Backup and erase

A box can copy everything it holds to a storage bucket you rent, and it can erase itself completely. The two work together: back up, erase, and the recovery code brings it all back, on the same box or on a new one.

The bucket

Settings → Backup takes any S3-compatible bucket: Amazon S3 (Glacier included), Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Cloudflare R2, or a MinIO on your own network. You need five things from the provider:

• the address, such as https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com;
• the bucket name;
• a folder inside it, if you want one;
• the region, if the provider asks for one;
• an access key and its secret key, allowed to read and write that bucket.

The address must start with https://. Plain http:// is accepted only for an address on your own network, such as a NAS. Once saved, the secret key is never shown again. To change the bucket later, leave the secret field empty and the stored one is kept.

Glacier on Amazon S3

With an Amazon S3 address (https://s3.<region>.amazonaws.com), Storage puts the backups in one of the Glacier storage classes. They cost less to keep and more to read back:

Storage	A restore starts	Good for
Standard	at once	backups you may need any day
Glacier Instant Retrieval	at once, AWS charges per read	a cheaper copy you rarely read
Glacier Flexible Retrieval	after 3 to 5 hours	a copy for when the box is gone
Glacier Deep Archive	after up to 12 hours	the cheapest copy, for the worst day

Only the files go into Glacier. The small index that lists the backups stays in Standard, so the box can still check a recovery code and tidy old backups at once. With Flexible Retrieval and Deep Archive a restore first asks AWS to thaw the backup and waits; LosOS Cloud and LosOS Git keep running until the files come back. AWS charges for the thaw, and Glacier classes also have a minimum storage time, so a backup tidied away early is still billed for it.

No lifecycle rule on the bucket

Choose the class here rather than with a lifecycle rule on the bucket. A rule over the whole bucket moves the index into Glacier too, and then no backup can be listed or opened until AWS thaws it.

The recovery code

Every backup is encrypted on the box before it leaves, with the box's recovery code as the key. The bucket's owner sees only data that cannot be read without it, and nobody can open a backup without the code, LosOS included. Show under The key to your backups displays it. Write it down somewhere other than the box.

What a backup holds

• LosOS Cloud's files;
• LosOS Git's repositories;
• the databases of both;
• the folder the box shares with the mesh, if sharing is on (it is opened for the copy and locked again afterwards);
• every setting, and the look of the home page.

Thumbnails LosOS Cloud can draw again are left out. Back up now starts a backup. The first one copies everything; later ones send only what changed. The bucket keeps the last seven.

Restoring

Under Restore, type the recovery code of the box that made the backup and press Restore…. The newest backup in the bucket comes back:

• what is on the box now is replaced by what is in the backup;
• LosOS Cloud and LosOS Git stop while the files are put back, then start again. From Glacier Flexible Retrieval or Deep Archive the backup is thawed first, which takes hours;
• the settings in the backup are applied, which rebuilds the box;
• the box keeps the code you typed from then on, so its next backup goes to the same place.

Sign in afterwards with the password you had when the backup was made. A wrong code fails with "the recovery code does not open this backup", and nothing on the box changes.

Restoring onto a fresh box

On a box that was erased or installed again, run the wizard first, then set up the same bucket under Backup and restore from there.

Erasing the box

Settings → Reset → Erase… deletes the owner's data, not only the settings: files, repositories, the shared folder, every setting, the password, the spare key and the recovery code. LosOS stays installed, and the box greets the next person with the setup wizard.

In order, the box:

1. backs up to the bucket first, if Back up first is on. A failed backup stops the erase and nothing is deleted;
2. counts down, fifteen minutes unless losos.reset.graceMinutes on the Advanced pane says otherwise. Cancel erase stops everything until the countdown ends, and nothing has changed by then;
3. gives up what it holds outside itself: its custom domains, its market listings and its place on the edge;
4. puts every setting back, restarts, and deletes the data early in the next start, before any app is running.

No way back after step 3

From step 3 on, the erase cannot be stopped. A step the edge does not confirm is noted and the erase carries on. After the restart, Settings → Reset shows what the last erase gave up, as counts, and says when the edge did not confirm a step.

Backups already in the bucket stay there. The erase never touches the bucket.

Erase, reset or reinstall

	Settings	Files and repositories	Password and codes	Outside the box
Reset	back to defaults	kept	kept	kept
Erase	back to defaults	deleted	deleted	given up
Reinstall	back to defaults	deleted	deleted	left as they were

Reset and reinstall covers the other two.