Switch from Samba to SFTP

[joe2]

Hello, I’ve done quite some digging through the forum before posting this but am not 100% sure I follow.

I am not sure if I need to be using bit-identical, copy, or simply just a case of deleting the current storage and creating a new one, using the same storage password.

Use case: I’ve been running a local backup from one Unraid server to another, over LAN, with the storage destination being a Samba share. The performance is truly abysmal, with speeds sitting around 12MB/s. Given the dataset is 30TB, this is simply not acceptable for a backup over gigabit LAN.

I did a test backup with SFTP to the same server, to a new test folder on the same Unraid share as the original Samba backup is using, and speeds look to be around 80MB/s which seems much more in line with my expectations.

Since I have already backed up around 8TB to the Samba storage, is it possible to simply delete the Samba storage from Duplicacy WebGUI, create a new SFTP storage with the same exact Storage name and Storage password, and simply pick up where it left off? (Assuming I mount the folder currently being used by the Samba storage as accessible via SFTP).

Would the creation of the new SFTP Storage, in the same folder as is currently set for the Samba backup, cause the config file to get overwritten? Do I need to instead initialise a new SFTP storage with the bit-identical command, move all the chunks/snapshots to that new folder, and then run the backup on the new SFTP Storage?

Thank you in advance and apologies for the waffle - I’ve read so many different posts but haven’t found one specific to my use case, most seem to be about moving from cloud to local, rather than simply changing the protocol used for an existing local backup.

[saspus]

@joe2

possible to simply delete the Samba storage from Duplicacy WebGUI, create a new SFTP storage with the same exact Storage name and Storage password, and simply pick up where it left off?

Yes, this is the way. When you create storage in duplicacy, and point to location that already contains duplicacy data, it is instead being adopted.

@joe2

Assuming I mount the folder currently being used by the Samba storage as accessible via SFTP).

I would not mount neither samba nor SFTP storage. Use them directly in duplicacy. Likely this is the root cause of your performance issues. Samba shall be somewhat faster than SFTP, and use fewer resources — no need to encrypt and decrypt data. Samba is more sensitive to latency — but for your gigabit lan this is not an issue.

It’s also possible that unraid botched samba configuration. Check maybe you have signing enabled there.

On the other hand if you definitely validated that SFTP gives you adequate performance — use SFTP. Out of abundance of caution I would suggest using absolute path in your SFTP connection string, as some SFTP servers included with appliances are not handing relative paths correctly. See the remark in the wiki.

https://github.com/gilbertchen/duplicacy/wiki/Storage-Backends

@joe2

in the same folder as is currently set for the Samba backup, cause the config file to get overwritten?

No

@joe2

Do I need to instead initialise a new SFTP storage with the bit-identical command, move all the chunks/snapshots to that new folder, and then run the backup on the new SFTP Storage?

No.

[joe2]

@saspus

Yes, this is the way. When you create storage in duplicacy, and point to location that already contains duplicacy data, it is instead being adopted.

Awesome - confirming I did this and it’s discovered the data and continued the backup where it left off. I think I will need to do some digging over the coming weeks in case something is misconfigured with SMB in either of the 2 Unraid boxes. I moved the backup box to another premises today, connected via Unifi SD-WAN, and Samba storage was getting ~200kpbs. Since switching to SFTP it’s saturating the 110mbps uplink from the source server.

Thank you for the support!

[saspus]

@joe2

Unifi SD-WAN, and Samba storage was getting ~200kpbs

This is expected. Maybe not to the degree you are seeing - but not completely unusual. SMB is latency sensitive. It wont perform well over wan. In this case SFTP is the right choice.