How to use Snapshooter with Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage

How to use Snapshooter with Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage

Snapshooter is a SaaS based application that can be used with Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage to store the backups of servers, websites, and MySQL databases. In this guide, we will go through the steps required to set up your Snapshooter account with Backblaze B2.

Snapshooter can be configured with B2 Cloud Storage by following the steps below.

Note: The steps below require that you have already created the bucket you want to use with Snapshooter, and that you want to use, and know your Endpoint URL.  

Step 1:

Sign in to your existing Snapshooter account using the link here.

Step 2:

Under the  Dashboard menu, click on Settings and Credentials, and then click on External Storage.

Then on  the right side of the page, click on  ‘Connect New External Storage’.

Step 3:

Complete the Storage form.

• Enter a friendly name for the storage, select Backblaze B2 as the Storage provider.  
• For Provider Region, pick the location that matches your Endpoint URL, and then enter your Bucket name.
• Enter your KeyID into the Access Key field, and your AppKey into the Secret Access Key field. Then click “Attach External Storage”

Your Backblaze B2 account is now ready to store your  Snapshooter backups.

Backing up Databases

Step 1:

To enable backups of MySQL database to Backblaze B2,  go to the Object Storage Backups menu, click on Databases,  and select MySQL.

You can then click on the green button that reads ‘Create New MySQL backup’ on the right hand side of the window.

Step 2:

Fill in the name for this backup, and then fill out the SSH connection details, then click Test and Connect.

Step 3:

Snapshooter will generate a SSH key pair and provide the instructions to install it on your MySQL host.

You can test the setup by clicking the Test SSH key. If everything worked as expected you will be asked for the MySQL details. Otherwise you will be displayed the output from the SSH connection to help you diagnose any SSH issues.

Step 4:

Enter the MySQL authentication details. If the database is on the same server as the SSH connection, then use 127.0.0.1 as the host.  After filling out the connection settings, click Test MySQL Details.

Note:Snapshooter will check the connection and return an error if something needs fixing

Step 5:

Select the MySQL databases you wish to backup, the default being all databases, and click Setup Storage.

Step 6:

Select the Backblaze B2 storage that was configured earlier and click Setup Storage again.

Step 7:

Choose your backup schedule, timezone,  and retention policy, then click Set Schedule and Finish.

Your database backups are now configured.  Review the settings on the summary screen and optionally click on Backup Now to start a backup immediately.

Backing up Files and Folders from Droplets to Backblaze B2

Step 1:

To backup individual files and folders from your Droplets tto Backblaze B2,  go to the Object Storage Backups menu, click on Files and Folders.  and then click on the green button that reads ‘Create New File Backup’ on the right hand side of the window.

                             e                

Step 2:

Enter a name for this backup, and then enter the SSH connection information, or if your are backing up files from a server that already has an SSH connection established, you can just select the SSH key from the drop down menu under SSH Server, which is what we have done here.  Click Next Step to continue.

Step 3:

Even though we selected an existing SSH server and SSH key, the steps to add them to the system are still shown.  Click Test SSH Key to verify the right keys were selected.  

Step 4:

Select what files to backup, and which to exclude.  By default the entire disk will be backed up, with exclusions for program files and temp files, so that just your data is being backed up.

You can also choose the compression level, which has a range of 1-9, with a default of 6.

Review and adjust the settings and then click Test Details.

Step 5:

Select the Backblaze B2 storage that was configured earlier and click Set Storage.

Step 6:

Choose your backup schedule, timezone,  and retention policy, then click Set Schedule and Finish.

Your file level backups are now configured.  Review the settings on the summary screen and optionally click on Backup Now to start a backup immediately.

The S3 Compatible API for Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage allows 1000’s of integrations to work with B2 Cloud Storage natively. If you’re new to the S3 Compatible API, please see our Getting Started Guide. If you have any trouble using Snapshooter with B2, please let us know by emailing us at b2feedback@backblaze.com.