📼 Production-grade tape library management system with modern web interface

TapeBackarr is a disk-light, tape-first backup system designed to run on Debian Linux and manage LTO tape drives. It supports direct streaming from network shares to tape without requiring large intermediate disk storage.

• Direct Streaming: Stream data from SMB/NFS/local filesystem directly to tape
• Full Cataloging: Complete file-level catalog with block offset tracking
• Incremental Backups: Track file changes via timestamps and size
• Multi-tape Spanning: Automatic handling of tape-full conditions with continuation markers
• Guided Restore: Operator-friendly restore workflow with tape insertion guidance
• Notifications: Real-time alerts via Telegram and Email (SMTP)
• Encryption: AES-256 encryption for sensitive backups
• Database Backup: Backup the TapeBackarr database itself to tape for disaster recovery
• Multi-Drive Support: Manage and select from multiple tape drives
• Tape Library Support: Autochanger (tape library) control via SCSI medium changers — automated load, unload, transfer, and inventory
• Drive Health Monitoring: Drive statistics, alerts, cleaning, and retension support
• LTFS Support: Format, mount, browse, and restore tapes using Linear Tape File System
• Proxmox VE Integration: Backup and restore VMs and LXC containers directly to tape

• Tape labeling and pool assignment (DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, ARCHIVE)
• Status tracking (blank, active, full, expired, retired, exported)
• Capacity and usage monitoring
• Write count tracking
• Offsite location tracking

• Scheduled backups with cron expressions
• Manual backup execution
• Glob-based include/exclude patterns
• Full and incremental backup types
• Job state persistence for resume after crash
• Database backup to tape for disaster recovery

• Restore to local filesystem
• Restore to network destinations (SMB/NFS)
• File verification with checksums
• Guided multi-tape restore workflow

• Modern, responsive dashboard
• Tape management with status updates
• Multi-drive management and selection
• Backup job configuration and scheduling
• Catalog browsing and file search
• Guided restore wizard
• Audit log viewer with export
• Role-based access control (admin/operator/read-only)
• In-app documentation - Access all guides from the web UI

• Native Installation: Debian/Ubuntu with systemd
• Docker: Container deployment with docker-compose
• Proxmox LXC: Automated installation script for Proxmox community scripts

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         Web UI (SvelteKit)                       │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                      REST API (Go/Chi)                           │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Backup Service │ Restore Service │ Tape Service │ Scheduler     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                    Tape I/O Layer (mt, tar)                      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                     SQLite Database                              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• OS: Debian 12+ or Ubuntu 22.04+ (systemd-native)
• Hardware: LTO tape drive (/dev/st0, /dev/nst0)
• Software:
  • Go 1.24+
  • Node.js 18+ (for frontend build)
  • mt-st package
  • tar

For complete installation instructions, see the Installation Guide.

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/RoseOO/TapeBackarr.git
cd TapeBackarr

# Build
make build

# Run installer
sudo ./deploy/install.sh

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/RoseOO/TapeBackarr.git
cd TapeBackarr

# Configure
cp deploy/config.example.json config.json
nano config.json

# Start
docker compose up -d

Run this command on your Proxmox host:

bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://github.com/RoseOO/TapeBackarr/raw/main/deploy/proxmox-lxc-install.sh)"

This creates an LXC container with TapeBackarr installed and tape device passthrough configured.

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/RoseOO/TapeBackarr.git
cd TapeBackarr

# Build backend
go build -o tapebackarr ./cmd/tapebackarr

# Build frontend
cd web/frontend
npm install
npm run build
cd ../..

# Install
sudo mkdir -p /opt/tapebackarr /etc/tapebackarr /var/lib/tapebackarr /var/log/tapebackarr
sudo cp tapebackarr /opt/tapebackarr/
sudo cp deploy/config.example.json /etc/tapebackarr/config.json
sudo cp deploy/tapebackarr.service /etc/systemd/system/

