Quickstart

Installation

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

No installation is required hence extract the contents from the downloaded package, place 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 in console mode or within the GUI.

To run the program manually or to force console or graphical mode, change directory into the ZipSnapNG folder and run it.
For console mode:

java -jar ZipSnapNG.jar

For graphical mode:

javaw -jar ZipSnapNG.jar

Configuration

The following configuration directives are available for each backup job:
- 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. Pruning also happens after the backup process
- How to restore the snapshot. Available options are:
- The files will be restored to the origin location
- The files will be extracted with the origin location converted into a folder
- The files will be restored by merging the original and destination directories configured in the mapping
- Require the interaction of the user, set to "no" when running in a batch job
- Optional regex filter to be applied for all the commands

Graphical mode

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.txt) 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.

Advanced, global settings can be reviewed and edited by clicking on File, Settings.

Console mode

ZipSnapNG comes with a global configuration file and individual settings for each backup job. The first is located at conf/zipsnapng.conf and created at the first run while the latter may be generated by running:

ZipSnapNG <path\new_config_file.job> config

Open the new_config_file.job and set at least the required directoriesToBackup and backupDirectory.

Advanced configuration settings can be edited as well if necessary by modifying the zipsnapng.conf file.

Usage

Graphical mode

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 reviewed the files 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.

Console mode

ZipSnapNG receives from the command-line two options: the path of a configuration file and a command. The configuration file is read at first and contains what is needed for the backup job: which directories are included in the snapshot, where is the archive directory, if a password has to be set etc.

To run a backup job:

ZipSnapNG <path\new_config_file.txt> backup

To restore the latest snapshot:

ZipSnapNG <path\new_config_file.txt> restore

To restore snapshot #5:

ZipSnapNG <path\new_config_file.txt> restore 5

To retrieve information of all the snapshots of an archive:

ZipSnapNG <path\new_config_file.txt> info

To retrieve information of the snapshot #5:

ZipSnapNG <path\new_config_file.txt> info 5

To manually apply the configured retention policies to an archive:

ZipSnapNG <path\new_config_file.txt> 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