jetbackup-remote

Remote orchestrator that serializes JetBackup5 backup jobs across multiple servers to prevent storage controller saturation.

Problem

When multiple JetBackup5 servers push backups simultaneously to a NAS connected via USB (JMicron JMS567 RAID controller on Raspberry Pi), the controller saturates and throughput drops to ~1KB/s. This makes backups that should take 1-2 hours take days.

Solution

jetbackup-remote runs on the Raspberry Pi and triggers backup jobs one at a time (FIFO queue), polling for completion before starting the next. The NAS only handles one write stream at a time, keeping throughput at full speed.

Features

• FIFO queue: Jobs execute one at a time across all servers
• SSH + jetbackup5api: Triggers and monitors jobs remotely via the JetBackup5 CLI API
• Command-restricted SSH: Gate script limits Pi's access to only backup API functions
• Non-aborting timeouts: Timed-out jobs are reported, never killed (prevents backup corruption)
• Email notifications: Alerts on failure, timeout, or completion
• Graceful shutdown: Handles SIGTERM/SIGINT cleanly
• Lock file: Prevents concurrent executions
• Zero dependencies: Pure Python stdlib, no pip packages needed

Quick start

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/AichaDigital/jetbackup-remote.git
cd jetbackup-remote

# Configure
cp config.example.json /etc/jetbackup-remote/config.json
# Edit config.json with your servers and job IDs

# Test connectivity
python3 -m jetbackup_remote -c /etc/jetbackup-remote/config.json test

# Dry run
python3 -m jetbackup_remote -c /etc/jetbackup-remote/config.json run --dry-run

# Live run
python3 -m jetbackup_remote -c /etc/jetbackup-remote/config.json run

CLI

jetbackup-remote run [--dry-run] [--server NAME] [--job ID]
jetbackup-remote status [--server NAME] [--json]
jetbackup-remote test [--server NAME]
jetbackup-remote list [--json]
jetbackup-remote stop --server NAME JOB_ID
jetbackup-remote validate

Documentation

• Manual de uso (español) — Guía completa en español
• Installation guide
• Security model

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• SSH access to JetBackup5 servers
• JetBackup5 with jetbackup5api CLI

License

GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 — see LICENSE

Author

Abdelkarim Mateos (abdelkarim@aichadigital.es)