Ubuntu server best practice to backup and restore linux file system

Question

so i have a really important question, and need some advise about linux server OS backup and restore. There is plenty information on google, other sources, but don't have much time to test every solution.

1. I am using Ubuntu server 18 without GUI on dedicated server HW RAID1.
2. I have NAS SMB network share via CIFS mounted, NAS is only accessible via private network server ip.

So I want to do ubuntu server filesystem backup (Snapshot) and store it on SMB share.

Question: what is better to use (bacula, timeshift console, tar, etc..) and what about system restore? If something will crash i want to be safe and have fast recovery from NAS without changing, setting up partitions which must not be touched like sda6.

# lsblk
NAME                                                MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0                                                 7:0    0    91M  1 loop /snap/core/6350
loop1                                                 7:1    0  97.1M  1 loop /snap/core/9993
sda                                                   8:0    0 894.2G  0 disk
├─sda1                                                8:1    0     1M  0 part
├─sda2                                                8:2    0     1G  0 part /boot
├─sda3                                                8:3    0     3G  0 part [SWAP]
├─sda4                                                8:4    0    20G  0 part /home
├─sda5                                                8:5    0    50G  0 part /
└─sda6                                                8:6    0 820.2G  0 part
  └─vg1-vsv1001--d6i7oz--mc                         253:0    0   500G  0 lvm

One more question is about Ubuntu server usability with GUI (Desktop), i saw that it is easier to manage backups with timeshift, but what about hardening Desktop security to be able only connect by 1 ip on RDP and SSH only accessible now on 1 ip.

Thank you for all answers. ;)!

Answer 1

You must select tools to do recovery: backup, reinstall, and restore. There is no one best solution, and we don't know your environment or favorite tools.

More importantly, decide with the owners of these systems what the recovery objectives are. Perhaps the organization will pay for keeping nightly backups of the file share for 14 days, and restoring it within 8 hours. Most importantly, test that restores get the files back. Verify this happens within the recovery objectives, and spot check files for good integrity.

Should losing that "must not be touched" partition be a problem, also define and test a recovery plan for it. A competent restore will not destroy data outside of scope, but there needs to be a last defense to get back important data.

Archives stored on file shares are not cold backups. Malware can encrypt or delete online shares, for example. Consider removable media like tapes, object storage with retention rules that prevent deletion, or physically unplugging the backup system when it is not in use.