btrfs-snappy

BTRFS Automatic Snapshot Utility allows the user to setup automatic snapshots of btrfs subvolumes using crontab. With a central config file each subvolume can have independant snapshot intervals and retension without verbose crontabs.

Quick-Start

Download the main executable and put it somewhere on the path

cd /usr/local/bin/
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/patrickglass/btrfs-snappy/master/btrfs-snap.py
sudo chmod 700 btrfs-snap.py
sudo btrfs-snap.py --create_config

Edit this config file and ensure you have specified all of your subvolumes

vi /etc/btrfs-snappy.conf

The locations are specified with a name, the subvolume path, and the optional rentention if you do not want the default.

locations:
    <friendly_name>:
        subvolume: <path_to_my_subvolume>
        retention: *default

Example using default retension and btrfs root system

locations:
    root:
        subvolume: /
        retention: *short
    var: /var
    home:
        subvolume: /home
        retention: *long

Example of secondary mount with media and personal subvolumes

locations:
    main:
        subvolume: /nas
        retention: *short
    movies:
        subvolume: /nas/media/movies
        retention: *short
    tv_shows:
        subvolume: /nas/media/tv_shows
        retention: *short
    downloads:
        subvolume: /nas/media/downloads
        retention: *short
    work:
        subvolume: /nas/work
        retention: *long
    personal: /nas/personal_vol

Now one must setup crontab to call this new executable at regular intervals.

sudo crontab -e

Use the following as an example

# m   h  dom mon dow  command
*/15  *   *   *   *   btrfs-snap.py minute
0     *   *   *   *   btrfs-snap.py hourly
0     0   *   *   *   btrfs-snap.py daily
0     0   *   *   0   btrfs-snap.py weekly
0     0   1   *   *   btrfs-snap.py monthly
0     0   1   1   *   btrfs-snap.py yearly