Beekeeper is a Rust-based service that automatically backs up Docker volumes on a scheduled basis. It safely stops containers, compresses their volumes, restarts the containers, and uploads the backups to an FTP server.

Features

Automated Backups: Schedule backups using cron expressions
Safe Container Management: Automatically stops and restarts containers during backup
Efficient Compression: Creates tar.xz archives for optimal storage
FTP Upload: Automatically uploads backups to a remote FTP server
Label-Based Selection: Uses Docker labels to identify containers to backup
Volume Mounting: Shares the same volumes as the target containers

How It Works

Discovery: Beekeeper scans for Docker containers with the backup label
Preparation: Stops the identified containers gracefully
Compression: Creates a tar.xz archive of the volume contents
Restoration: Restarts the stopped containers
Upload: Transfers the backup archive to the configured FTP server

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required	Example
`BACKUP_FOLDER`	Path to the folder containing volumes to backup	Yes	`/data/volumes`
`BACKUP_CRON`	Cron expression for backup schedule	Yes	`0 2 * * *`
`FTP_HOST`	FTP server hostname	Yes	`ftp.example.com`
`FTP_PORT`	FTP server port	No	`21` (default)
`FTP_USER`	FTP username	Yes	`backup_user`
`FTP_PASSWORD`	FTP password	Yes	`secret123`
`FTP_PATH`	Remote path on FTP server	No	`/backups`

Docker Labels

Add the following label to containers you want to backup:

labels:
  - "beekeeper.backup=true"

Usage

Docker Compose Example

version: '3.8'

services:
  beekeeper:
    image: beekeeper:latest
    container_name: beekeeper
    privileged: true
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - data-volume:/data/volumes
    environment:
      - BACKUP_FOLDER=/data/volumes
      - BACKUP_CRON=0 2 * * *
      - FTP_HOST=ftp.example.com
      - FTP_USER=backup_user
      - FTP_PASSWORD=secret123
    restart: unless-stopped

  # Example service to backup
  myapp:
    image: myapp:latest
    volumes:
      - data-volume:/app/data
    labels:
      - "beekeeper.backup=true"
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  data-volume:

Standalone Docker

docker run -d \
  --name beekeeper \
  --privileged \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v data-volume:/data/volumes \
  -e BACKUP_FOLDER=/data/volumes \
  -e BACKUP_CRON="0 2 * * *" \
  -e FTP_HOST=ftp.example.com \
  -e FTP_USER=backup_user \
  -e FTP_PASSWORD=secret123 \
  beekeeper:latest

Cron Expression Examples

Expression	Description
`0 2 * * *`	Daily at 2:00 AM
`0 /6 * *`	Every 6 hours
`0 0 * * 0`	Weekly on Sunday at midnight
`0 3 1 * *`	Monthly on the 1st at 3:00 AM

Development

Prerequisites

Rust 1.70+
Docker 20.10+
Docker Compose (optional)

Building

cargo build --release

Running Locally

export BACKUP_FOLDER=/tmp/backups
export BACKUP_CRON="*/5 * * * *"
export FTP_HOST=localhost
export FTP_USER=test
export FTP_PASSWORD=test

cargo run

Testing

cargo test

Security Considerations

Privileged Mode: Beekeeper requires access to the Docker socket and privileged mode to manage containers
Credentials: Store FTP credentials securely (use Docker secrets in production)
Network: Ensure FTP traffic is encrypted (use FTPS if possible)
Permissions: The backup folder should have appropriate permissions

Limitations

Currently supports FTP only (SFTP/S3 support planned)
Containers are stopped during backup (downtime expected)
No incremental backup support yet

Roadmap

SFTP and S3 backend support
Incremental backups
Backup retention policies
Backup verification
Prometheus metrics
Web UI for monitoring

License

MIT

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.