Quickstart

Installation

A Java Runtime Environment (JRE 6+) is the only requirement. The latest version can be downloaded from http://java.sun.com/j2se.

To run ZipSnapNG, no installation is required hence extract the ZipSnapNG folder in your preferred location and run (or double click) the ZipSnapNG.jar file. The program is able to determine automatically if running command line or within the GUI.

To run the program manually or to force command line or GUI, change directory into the ZipSnapNG folder and run the following.

For GUI mode:

java -jar ZipSnapNG.jar

For command line mode:

javaw -jar ZipSnapNG.jar

Configuration

ZipSnapNG comes with a global configuration file and individual settings for each backup job. The first is located at conf/zipsnapng.conf and is created at the first run with all the default settings. It contains advanced options and features and may be customized with the GUI (by clicking on File, Settings) or by manually editing the file.
The latter (which is the only file the user has to care about) is associated with each backup job, is stored at the location specificed at its creation and contains the following configuration directives:
- Location on the filesystem to be included in the backup. Multiple sources can be added
- Location on the filesystem where the backup will be stored
- Optional password for the backup/restore process
- Optional command to run after the backup
- Optional number of days after which snapshots older than the threshold will be deleted
- How to restore the snapshot. Available options are:
- The files will be restored into the origin location
- The files will be extracted into a given folder
- The files will be restored by merging the original location with a given destination directory
- Interactive or batch job
- Optional filter (regexp) to backup/restore only specific items

An additional configuration file located at conf/init.conf may be used to customize the parameters used to initialize the JVM running the program.

GUI

To create a new backup job, click on File, New Job, select the location where the configuration file for this job will be saved, give the file a name (e.g. backup.job) and click on Open. The configuration screen will be then presented: use the + and - buttons to add/remove one or more directories to backup, an archive directory where the backup will be stored and set the other optional settings before saving.

Command line

To create a new backup job, run the following command:

ZipSnapNG.jar backup.job config

Open the backup.job and set at least the required directoriesToBackup and backupDirectory parameters.

Usage

GUI

Once a configuration file is created or opened, a summary of the job's settings is presented at the top of the screen, together with a list of the snapshots already included in the archive.

Click on the Backup or Restore button to start the job. Errors, warnings and info messages can be reviewed by clicking to the icons in the status bar. After the analysis phase, the list of files to be added or restored from the snapshot are presented in a tree. By right clicking on each node, the tree can be expanded or opened in a new window. After having reviewed the list, click on Ok to continue.

Any job can be interrupted at any time by clicking on Job, Kill Job.
The configuration file of each job can be reviewed and edited by clicking on Job, Edit.
A list of the files contained in each snapshot can be obtained by selecting the snapshot from the table and clicking on Job, List Files.

Command line

ZipSnapNG receives from the command-line two options: the path of a configuration file and a command.
To run a backup job:

ZipSnapNG backup.job backup

To restore the latest snapshot:

ZipSnapNG backup.job restore

To restore snapshot #5:

ZipSnapNG backup.job restore 5

To retrieve information of all the snapshots of an archive:

ZipSnapNG backup.job info

To retrieve information anda list of all the files included in snapshot #5:

ZipSnapNG backup.job info 5

To manually apply the configured retention policies to an archive:

ZipSnapNG backup.job purge

Upgrade an existing version

• Make a backup copy of the conf directory located into the ZipSnapNG folder
• Remove the existing ZipSnapNG folder
• Extract from the package the new version into the same location
• Restore the configuration files into the conf directory

Upgrading from v3.1.0 and below

• Make a backup copy of the global configuration file located in the ZipSnapNG directory at etc/ZipSnapNG.properties
• Remove the existing ZipSnapNG folder
• Extract from the package the new version into the same location
• Restore the configuration file into conf/ZipSnapNG.properties