unifi backup - DaveL17/indigo-scripts GitHub Wiki

A Script to Back up Unifi Controller Backup Files to a Local Folder

The Unifi controller is capable of performing configuration backups automatically and -- depending on the user's configuration -- stores those files locally. If the controller becomes unresponsive or the local storage becomes unreadable, those backups may be lost -- making recovery difficult or impossible. The purpose of this script is to make an additional copy of the backup files in another location to provide additional resiliency.

This approach has been tested against macOS 15.1.1 and a Unifi Cloud Key Gen 1 running controller version 7.2.97. Your environment might be different and these steps might need to be modified. Running the script from within a virtual environment is not recommended.

Warning

By using this script, you agree that you're using it at your own risk.

Setting Up the Environment

To make the script run as autonomously as possible, you need to create key-based authentication credentials so that the script can log into the controller without needing to enter a username or password (ey-based authentication is considered superior to username/password logins).

Create an Authentication Key

Generate SSH Key Pair (if you don't already have one): On the local machine (the one you’ll use to run the script), generate an SSH key pair if you don't already have one:

`ssh-keygen -t ed25519`

Follow the prompts to save the key. By default, it'll save the key to ~/.ssh/id_ed25519. If you want to save it with a different name, specify the file path during the generation process.

Copy the Public Key to the UniFi controller: You need to copy your public key (~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub) to the UniFi controller’s authorized_keys file for SSH access:

`ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub [email protected]`

This will add your public key to the controller's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file. If you've completed these steps successfully, you should be able to ssh into the controller without entering a password. You can test this with the following command:

`ssh [email protected]`

If you're prompted for a password, something has gone wrong.

Configuring the Script

You'll need to change the script's variables to match your local environment.

HOST="10.0.1.123" - UniFi controller's IP address
USER="USERNAME" - SSH username
PRIVATE_KEY_PATH="/Users/user/.ssh/id_ed25519" - Private key path (default: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519)
BACKUP_FOLDER="/data/autobackup" - Controller's backup folder
LOCAL_FOLDER="/path/to/local/folder" - Local folder to store backups