Guides

Move a file from one host to another

    [thinclient]$ scp -r router:/home/tower/myfile office:/home/tower
    [thinclient]$ ssh router rm /home/tower/myfile

Backup hosts with restic

It is recommended to reserve one of your hosts, for example storage, to store the backups of all the other hosts there. Here's how, using restic, you can store the backup of an office host on a storage host:

1. Install restic

   [thinclient]$ tower install storage restic
   [thinclient]$ tower install office restic
   [thinclient]$ tower install thinclient restic
   

2. Initialize restic repo in each host

   [thinclient]$ restic -r sftp:storage:backup init
   [thinclient]$ restic -r sftp:office:backup init --from-repo sftp:storage:backup --copy-chunker-params
   

   Note: --copy-chunker-params is important to ensure deduplication. See "Copying snapshots between repositories" for more options.

3. Backup ~/mydata folder in office host

   [thinclient]$ ssh -t office restic -r backup backup mydata
   

4. Copy office snapshot into storage repo

   [thinclient]$ restic -r sftp:storage:backup copy --from-repo sftp:office:backup latest
   

   Note: here restic copies the backup from the office host to the thin client, and then copies it to the storage host. You can optionally clear the cache stored on the thin client:

   [thinclient]$ rm -rf ~/.cache/restic
   

5. Restore backup into office

   [thinclient]$ restic -r sftp:office:backup copy --from-repo sftp:storage:backup latest --host office
   [thinclient]$ ssh -t office restic -r backup restore latest --target ~/
   

Install pip package in offline host using online host

Before installing a package with pip, check that there is no apk package installable with tower install.

1. Install pip in online and offline host

   [thinclient]$ tower install web python3 py3-pip
   [thinclient]$ tower install office python3 py3-pip
   

2. Download package and dependencies in online host

   [thinclient]$ ssh web mkdir mypackages
   [thinclient]$ ssh web pip download <package_name> -d mypackages
   

3. Copy package and dependencies to offline host

   [thinclient]$ scp -r web:mypackages office:
   

4. Install pip package in offline host

To install a package with pip you must create a virtual environment. Please refer to the official documentation. Make sure to install your environment in the /home folder if you want it to be preserved during an upgrade.

    [thinclient]$ ssh office
    [office]$ mkdir myproject
    [office]$ cd myproject
    [office]$ python3 -m venv .venv
    [office]$ source .venv/bin/activate
    (.venv)[office]$ pip install --no-index --find-links="~/mypackages" <package_name>

1. Clean up

   [thinclient]$ ssh office rm -rf mypackages
   [thinclient]$ ssh web rm -rf mypackages
   

Install npm package in offline host using online host

1. Install npm in online and offline host

   [thinclient]$ tower install web npm
   [thinclient]$ tower install office npm
   

2. Download package and dependencies in online host

   [thinclient]$ ssh web 'mkdir mypackages && cd mypackages && npm init -y'
   [thinclient]$ ssh web 'cd mypackages && npm install -B <package_name> && npm pack'
   

3. Copy package and dependencies to offline host

   [thinclient]$ scp -r web:mypackages/mypackages-1.0.0.tgz office:
   

4. Install npm package in offline host

   [thinclient]$ ssh office tar -xvzf mypackages-1.0.0.tgz
   [thinclient]$ ssh office 'sudo npm install -g package/node_modules/*/'
   

5. Clean up

   [thinclient]$ ssh office rm -rf mypackages-1.0.0.tgz package
   [thinclient]$ ssh web rm -rf mypackages