Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security

Backup OS X Server Settings

We covered using Time Machine Server previously. Here, we’re going to look at backing up the settings of an OS X Server. To do so, we’re going to install a little app called Bender from the great folks at Robot Cloud. You can download that from http://robotcloud.screenstepslive.com/s/2459/m/5322/l/94467-bender-automated-backup-of-os-x-server-settings.

Screen Shot 2015-09-24 at 10.51.00 PM

Once downloaded, run the package installer.

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At the Welcome to Bender screen, click Continue.

Screen Shot 2015-09-24 at 10.52.03 PM

Agree to the licensing agreement by clicking the Continue button.

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Click Agree again (assuming of course that you agree to the license).

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Choose who you wish to install the software for and click Continue.

Screen Shot 2015-09-24 at 10.53.52 PM

I’d go ahead and install Bender at the default location, so click Install. Once the installer is complete, you can view the installed LaunchDaemon at /Library/LaunchDaemons/net.robotcloud.bender.plist. Note that it calls theĀ /usr/local/robotcloud/bin/bender binary when run at 22:00 every day. If you edit this file, the following settings are available:

host=$(hostname)
macOS=$(sw_vers | awk ‘/ProductVersion/{print substr($2,1,5)}’ | tr -d “.”)
macSN=$(system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | awk ‘/Serial Number/{print $4}’)
date=$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H%M)
pass=$(system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | awk ‘/Hardware UUID/{print $3}’)
logPath=”/usr/local/robotcloud/logs/bender.log”
pipPath=”/usr/local/robotcloud/bin/scroobiuspip”
pipTitle=”Bender Backup Error on: $macSN”
backupDestination=”/Backups/$date”
keepUntil=”14″
version=”2.3″
versionCheck=”$1″

The most important of these is the backupDestination. You can set this to be the /Backups folder as it is above, or set it to be an external drive. Either should be backed up using your standard backup software.