Rclone and Systemd

Miscellaneous

List existing services

Enabled Services

systemctl list-unit-files | grep enabled

Services with rclone

systemctl list-unit-files | grep rclone

Setup

Create Rclone mount Systemd service

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/rclone-mount.service

Rclone mount Systemd service

[Unit]
Description=Mount Rclone Remote
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/rclone mount onedrive: /home/ubuntu/rclone \
    --config /home/ubuntu/.config/rclone/rclone.conf \
    --vfs-cache-mode writes \
    --dir-cache-time 12h \
    --log-file /var/log/rclone.log \
    --log-level INFO \
    --allow-other
ExecStop=/usr/bin/fusermount -u /home/ubuntu/rclone
Restart=always
User=root
Group=root
Environment="PATH=/usr/bin:/bin"
ExecStartPre=/bin/sleep 10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Create Backup folder(s) script

Create Backup script (will be used in Systemd service)

nano create_backup.sh

Backup script

#!/bin/bash

# Define variables
BACKUP_DIR="/home/ubuntu/pangolin"
RCLONE_DIR="/home/ubuntu/rclone"
HOSTNAME=$(hostname)
DATE=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")
TIME=$(date +"%H-%M-%S")
DEST_DIR="$RCLONE_DIR/backup/oci1/$HOSTNAME/$DATE"  # Folder named hostname-date
FILENAME="$HOSTNAME-$DATE-$TIME-pangolin.tar.bz2"  # Filename with date-time

# Define misc files
MISC_FILES=(
  "/etc/systemd/system/backup-pangolin.service"
  "/etc/systemd/system/backup-pangolin.timer"
  "/home/ubuntu/create_backup.sh"
)

# Create the destination folder and misc folder inside the destination
mkdir -p "$DEST_DIR/misc"

# Copy misc files to the misc folder
for FILE in "${MISC_FILES[@]}"; do
  cp "$FILE" "$DEST_DIR/misc/"
done

# Create the tar.bz2 backup, including the misc folder
tar -cvjf "$DEST_DIR/$FILENAME" -C "$BACKUP_DIR" . -C "$DEST_DIR" misc

rm -rf "$DEST_DIR/misc"

# Optional: Log the backup creation
echo "Backup of $BACKUP_DIR and misc files created at $DEST_DIR/$FILENAME" >> /home/ubuntu/backup_log.txt

Create Backup Systemd Service

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

Backup Systemd Service

[Unit]
Description=Backup Pangolin Folder

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/home/ubuntu/create_backup.sh
User=root
Group=root

Restart Systemd services

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start backup-pangolin.service
sudo systemctl status backup-pangolin.service
sudo systemctl enable backup-pangolin.service

Create Systemd Timer

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

Timer

[Unit]
Description=Run Backup Pangolin Daily

[Timer]
OnCalendar=daily
Unit=backup-pangolin.service

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Restart Systemd services

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start backup-pangolin.timer
sudo systemctl status backup-pangolin.timer
sudo systemctl enable backup-pangolin.timer

Get Timer Status

sudo systemctl status backup-pangolin.timer

Output

● backup-pangolin.timer - Run Backup Pangolin Daily
    Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/backup-pangolin.timer; enabled; preset: enabled)
    Active: active (waiting) since Sun 2025-03-16 22:29:17 UTC; 6min ago
    Trigger: Mon 2025-03-17 00:00:00 UTC; 1h 24min left
  Triggers: ● backup-pangolin.service

Mar 16 22:29:17 oci01-amd01 systemd[1]: Started backup-pangolin.timer - Run Backup Pangolin Daily.