Duplicati (software)
Encyclopedia
Duplicati is a software suite
that provides easy encrypted
, versioned, remote backup of files requiring little of the remote server. Duplicati enables the user to create full and incremental backup
s allowing recovery of data at any of the backup times. Using only standard components such as rdiff, zip
, AESCrypt and GnuPG, the backup data is produced as incremental
, compressed
and encrypted files. The files are transmitted as plain binary files to a supported destination which includes local folder, FTP
, SSH
, WebDAV
, Amazon S3
, RackSpace
CloudFiles, Tahoe LAFS
, SkyDrive
and Google Docs.
, compressed
and encrypted
backup on remote storage. Using either a graphical
or a command-line
user interface, the user can back up, restore, list and examine backups stored on a remote or local server.
Released under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License
(LGPL), Duplicati is free software
.
, which enables it to be cross-platform. It runs well on 32bit and 64bit versions on Windows and Linux
using either Microsoft.NET
or Mono
.
Duplicati has both graphical user interface with a wizard
style interface as well as a commandline version for use in headless
environments. Both interfaces use the same core and thus has the same set of features and capabilities. The commandline version is almost identical to the Duplicity interface.
To cater for the laptop user, Duplicati can resume an interrupted backup without having to start over, and can also limit the CPU and network bandwidth usage.
Duplicati is not mature enough to be considered an enterprise system, but has some unique features that are usually only found in commercial systems, such as remote verification, disk snapshots, and backup of open files. The disk snapshots are performed with VSS on Windows and LVM
on Linux
.
storage provider. Duplicati is designed to be as independent of the provider as possible, which means that any storage medium that supports the common commands GET/PUT/LIST/DELETE can work with Duplicati.
The Duplicity model, on which Duplicati is based, relies heavily on components in the system, such as librdiff, TcFTP and others. Since Duplicati is intended to be cross platform, and it is unlikely that all those components are available on all platforms, Duplicati re-implements the components instead. Most notably, Duplicati features a rdiff and AESCrypt implementation that works on any system that supports a CLR
runtime.
, due to a problem with registering the tray icon with Mono
on Mac OS X
. The commandline version works fine on Mac OS X
.
The Duplicati GUI is intended to be used on a single machine with a display attached. Because of this, it is not currently possible to use Duplicati as a Windows service
or Linux Daemon
. A workaround is possible by using the commandline version, but that complicates monitoring of backup status. Work to solve this is in progress.
Since Duplicati produces incremental
backups, a corrupt
or missing volume can render an entire backup chain useless.
Duplicati handles symlinks as regular files or directories, and only stores the file modification date, not metadata like permissions and attributes.
Software suite
A software suite or application suite is a collection of computer programs, usually application software and programming software of related functionality, often sharing a more-or-less common user interface and some ability to smoothly exchange data with each other.Sometimes software makers...
that provides easy encrypted
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
, versioned, remote backup of files requiring little of the remote server. Duplicati enables the user to create full and incremental backup
Incremental backup
An incremental backup preserves data by not creating multiple copies that are based on the differences in those data: a successive copy of the data contains only that portion which has changed since the preceding copy has been created.-Incremental:...
s allowing recovery of data at any of the backup times. Using only standard components such as rdiff, zip
Zip
Zip or ZIP most commonly refers to:*Zipper or zip, a device for temporarily joining two edges of fabric together*ZIP code, the USPS Zone Improvement Plan used in postal addresses in the USA*Zip drive, a removable data storage format...
, AESCrypt and GnuPG, the backup data is produced as incremental
Incremental backup
An incremental backup preserves data by not creating multiple copies that are based on the differences in those data: a successive copy of the data contains only that portion which has changed since the preceding copy has been created.-Incremental:...
, compressed
Data compression
In computer science and information theory, data compression, source coding or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation would use....
and encrypted files. The files are transmitted as plain binary files to a supported destination which includes local folder, FTP
File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
, SSH
Secure Shell
Secure Shell is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client...
, WebDAV
WebDAV
Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning is a set of methods based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that facilitates collaboration between users in editing and managing documents and files stored on World Wide Web servers...
, Amazon S3
Amazon S3
Amazon S3 is an online storage web service offered by Amazon Web Services. Amazon S3 provides storage through web services interfaces...
, RackSpace
Rackspace
Rackspace US, Inc. is an IT hosting company based in San Antonio, Texas. The company also has offices in Australia, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Hong Kong, and data centers operating in Texas, Illinois, Virginia, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong in late 2008...
CloudFiles, Tahoe LAFS
Tahoe Least-Authority Filesystem
The Tahoe Least-Authority Filesystem is an open source, secure, decentralized, fault-tolerant, peer-to-peer filesystem. It is being used as an online backup system by . It can also serve as a file or web host similar to Freenet, depending on the front-end used to insert and access files in the...
, SkyDrive
Windows Live SkyDrive
Windows Live SkyDrive, initially called Windows Live Folders, is a free-of-charge file hosting service that allows users to upload files to a cloud storage and then access them from a Web browser...
and Google Docs.
Introduction
Duplicati is a collection of programs that use common algorithms for producing incrementalIncremental backup
An incremental backup preserves data by not creating multiple copies that are based on the differences in those data: a successive copy of the data contains only that portion which has changed since the preceding copy has been created.-Incremental:...
