Configuring urBackup client on Linux is done via the shell (surprise!) but it is quick and easy once you know where to start.

To avoid diving into urBackup’s dense administration manual, these are my quick tips for configuring urBackup client in Linux. All the examples below were tested using urBackup client v2.5.26.0 running on Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS.

Where to start?

Outside of installation and removal, urBackup client is managed through the command line utility urbackupclientctl. Through this utility you may get configure backup paths, get the current status, start (not recommended) and restore from backups.

View Available Commands

To view available commands, simply enter urbackupclientctrl in shell. The output will be something like this:

USAGE:

        urbackupclientctl [--help] [--version] <command> [<args>]

Get specific command help with urbackupclientctl <command> --help

        urbackupclientctl start
                Start an incremental/full image/file backup

        urbackupclientctl status
                Get current backup status

        urbackupclientctl browse
                Browse backups and files/folders in backups

        urbackupclientctl restore-start
                Restore files/folders from backup

        urbackupclientctl set-settings
                Set backup settings

        urbackupclientctl reset-keep
                Reset keeping files during incremental backups

        urbackupclientctl add-backupdir
                Add new directory to backup set

        urbackupclientctl list-backupdirs
                List directories that are being backed up

        urbackupclientctl remove-backupdir
                Remove directory from backup set

Current Client Status

To get the current status of the client, use urbackupclient status.

This will return the current status in JSON format. The most useful information is at the end, namely whether the client is connected to the server (property = internet_connected ), the current connection status (property internet_status) and the configured backup server (property = name).

In the example below, the client is successfully connected to the urBackup server found at the address urbackup.server.address

{
"capability_bits": 69696,
"finished_processes": [{
"process_id": 21,
"success": true
}
...
,{
"process_id": 40,
"success": true
}
],
"internet_connected": true,
"internet_status": "connected",
"last_backup_time": 1761566072,
"running_processes": [],
"servers": [{
"internet_connection": true,
"name": "urbackup.server.address"
}
],
"time_since_last_lan_connection": 3089540882
}

List Backup Directories

To view the current list of directories marked for backup use urbackupclientctrl list-backupdir. In the example below, the directories /etc and /srv will be backed up.

PATH       NAME  FLAGS
---------- ----- ----------------------------------------------
/srv       srv   follow_symlinks,symlinks_optional,share_hashes
/etc       etc   follow_symlinks,symlinks_optional,share_hashes

Adding a Directory

To add a directory, use urbackupclientctl add-backupdir -d /path/to/directory

To add the directory /home/myuser directory to backups, the command is:

urbackupclientctl add-backupdir -d /home/myuser

CAUTION: At the time of writing, urbackupclientctl does not check if the target directory exists. If you enter an non-existent path, you are likely to get backup errors.

Removing a Directory

Removing a directory is simple: rbackupclientctl remove-backupdir -d /path/to/directory

To remove the directory /home/myuser from backups, the command is:

urbackupclientctl remove-backupdir -d /home/myuser

Starting a Backup

Top Tip: I strongly recommend always starting manual backups via the urBackup Server web administration.

To manually start a backup from the client, use urbackupclientctl start