# Edit configuration
sudo nano /etc/tapebackarr/config.json

# Start service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable tapebackarr
sudo systemctl start tapebackarr

Edit /etc/tapebackarr/config.json:

{
  "server": {
    "host": "0.0.0.0",
    "port": 8080
  },
  "database": {
    "path": "/var/lib/tapebackarr/tapebackarr.db"
  },
  "tape": {
    "default_device": "/dev/nst0",
    "drives": [
      {
        "device_path": "/dev/nst0",
        "display_name": "Primary LTO Drive",
        "enabled": true
      },
      {
        "device_path": "/dev/nst1",
        "display_name": "Secondary LTO Drive",
        "enabled": false
      }
    ],
    "buffer_size_mb": 512,
    "block_size": 262144,
    "write_retries": 3,
    "verify_after_write": true
  },
  "logging": {
    "level": "info",
    "format": "json",
    "output_path": "/var/log/tapebackarr/tapebackarr.log"
  },
  "auth": {
    "jwt_secret": "YOUR_SECURE_SECRET_HERE",
    "token_expiration": 24,
    "session_timeout": 60
  },
  "notifications": {
    "telegram": {
      "enabled": false,
      "bot_token": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN",
      "chat_id": "YOUR_CHAT_ID"
    },
    "email": {
      "enabled": false,
      "smtp_host": "smtp.example.com",
      "smtp_port": 587,
      "username": "your-username",
      "password": "your-password",
      "from_email": "[email protected]",
      "from_name": "TapeBackarr",
      "to_emails": "[email protected]",
      "use_tls": true,
      "skip_verify": false
    }
  }
}

TapeBackarr supports multiple tape drives. Configure them in the tape.drives array:

"drives": [
  {
    "device_path": "/dev/nst0",
    "display_name": "Primary LTO-8 Drive",
    "enabled": true
  },
  {
    "device_path": "/dev/nst1",
    "display_name": "Secondary LTO-6 Drive",
    "enabled": true
  }
]

You can also add and manage drives through the web UI under the Drives section.

TapeBackarr supports both Telegram and Email notifications for critical events like tape changes, backup completion, and errors.

1. Create a bot with @BotFather on Telegram
2. Get your chat ID by messaging the bot and visiting https://api.telegram.org/bot{YOUR_TOKEN}/getUpdates
3. Enable in config:

   "notifications": {
     "telegram": {
       "enabled": true,
       "bot_token": "123456789:ABCdefGHIjklMNO...",
       "chat_id": "-1001234567890"
     }
   }

4. Restart TapeBackarr

Configure SMTP settings to receive email notifications:

"notifications": {
  "email": {
    "enabled": true,
    "smtp_host": "smtp.gmail.com",
    "smtp_port": 587,
    "username": "[email protected]",
    "password": "your-app-password",
    "from_email": "[email protected]",
    "from_name": "TapeBackarr",
    "to_emails": "[email protected], [email protected]",
    "use_tls": true,
    "skip_verify": false
  }
}

Note: For Gmail, use an App Password instead of your regular password.

Notification Events:

• 📼 Tape change required
• 📀 Tape full
• ✅ Backup completed
• ❌ Backup failed
• 🚨 Drive error

Open http://your-server:8080 in a browser.

Default credentials:

• Username: admin
• Password: changeme

⚠️ Change the default password immediately!

