Backups and Images

[tonydi]

Complete newbie here so I have a couple of questions....

One, am I correct in thinking that the backups are happening automatically on a set schedule and the only thing I need to do is either download one manually or set up a wget process?

Second, a friend is interested in setting up his own NEMS Pi. Can I use something like Win32 Disk Imager to create an image file of my NEMS SD Card and create a ready to go SD card for him? Our needs are super simple so the hosts/services would be the same. But I recall seeing a hardware ID listed in one of the NEMS screen so I'm wondering if each install is tied to the individual Pi.

Thanks!

[Robbie Ferguson]

Welcome to NEMS 

1) Please read https://docs.nemslinux.com/features/nems-migrator

2) No, once activated your NEMS build is specific to your hardware (a NEMS Hardware ID is assigned to it). If you image it and give it to your friend, it will cause NEMS' central servers to think he is you, which will cause all kinds of problems with your backups and settings. You could instead use NEMS Migrator (see 1 above) to send him the backup.nems file. I'd suggest removing your smtp settings from your NEMS SST before creating the backup for him though (otherwise he might be using your email account).

Have fun!

[tonydi]

Thanks for the info, Robbie!

What role does the NEMS central server play in this whole thing? I thought everything was self-contained on the Pi?

[Robbie Ferguson]

Yes, but no 

For one thing, NEMS checks for updates / bug fixes every day. For example, today I fixed the icons in the Nagios Core status map, so after midnight tonight, your Pi, and everyone else's, will have that fix automatically. See fixes.sh.

NEMS Migrator (the backup service) can operate offline, but has an off-site backup component which requires access to the central backup server.

NEMS also sends entirely anonymous data to the stats system which you can see at https://nemslinux.com/stats - there is more information about the anonymous nature of this information in the docs.

All new features are pushed out using rolling updates. See how much has happened since NEMS 1.3 was launched, for example: https://docs.nemslinux.com/changelogs/nems_1.3

So yes, the system itself is centralized to your Pi... but a massive part of what makes NEMS so great is the constant improvements and evolution of the system via the central servers. It gets better and better all the time.

As a side note while we're on the topic of "phoning home"... I am very, very strict about privacy and never, ever collecting confidential information. Our offsite backups for example are encrypted on your end before being sent to our server, where they are stored on encrypted media. Even I cannot view the data within the backups.

Any other questions, just let me know.