Datack

Datack is a simple Database backup tool supporting currently the following databases:

• SQL Server

It is designed to scale for a large amount of databases and tasks that can run on multiple servers.

Getting started

Datack needs a single server frontend which acts as a command and control. It controls dumb agents through SignalR websockets.

Installing the server

On a host that will run the Datack server frontend

1. Install the latest version of .NET 5: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download.

2. Download the latest copy of datack server.zip from the releases page on Github.

3. Unpack the zip and run service-install.bat. This will install the Datack service.

4. If needed, change appsettings.json to change the path to store logs and the database file. By default they will be written to /data/.

5. Open your browser to http://localhost:3000.

6. On the first run setup a username and password.

7. To update the server simply run Update.ps1, this will download the latest release from Github and update all files, except for appsettings.json and /data.

Installing the agent

On a host that will run backup tasks

1. Install the latest version of .NET 5: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download.

2. Download the latest copy of datack agent.zip from the releases page on Github.

3. Unpack the zip to a directory of your choice.

4. Open appsettings.json and set the ServerUrl setting to the URL of the server. Optionally you can change the path to store logs. By default they will be written to /data/. The token property can be set here to a GUID value, if empty a new token will be generated on startup.

5. Run service-install.bat. This will install the Datack Agent service.

First steps

To get started, first add your agent to the server. Open appsettings.json of the agent and copy the Token property (this is automatically set when ran for the first time).

On the server click Agents and Add Agent. Make sure to add the token here. After saving restart the agent.

Click Jobs to start adding jobs.

Jobs

A job is defined as a series of tasks. The job is not connected to an agent but can have multiple agents (i.e. backup a database and restore it on another server).

Job runs

When a job is executed it will use the very first task to create a list of items. Normally this is the Create Backup task and will generate a list of all the databases that are defined in the task. This list of items will be used throughout the job run. The output of a task, called an artifact, can be used as the input for another task.

Parallel tasks

When the Parallel parameter is set on a task it will attempt to start the task multiple times per item. When a task is completed for an item it will proceed to the next task for that item, but it will never start more than Parallel amount of items for the task.

Tasks

Some tasks store sensitive information like access keys or passwords. These secrets are encrypted with a key that lives on the agent for the task. If you change the agent for a task or re-install an agent, the secret will need to be re-entered again. The agent also needs to be online to be able to store the settings.

Datack supports the following tasks:

Create backup

This task will create a backup of a database. Use the settings to define which databases need to be backed up. The list of databases that are not striked through will be backed up.