# Tape status
mt -f /dev/nst0 status

# Rewind tape
mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind

# Eject tape
mt -f /dev/nst0 eject

# Write file mark
mt -f /dev/nst0 weof 1

# Seek to file number
mt -f /dev/nst0 fsf 5

# Create backup (streaming)
tar -cv -b 128 -C /source/path -T filelist.txt -f /dev/nst0

# Restore from tape
tar -xv -b 128 -f /dev/nst0 -C /restore/path

• users: User accounts with roles
• tape_pools: Tape groupings (DAILY, WEEKLY, etc.)
• tapes: Individual tape media with UUID tracking
• tape_drives: Physical tape drive tracking
• backup_sources: Configured backup paths
• backup_jobs: Scheduled backup jobs
• backup_sets: Individual backup runs
• catalog_entries: File-level catalog
• job_executions: Job execution tracking with resume support
• snapshots: Filesystem snapshots for incremental backups
• audit_logs: Operation audit trail
• encryption_keys: Encryption key management
• api_keys: API key authentication
• database_backups: Database backup tracking
• restore_operations: Restore operation tracking
• tape_spanning_sets: Multi-tape backup sets
• tape_spanning_members: Individual tapes in spanning sets
• tape_change_requests: Pending tape change requests
• tape_libraries: Tape library (autochanger) tracking
• tape_library_slots: Tape library slot contents
• drive_statistics: Drive usage metrics and health data
• drive_alerts: Drive health monitoring alerts
• proxmox_nodes: Proxmox VE node tracking
• proxmox_guests: VM and LXC container tracking
• proxmox_backups: Proxmox backup records
• proxmox_restores: Proxmox restore records
• proxmox_backup_jobs: Scheduled Proxmox backup jobs
• proxmox_job_executions: Proxmox job execution tracking

blank → active → full → expired → retired
                  ↓
               exported

1. Scan source directory for all files
2. Apply include/exclude filters
3. Load previous snapshot from database
4. Compare files:
   • New files → include
   • Modified (mtime or size changed) → include
   • Unchanged → skip
5. Stream changed files to tape
6. Save new snapshot to database

1. Search catalog for file(s)
2. Identify required tape
3. Load tape, position to backup set
4. Extract requested files

1. System identifies all required tapes
2. Displays insertion order to operator
3. Guides through tape changes
4. Verifies checksums after restore

• Job state persisted to database
• Resume capability for interrupted backups
• Automatic cleanup of partial backup sets

All operations are logged in JSON format:

{
  "timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "level": "info",
  "message": "Backup completed",
  "fields": {
    "job_id": 1,
    "file_count": 1500,
    "total_bytes": 52428800000
  }
}

Audit logs capture:

• User authentication
• Tape operations (mount, unmount, label)
• Backup job execution
• Restore operations
• Configuration changes

• JWT-based authentication
• Role-based access control
• bcrypt password hashing
• Audit logging for compliance
• No secrets in logs

# Check device
ls -la /dev/st* /dev/nst*

# Check permissions
groups $(whoami)  # Should include 'tape'

# Manual status check
mt -f /dev/nst0 status

1. Check tape is loaded and not write-protected
2. Verify source path is accessible
3. Check disk space for temporary files
4. Review logs in /var/log/tapebackarr/

# Backup database
sqlite3 /var/lib/tapebackarr/tapebackarr.db ".backup backup.db"

# Check database integrity
sqlite3 /var/lib/tapebackarr/tapebackarr.db "PRAGMA integrity_check"

Documentation is available in two ways:

Access documentation directly from the web interface by clicking Documentation in the sidebar. This provides access to all guides without leaving the application.

• Installation Guide - Complete installation instructions (Native, Docker, Proxmox LXC)
• Usage Guide - Complete guide for using TapeBackarr
• API Reference - REST API documentation
• Operator Guide - Quick reference for daily operations
• Manual Recovery - Recover data without TapeBackarr
• Architecture - System design and data flows
• Database Schema - Database table definitions
• Proxmox Guide - Backup and restore Proxmox VMs and LXCs

The Manual Recovery Guide provides detailed instructions for recovering tape data using only standard Linux commands (mt, tar), without requiring TapeBackarr. This is essential for long-term archival scenarios where the application may not be available.

Key recovery capabilities:

• Read tape labels and catalog contents
• Restore files using raw mt/tar commands
• Handle multi-tape spanning sets
• Recover the TapeBackarr database from tape
• Restore encrypted backups with your key sheet

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting PRs.

For security-related information, see SECURITY.md.

See CHANGELOG.md for version history.

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.