A docker container that compiles the lastest Netatalk to run a Time Machine server.
MIT License
A docker container to compile the lastest version of Netatalk in order to run a Time Machine server.
If you want to use this on an ARM-Device (like the Raspberry Pi), you have two options:
$ docker run -h timemachine --name timemachine --restart=unless-stopped -d -v /external_volume:/timemachine -it -p 548:548 -p 636:636 odarriba/timemachine-rpi
$ docker build -t timemachine-rpi:latest -f Dockerfile .
$ docker run -h timemachine --name timemachine --restart=unless-stopped -d -v /external_volume:/timemachine -it -p 548:548 -p 636:636 timemachine-rpi
To download the docker container and execute it, simply run:
$ docker run -h timemachine --name timemachine --restart=unless-stopped -d -v /external_volume:/timemachine -it -p 548:548 -p 636:636 --ulimit nofile=65536:65536 odarriba/timemachine
Replace external_volume
with a local path where you want to store your data.
As the image has been started using the --restart=always
flag, it will start when the computers boots up.
To add a user, run:
$ docker exec timemachine add-account USERNAME PASSWORD VOL_NAME VOL_ROOT [VOL_SIZE_MB]
Or, if you want to add a user with a specific UID/GID, use the following format
$ docker exec timemachine add-account -i 1000 -g 1000 USERNAME PASSWORD VOL_NAME VOL_ROOT [VOL_SIZE_MB]
But take care that:
VOL_NAME
will be the name of the volume shown on your OSX as the network driveVOL_ROOT
should be an absolute path, preferably a sub-path of /timemachine
(e.g., /timemachine/backup
), so it will be stored in the according sub-path of your external volume.VOL_SIZE_MB
is an optional parameter. It indicates the max volume size for that user.Now you have a docker instance running netatalk
.
Avahi daemon is commonly used to help your computers to find the services provided by a server.
Avahi isn't built into this Docker image because, due to Docker's networking limitations, Avahi can't spread it's messages to announce the services.
If you want to enable this feature, you can install Avahi daemon on your host following these steps (Ubuntu version):
avahi-daemon
: run sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon avahi-utils
avahi/nsswitch.conf
to /etc/nsswitch.conf
avahi/afpd.service
to /etc/avahi/services/afpd.service
sudo /etc/init.d/avahi-daemon restart
Make sure
your server can receive traffic on port 548
and 636
(e.g., ufw allow 548
, (636
respectively)).
your Mac allows outgoing connections (Little Snitch?)
To start using it, follow these steps:
If you use Avahi, open Finder, go to Shared and connect to your server with your new username and password.
Alternatively (or if you don't use Avahi) from Finder press CMD-K and type afp://your-server
where your-server
can be your server's name or IP address (e.g., afp://my-server
or afp://192.168.0.5
).
Go to System Preferences, and open Time Machine settings.
Open Add or Remove Backup Disk...
Select your new volume.
In the example below, the Docker instance is running on server central
. For USERNAME
the account Backup
along with a PASSWORD
was created. Once connected, the account Backup
is available in Time Machine settings:
You can configure the container using environment variables (for example, if you use a docker-compose
environment).
There are these environment variables:
Using these variables, the container will create a user at boot time (only one per container) and the data will be stored directly in the volume /timemachine
, without subfolders.
To find your PUID
and GUID
use id user
as below:
$ id <dockeruser>
uid=1000(dockeruser) gid=1000(dockeruser) groups=1000(dockergroup)
Make sure you actually mount the server volume (see Step 5) before trying to find it in Time Machine settingss.
The user accounts are ephemeral and you'll have to run Step 2
again to re-create the accounts.
Alternativey, you can script the account creation and upload a custom entrypoint with the details:
#!/bin/bash
set -e
# Repeat for all your accounts
add-account USERNAME PASSWORD VOL_NAME VOL_ROOT [VOL_SIZE_MB]
add-account USERNAME PASSWORD VOL_NAME VOL_ROOT [VOL_SIZE_MB]
/usr/bin/supervisord -c /etc/supervisor/conf.d/supervisord.conf
Save the above file as entrypoint.sh
and make sure it is marked as executable (chmod +x entrypoint.sh
). Then invoke docker run
as:
$ docker run -h timemachine --name timemachine --restart=unless-stopped -d -v /external_volume:/timemachine -it -p 548:548 -p 636:636 -v entrypoint.sh:/entrypoint.sh odarriba/timemachine-rpi
The idea of using avahi-daemon installed in the bare metal server is to avoid having to execute the container with --net=host, which a potentially insecure flag. But, as the last option to check things out, it should be fine. You just should know what you are enabling.
A Time Machine network disk is just a disk image in an AFP volume that supports the correct level of encryption. So to be recognised by the TimeMachine daemon, you should mount the unit manually for the first time, configure TimeMachine on your computer, and then the OS will do that for you automatically.
Because if you don't do it this way, the discovery message won't be able to reach your computers.