Automated Docker Backups on OpenMediaVault

This guide walks you through setting up a fully automated Docker backup system on your OpenMediaVault NAS, and how to restore it after a fresh install. You’ll also learn how to install Docker and Portainer again from scratch.

🧠 Overview

We’ll use systemd timers to automate a script that backs up key Docker folders — volumes, containers, network, Config, and swarm — and compress them to an archive.

Optional Step

📢 Use this Telegram script regularly to get instant alerts from the server.
It’s lightweight, fast, and keeps me in the loop 24/7.
Highly recommended for any automation or backup setup! 💡

🔗Level Up Your Telegram Notifications: Secure Credentials with a .env File

🛠 Step 1: Create the Backup Script

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/docker_backup.sh

#!/bin/bash

# === CONFIGURATION ===
TIMESTAMP=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S")
BACKUP_DIR="/srv/personal/backups/backups/docker"
LOG_DIR="/srv/personal/backups/logs"
LOG_FILE="$LOG_DIR/docker-backup_$TIMESTAMP.log"
TELEGRAM_SCRIPT="/usr/local/bin/telegram_notify.sh"

# DB container settings
NEXTCLOUD_DB_CONTAINER="nextcloud_db"
NEXTCLOUD_DB_NAME="nextcloud"
NEXTCLOUD_DB_USER="root"
NEXTCLOUD_DB_PASS="DB_PASSWORD"
NEXTCLOUD_DB_DUMP_FILE="$BACKUP_DIR/nextcloud-db_$TIMESTAMP.sql"

IMMICH_DB_CONTAINER="immich_postgres"
IMMICH_DB_NAME="immich"
IMMICH_DB_DUMP_FILE="$BACKUP_DIR/immich-db_$TIMESTAMP.sql"

WEBTREES_DB_CONTAINER="webtrees-db"
WEBTREES_DB_NAME="webtrees"
WEBTREES_DB_USER="webtrees"
WEBTREES_DB_PASS="DB_PASSWORD"
WEBTREES_DB_DUMP_FILE="$BACKUP_DIR/webtrees-db_$TIMESTAMP.sql"

# Docker folders
DOCKER_PATH="/var/lib/docker"
DOCKER_SUBDIRS=("containers" "volumes" "network" "swarm" "config")
DOCKER_BACKUP_PATH="$BACKUP_DIR/docker"

# === FUNCTIONS ===
log() {
    echo "[$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")] $1" | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
}

send_telegram() {
    [ -x "$TELEGRAM_SCRIPT" ] && "$TELEGRAM_SCRIPT" "$1"
}

# === START ===
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR" "$LOG_DIR"
log "[INFO] Starting NAS backup..."
send_telegram "🚀 NAS Backup started at $TIMESTAMP"

# === NEXTCLOUD DB DUMP ===
log "[INFO] Dumping Nextcloud DB..."
docker exec "$NEXTCLOUD_DB_CONTAINER" sh -c "exec mysqldump -u$NEXTCLOUD_DB_USER -p$NEXTCLOUD_DB_PASS $NEXTCLOUD_DB_NAME" > "$NEXTCLOUD_DB_DUMP_FILE" 2>>"$LOG_FILE"
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    log "[SUCCESS] Nextcloud DB saved: $NEXTCLOUD_DB_DUMP_FILE"
    send_telegram "✅ Nextcloud DB backup done: $(basename "$NEXTCLOUD_DB_DUMP_FILE")"
    ls -1t "$BACKUP_DIR"/nextcloud-db_*.sql | tail -n +2 | xargs -r rm -f
else
    log "[ERROR] Nextcloud DB dump failed!"
    send_telegram "❌ Nextcloud DB backup failed!"
    exit 1
fi

# === IMMICH DB DUMP ===
log "[INFO] Dumping Immich DB..."
docker exec -t "$IMMICH_DB_CONTAINER" pg_dump -U postgres "$IMMICH_DB_NAME" > "$IMMICH_DB_DUMP_FILE" 2>>"$LOG_FILE"
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    log "[SUCCESS] Immich DB saved: $IMMICH_DB_DUMP_FILE"
    send_telegram "✅ Immich DB backup done: $(basename "$IMMICH_DB_DUMP_FILE")"
    ls -1t "$BACKUP_DIR"/immich-db_*.sql | tail -n +2 | xargs -r rm -f
else
    log "[ERROR] Immich DB dump failed!"
    send_telegram "❌ Immich DB backup failed!"
    exit 1
fi

