allsky-rodgau.de

After the database, configuration and migration of indi-allsky have already been automatically backed up to an external drive, the next step was to work on the actual files: the night images from which Timelapse, Keogramm and Startrails will later be created.

The basis for this is phase 1 of the backup, which I have described here:

Automatic indi-allsky backup on external drive (Fritzbox NAS) – Phase 1

Phase 2 is much more demanding. While database backups are comparatively small and deterministic, with image data we are quickly talking about several gigabytes per night – and about data that is not all equally valuable.

Why not simply “back up everything”?

An all-sky system produces images every night – regardless of whether the sky is clear, partially cloudy or completely unusable. If you backed up all the files blindly, even a large external hard disk would fill up very quickly.

That’s why it was clear from the start: the backup must be quality-based.
Not every night is equally valuable – and with indi-allsky this can be derived very well from the database.

And this is how I proceeded…

In this article, I describe how I back up my indi-allsky installation on my Raspberry Pi fully automatically to an external hard disk.

The official indi-allsky documentation describes very well what should be backed up – but leaves open how to turn it into a reliable, automated backup.

In my setup, indi-allsky runs permanently on a Raspberry Pi. The backup is not done locally, but on an external SSD on a Fritzbox, connected via SMB.

The aim was to consistently implement the recommendations from the official documentation: Backup and Recovery – indi-allsky and to expand it to production readiness:

• external target
• automatic backups
• integrity checks
• time-based retention
• Mail notification in case of errors

…and this is how I proceeded!

After using the basic version of my Raspberry Pi setup as a digital picture frame for a few weeks in everyday life, it was clear that the system was stable – but the dashboard itself could be significantly improved.

I have described the basis here:
Raspberry Pi as a digital picture frame in kiosk mode – hardware, setup & troubleshooting

This update builds exactly on this and describes the final, corrected version, which is now running permanently and unattended.