Introduction
Learn about Zerobyte, a powerful backup automation platform built on Restic
Zerobyte is a backup automation tool that helps you protect your data across multiple storage backends. Built on top of Restic, it provides a modern web interface to schedule, manage, and monitor encrypted backups.
Zerobyte is still in version 0.x.x and is subject to major changes between versions. Core features are under active development
Key Features
Automated Backups
Schedule encrypted, compressed backups with fine-grained retention policies powered by Restic
Flexible Scheduling
Configure automated backup jobs with cron expressions and sophisticated retention rules
End-to-End Encryption
Your data is always protected with strong encryption at rest, ensuring security for every snapshot
Multi-Protocol Support
Back up from NFS, SMB, WebDAV, SFTP, or local directories with ease
Supported Storage
Volume Sources (What to Back Up)
Volumes represent the data you want to protect:
- Local directories, directories mounted into the container
- NFS, Network File System shares (v3, v4, v4.1)
- SMB/CIFS, Windows and Samba shares
- WebDAV, WebDAV-compatible storage (Nextcloud, ownCloud, etc.)
- SFTP, SSH File Transfer Protocol servers
- Rclone, 40+ cloud storage providers via rclone (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)
Repository Destinations (Where to Store Backups)
Repositories are encrypted storage locations for your backup snapshots:
- Local directories, store backups on local disk
- S3-compatible storage, Amazon S3, MinIO, Wasabi, Backblaze B2, DigitalOcean Spaces, and more
- Cloudflare R2, S3-compatible with zero egress fees
- Google Cloud Storage, Google's cloud storage service
- Azure Blob Storage, Microsoft Azure storage
- SFTP, remote servers accessible via SSH
- REST server, Restic REST server protocol
- Rclone remotes, 40+ cloud storage providers via rclone
How It Works
Zerobyte operates on three core concepts:
Volumes
Define volumes as the source data you want to back up. These can be local directories, network shares, or cloud storage mounted via various protocols. Zerobyte handles mounting, health monitoring, and auto-recovery automatically.
Repositories
Create repositories as encrypted storage destinations. Repositories use Restic's deduplication and encryption to store your backups efficiently and securely. Choose from local disks, cloud object storage, or any of 40+ rclone backends.
Backup Jobs
Configure backup jobs that connect volumes to repositories with scheduling rules and retention policies. Jobs run automatically according to your schedule, with real-time progress monitoring in the web interface.
All backups are encrypted using Restic's encryption. Your encryption password is securely stored and never leaves your server.
Use Cases
Why Restic?
Zerobyte is built on Restic because it offers:
- Fast and efficient, incremental backups with content-defined chunking
- Secure by design, strong encryption and authenticated snapshots
- Deduplication, only unique data is stored, saving space
- Verification, built-in integrity checking for peace of mind
- Cross-platform, works across different operating systems
- Well-maintained, an active open-source project with regular updates