, compressed
Data compression
In computer science and information theory, data compression, source coding or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation would use....
and encrypted
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
backup on remote storage. Using either a graphical
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
or a command-line
Command-line interface
A command-line interface is a mechanism for interacting with a computer operating system or software by typing commands to perform specific tasks...
user interface, the user can back up, restore, list and examine backups stored on a remote or local server.
Released under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License
GNU Lesser General Public License
The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...
(LGPL), Duplicati is free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
.
History
The original Duplicati project was started in June 2008 and intended to produce a graphical user interface for the Duplicity program. This included a port of the Duplicity code for use on Windows, but was dropped in September 2008 where work on a clean re-implementation began. This re-implementation includes all the sub-programs found in Duplicity, such as rdiff, ftp, etc., which saw an initial release in June 2009.Features
Duplicati is written mostly in C# and implemented completely within the CLRCommon Language Runtime
The Common Language Runtime is the virtual machine component of Microsoft's .NET framework and is responsible for managing the execution of .NET programs. In a process known as just-in-time compilation, the CLR compiles the intermediate language code known as CIL into the machine instructions...
, which enables it to be cross-platform. It runs well on 32bit and 64bit versions on Windows and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
using either Microsoft.NET
Microsoft.net
Microsoft.net may refer to:*Microsoft.com, the official Microsoft's website*.NET Framework, a software component that is a part of Microsoft Windows operating systems...
or Mono
Mono (software)
Mono, pronounced , is a free and open source project led by Xamarin to create an Ecma standard compliant .NET-compatible set of tools including, among others, a C# compiler and a Common Language Runtime....
.
Duplicati has both graphical user interface with a wizard
Wizard (software)
A software wizard or setup assistant is a user interface type that presents a user with a sequence of dialog boxes that lead the user through a series of well-defined steps. Tasks that are complex, infrequently performed, or unfamiliar may be easier to perform using a wizard...
style interface as well as a commandline version for use in headless
Headless system
A headless system is a computer system or device that has been configured to operate without a monitor , keyboard and mouse...
environments. Both interfaces use the same core and thus has the same set of features and capabilities. The commandline version is almost identical to the Duplicity interface.
To cater for the laptop user, Duplicati can resume an interrupted backup without having to start over, and can also limit the CPU and network bandwidth usage.
Duplicati is not mature enough to be considered an enterprise system, but has some unique features that are usually only found in commercial systems, such as remote verification, disk snapshots, and backup of open files. The disk snapshots are performed with VSS on Windows and LVM
Logical volume management
In computer storage, logical volume management or LVM provides a method of allocating space on mass-storage devices that is more flexible than conventional partitioning schemes...
on Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
.
Implementation
The Duplicati GUI and commandline interface both call a common component called Main which serves as a binding point for all the operations supported. Currently the encryption, compression and storage component are considered subcomponent and are loaded at runtime, making it possible for a thirdparty developer to inject a subcomponent into Duplicati without access to the source, or any need to modify Duplicati itself. The license type is also flexible enough to allow redistribution of Duplicati with a closed sourceProprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
storage provider. Duplicati is designed to be as independent of the provider as possible, which means that any storage medium that supports the common commands GET/PUT/LIST/DELETE can work with Duplicati.
The Duplicity model, on which Duplicati is based, relies heavily on components in the system, such as librdiff, TcFTP and others. Since Duplicati is intended to be cross platform, and it is unlikely that all those components are available on all platforms, Duplicati re-implements the components instead. Most notably, Duplicati features a rdiff and AESCrypt implementation that works on any system that supports a CLR
Common Language Runtime
The Common Language Runtime is the virtual machine component of Microsoft's .NET framework and is responsible for managing the execution of .NET programs. In a process known as just-in-time compilation, the CLR compiles the intermediate language code known as CIL into the machine instructions...
runtime.
Limitations
The GUI is not currently supported on Mac OS XMac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, due to a problem with registering the tray icon with Mono
Mono (software)
Mono, pronounced , is a free and open source project led by Xamarin to create an Ecma standard compliant .NET-compatible set of tools including, among others, a C# compiler and a Common Language Runtime....
on Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
. The commandline version works fine on Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
.
The Duplicati GUI is intended to be used on a single machine with a display attached. Because of this, it is not currently possible to use Duplicati as a Windows service
Windows Service
On Microsoft Windows operating systems, a Windows service is a long-running executable that performs specific functions and which is designed not to require user intervention. Windows services can be configured to start when the operating system is booted and run in the background as long as...
or Linux Daemon
Daemon (computing)
In Unix and other multitasking computer operating systems, a daemon is a computer program that runs as a background process, rather than being under the direct control of an interactive user...
. A workaround is possible by using the commandline version, but that complicates monitoring of backup status. Work to solve this is in progress.
Since Duplicati produces incremental
Incremental backup
An incremental backup preserves data by not creating multiple copies that are based on the differences in those data: a successive copy of the data contains only that portion which has changed since the preceding copy has been created.-Incremental:...
backups, a corrupt
Data corruption
Data corruption refers to errors in computer data that occur during writing, reading, storage, transmission, or processing, which introduce unintended changes to the original data...
or missing volume can render an entire backup chain useless.
Duplicati handles symlinks as regular files or directories, and only stores the file modification date, not metadata like permissions and attributes.
External links
- Official Duplicati website
- Official Developer's Site
- Duplicity - Duplicity home page
- Netbook - Netbook user guide
- Google Docs - Google Docs
- Rackspace CloudFiles - Rackspace CloudFiles
- AESCrypt - AESCrypt