp/my-repository/n1b/d00/aa56a13c1140142b39befb654a2.f
/tmp/my-repository/pea/8b5/e01d92618653ffbf2bb9961448d.f
/tmp/my-repository/kopia.repository.f
Detailed information and settings