How I got SpiderOak --headless to run on OS6 x64/x86
I spent the best part of all of yesterday installing and configuring SpiderOak to use as a cloud backup for my NAS. I feel I should share my experience for those who may be interested as to how it can be done.
As a preamble, I am not a Linux guru. I know enough to get around and help myself but the last time I used Linux was around 1999, and RedHat was the choice. I know the very basics and googled everything you find below
Firstly, why SpiderOak?
Locally unencrypted but remotely encrypted data
Can use as a drop-box replacement IF you are prepared to install the SpiderOak client on your working PCs
SpiderOak can't access your data (unlike Dropbox, who have been known to hand-over data from lawful US requests)
Great for backup, not so great for syncing (see point 2 above)
Privacy and encryption only assured when using the client - web or mobile app access to data is not secured
I chose this over Dropbox and Crashplan because:
Dropbox will hand over data should it be lawfully requested
Crashplan needs Java and i don't like Java
So, here is my experience. I hope it assists you in some way. I have an legacy Ultra 6 with a 64-bit dual core Atom processor, running ReadyNAS OS 6.2.4. SpiderOak has binaries for x86 or x64 systems, ARM are SOL.
I am not quite happy with how the program installed under 'root' and how the "SpiderOak Hive" is under /root/SpiderOak Hive (and you can't move it). Would prefer is install under a /home/User/SpiderOak but I disabled the Hive (I am using backup only).
What I needed: Dowloaded the .deb file from https://spideroak.com/opendownload and put in a a share on your NAS (i'll assume //Downloads) PuTTY for SSH access SSH access enabled Basic knowledge of how to use Linux A SpiderOak account set-up from the web. DON'T LOSE YOUR PASSWORD!
This will install SpiderOak and your "SpiderOak Hive" under 'root' which cannot be moved. 1. SSH into your NAS using PuTTY with root access and install package
I used this as a guide: https://spideroak.com/faq/how-can-i-install-spideroak-on-linux-without-software-installation-privileges
*IF* i were to do this again, I would probably change the user I installed this with to "admin" or "<yourusername>" in the hope it would put the Hive folder under /home/admin or /home/<yourusername> so it could be easily accessed via normal folder sharing on the NAS.
2. SpiderOak device setup. DON'T LOSE YOUR PASSWORD! Once you have an account you can set the device up via the command line:
/usr/bin/SpiderOak --setup=-
If I were to do this again I would skip this step and comeback to it
3. Configure SpiderOak This is done by installing an X server on your windows/linux desktop and using SSH pass-through. What does this mean? Using PuTTY to connect to your NAS, ensure the option "X11 passthrough" is enabled. SSH in ReadyNAS doesn't have X installed. There are hopefully smaller ways to enable X but I installed all 160+MB of xorg package
apt-get install xorg
On your Windows client install Xming http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming/
Now in the SSH box, with X11 passthough enabled, type
/usr/bin/SpiderOak
and wait a bit and hopefully a linux-style dialog box will appear on your Windows desktop! Troubleshooting this, if it doesn't work, is an exercise for the reader.
If you completed step 2, you can configure backups and syncs. If you didn't complete step 2 and jumped to step 3, I hope you can now set up your device via the interface rather than the command line.
4. Get SpiderOak to start on NAS startup This was the trickiest step, and I now have an enhanced appreciation for systemd. This website helped me out: https://github.com/hv15/spideroak-systemd
I slightly modified the scripts to only pass one username to the program given I only have one backup account for the whole NAS. If you haven't already, exit the configuration screen (CTRL-C on the SSH terminal worked fine) create your spideroak.service and spideroak files in the correct directories I changed the %i in the user name to the NAS running user 'root' Once the files are created and in the right positions run
systemctl start spideroak systemctl status spideroak
It should be running. To enable it to start on boot, type
systemctl enable spideroak
and reboot and hope for the best! Once rebooted you should be able to type
systemctl status spideroak
to see it running.
The massive downside of this implementation is that it is cumbersome to reconfigure your backups. 5. Configuration once installed So the device is set up and the program boots on startup! Time to re-configure it Start Xming on your desktop Start SSH X11 passthrough log back in with PuTTY and type
systemctl stop spideroak /usr/bin/SpiderOak
The dialog should pop up on the PC and you can now finally: set which folders you want to back up see the devices you have linked and the sync pairs set the options (like limiting upload speed)
Once you have configured the application, and saved all your changes as you go, exit the dialog by a CTRL-C on the terminal and once again type:
systemctl start spideroak
The above was what I did and my backup is now trickling to my 1TB account for AUD$181 at 25kB/s for the next 4 months. (I am cheap and have a 100GB plan where uploads are counted).
I have sent feedback to SpiderOak to see if they could make it easier. Remote administration of devices would great from any device's client would be great! Alternatively, perhaps the ReadyNAS community could come up with a way to remotely administer a SpiderOak install via a web interface? A 'la Whocares' Dropbox Manager.
Re: How I got SpiderOak --headless to run on OS6 x64/x86
Thanks for posting all this! If you hear anything back from SpiderOak regarding them investing in a ReadyNAS Addon, please do let us all know! I am a big fan of SpiderOak and have considered using it to sync multiple ReadyNAS' with each other.
Re: How I got SpiderOak --headless to run on OS6 x64/x86
So I have had my SpiderOak install gently pushing ~80kB/s up to the cloud for the last month-and-a-bit over my ADSL line with no problem. I even set a Quality of Service (QoS) throttle on my ADSL router to limit uploads during Netflix streaming time of an evening.
Anyway, one morning I awoke with 34 alert emails (1 every 10 minutes) in my inbox with "Volume 'root' usage is 81%" etc. I happen to also have SqueezeboxServer installed on this NAS and noted that my cache was about ~700MB. I followed some instructions from the forums to move the squeezeboxserver directory from /var/lib to /apps and create a symlink to the directory and all was fine....
Until yesterday, when I began receiving these alerts again. It just so happens that, given I installed SpiderOak under root, the database cache file was located there - and has grown to 1.6GB. I performed the same amendment: shut down Spideroak using systemctl, moved the directory from /root to /apps, created the symlink and restarted SpiderOak with systemctl... here are the steps:
1) Stop SpiderOak (based on my first post where the service is 'spideroak' all lower case)
systemctl stop spideroak
2) move the SpiderOak program from the /root to /apps
mv /root/.config/SpiderOak /apps/SpiderOak
3) Create the symlink
ln -s /apps/SpiderOak /root/.config/SpiderOak
4) Restart the SpiderOak service using systemctl
systemctl start spideroak
I am back to 34% usage on /root again, with the /apps residing on the raided hard disk volume. SpiderOak doesn't know anything different and is once again dribbling data up to the cloud.
Hope this helps aspiring SpiderOak users for ReadyNas. My next post will be soonish and how to update the SpiderOak client to the recently released "SpiderOakOne" client. I will wait until all my data is backed-up to the cloud before I attempt it.
If you hear anything back from SpiderOak regarding them investing in a ReadyNAS Addon, please do let us all know! I am a big fan of SpiderOak and have considered using it to sync multiple ReadyNAS' with each other.