# === WEBTREES DB DUMP USING mariadb:10.6 ===
log "[INFO] Dumping Webtrees DB using temporary mysqldump container..."
docker run --rm --network container:"$WEBTREES_DB_CONTAINER" \
  -e MYSQL_PWD="$WEBTREES_DB_PASS" mariadb:10.6 \
  sh -c "mysqldump -h127.0.0.1 -P3306 -u$WEBTREES_DB_USER $WEBTREES_DB_NAME" > "$WEBTREES_DB_DUMP_FILE" 2>>"$LOG_FILE"

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    log "[SUCCESS] Webtrees DB saved: $WEBTREES_DB_DUMP_FILE"
    send_telegram "✅ Webtrees DB backup done: $(basename "$WEBTREES_DB_DUMP_FILE")"
    ls -1t "$BACKUP_DIR"/webtrees-db_*.sql | tail -n +2 | xargs -r rm -f
else
    log "[ERROR] Webtrees DB dump failed!"
    send_telegram "❌ Webtrees DB backup failed!"
    exit 1
fi

# === BACKUP DOCKER CONFIGS ===
log "[INFO] Stopping Docker service..."
systemctl stop docker || { log "[ERROR] Docker stop failed!"; send_telegram "❌ Docker stop failed!"; exit 1; }

log "[INFO] Backing up Docker config folders..."
mkdir -p "$DOCKER_BACKUP_PATH"
for dir in "${DOCKER_SUBDIRS[@]}"; do
    rsync -aHAX --delete "$DOCKER_PATH/$dir" "$DOCKER_BACKUP_PATH"
done

log "[INFO] Starting Docker service..."
systemctl start docker || { log "[ERROR] Docker start failed!"; send_telegram "❌ Docker start failed!"; exit 1; }

# === CLEAN OLD LOG FILES ===
find "$LOG_DIR" -type f -name "docker-backup_*.log" -mtime +7 -exec rm -f {} \;

log "[SUCCESS] NAS backup completed."
send_telegram "✅ NAS Backup completed successfully at $(date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")"

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker_backup.sh

🗜 Step 2: Create the Compression Script

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/docker_compress.sh

#!/bin/bash

# === CONFIGURATION ===
SRC_DIR="/srv/personal/backups/backups"
ARCHIVE_DIR="/srv/personal/backups/archives"
TIMESTAMP=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S")
ARCHIVE_FILE="$ARCHIVE_DIR/docker-backup-$TIMESTAMP.tar.gz"
TEMP_ARCHIVE_FILE="$ARCHIVE_DIR/docker-backup-temp.tar.gz"

# External Telegram script
TELEGRAM_SCRIPT="/usr/local/bin/telegram_notify.sh"

# === Create archive directory if not exists ===
mkdir -p "$ARCHIVE_DIR"

# === Function to send Telegram message ===
send_telegram() {
    local message="$1"
    if [ -x "$TELEGRAM_SCRIPT" ]; then
        "$TELEGRAM_SCRIPT" "$message"
    fi
}

send_telegram "📦 [INFO] Starting Docker backup compression..."

# === Compress backup to temporary archive ===
echo "[INFO] Compressing backup to temporary archive..."
tar -czf "$TEMP_ARCHIVE_FILE" -C "$SRC_DIR" .

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    mv "$TEMP_ARCHIVE_FILE" "$ARCHIVE_FILE"
    echo "[SUCCESS] Backup compressed to: $ARCHIVE_FILE"
    send_telegram "✅ [SUCCESS] Backup compressed: $(basename "$ARCHIVE_FILE")"
else
    echo "[ERROR] Compression failed!"
    send_telegram "❌ [ERROR] Docker backup compression failed!"
    exit 1
fi

# === Safely delete old archives, keep only the latest ===
echo "[INFO] Cleaning up old archives..."
ls -1tr "$ARCHIVE_DIR"/docker-backup-*.tar.gz | head -n -1 | xargs -r rm -f

echo "[INFO] Old archives deleted. Only the latest one is retained."
send_telegram "🧹 [INFO] Old archives removed. Only the latest backup is kept."

send_telegram "🎉 [DONE] Docker backup archive process completed successfully."

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker_compress.sh

🛠️ Step 3: Upload Backup Archive to Google Drive Using Rclone

1. Install Rclone

Begin by installing Rclone on your OpenMediaVault system:

curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

2. Configure Rclone for Google Drive

For detailed instructions on setting up Google Drive with Rclone, refer to the official guide here: How to Set Up Google Drive on Rclone.

3. Add Rclone Upload script

Add a new Rclone Upload script

nano /usr/local/bin/docker_upload_to_gdrive.sh

Use the following script to upload your Docker backup archive to Google Drive:

#!/bin/bash

# === CONFIGURATION ===
ARCHIVE_DIR="/srv/personal/backups/archives"
RCLONE_REMOTE="gdrive"
RCLONE_FOLDER="docker-backups"
TELEGRAM_SCRIPT="/usr/local/bin/telegram_notify.sh"

# === FIND LATEST BACKUP FILE ===
LATEST_BACKUP=$(ls -t "$ARCHIVE_DIR"/docker-backup-*.tar.gz 2>/dev/null | head -n 1)

if [ -z "$LATEST_BACKUP" ]; then
    echo "[ERROR] No backup archive found in $ARCHIVE_DIR"
    if [ -x "$TELEGRAM_SCRIPT" ]; then
        "$TELEGRAM_SCRIPT" "❌ No Docker backup archive found to upload to Google Drive!"
    fi
    exit 1
fi

# === FUNCTION: SEND TELEGRAM MESSAGE ===
send_telegram() {
    if [ -x "$TELEGRAM_SCRIPT" ]; then
        "$TELEGRAM_SCRIPT" "$1"
    fi
}

# === UPLOAD TO GOOGLE DRIVE ===
echo "[INFO] Uploading $(basename "$LATEST_BACKUP") to Google Drive..."
rclone copy "$LATEST_BACKUP" "$RCLONE_REMOTE:$RCLONE_FOLDER"

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "[SUCCESS] Backup uploaded successfully to Google Drive."
    send_telegram "✅ Docker backup uploaded: $(basename "$LATEST_BACKUP")"

    # === DELETE OLD BACKUPS AFTER SUCCESSFUL UPLOAD ===
    echo "[INFO] Looking for older backups to delete..."
    OLD_BACKUPS=$(rclone lsf "$RCLONE_REMOTE:$RCLONE_FOLDER" --files-only | grep '^docker-backup-.*\.tar\.gz$' | grep -v "$(basename "$LATEST_BACKUP")")

    if [ -n "$OLD_BACKUPS" ]; then
        while IFS= read -r file; do
            echo "[INFO] Deleting old backup: $file"
            rclone delete "$RCLONE_REMOTE:$RCLONE_FOLDER/$file" --drive-use-trash=false
        done <<< "$OLD_BACKUPS"
        echo "[INFO] Old backups deleted."
    else
        echo "[INFO] No old backups found to delete."
    fi

else
    echo "[ERROR] Failed to upload backup to Google Drive!"
    send_telegram "❌ Docker backup upload to Google Drive failed!"
fi

🔐 Permissions

Make the script executable:

chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker_upload_to_gdrive.sh

This script will find the latest Docker backup archive and upload it to your Google Drive, notifying you via Telegram about the success or failure of the operation.

⏰ Step 3: Automate It with systemd

1. Create the Service

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/docker-backup.service

[Unit]
Description=Docker Backup Script
After=network-online.target docker.service
Wants=network-online.target docker-backup.timer

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStartPre=/bin/sleep 30
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/docker_backup.sh
ExecStartPost=/usr/local/bin/docker_compress.sh
ExecStartPost=/usr/local/bin/docker_upload_to_gdrive.sh

2. Create the Timer

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/docker-backup.timer

[Unit]
[Unit]
Description=Run Docker Backup on Sunday and Wednesday

[Timer]
OnCalendar=Sun,Wed *-*-* 03:05:00
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

3. Reload & Enable

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now docker-backup.timer

🧪 Test It

sudo systemctl start docker-backup.service

systemctl list-timers | grep docker-backup

ls -lh /srv/personal/docker-archives/

journalctl -u docker-backup.service --no-pager --since "5 minutes ago"

📁 Backup Structure

Here’s how the backup directories are organised:

/srv/personal/docker-backups/
├── volumes/
├── containers/
├── network/
├── config/
├── swarm/
├── immich_DB/
├── webtrees_DB/
└── nextcloud_DB/

Compressed archives are stored separately for easy retrieval:

/srv/personal/docker-archives/
└── docker-backup-YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.tar.gz

Automated Docker Restore on OpenMediaVault