ClimWeb Cloud Backup

Uploads ClimWeb backups to a cloud remote using a storage-efficient strategy:

Backup type	Frequency	Retention	Typical size
Database (.psql.bin)	Daily	10 days	~3–5 MB/file
Media (.tar)	Weekly	1 snapshot	varies

Files are uploaded individually with date-stamped names — nothing is ever overwritten.

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Options

Option	Free storage	Credit card?	Best for
Google Drive ⭐	15 GB (shared)	No	Sites with a dedicated Google account
OneDrive	5 GB	No	Sites with a Microsoft/Office 365 account
Another server	—	No	Strict data sovereignty requirements

For backing up to another server via rsync, see Backup To Remote Server Guide.

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Option 1 — Google Drive (Recommended)

Uses OAuth — no credit card required, just a Google account. You run rclone authorize once on your local machine to generate a token, paste it into a config file on the server, and you're done.

Use a dedicated Google account for the site rather than someone's personal account. The 15 GB quota is shared with Gmail and Google Photos.

Step 1 — Install rclone on your local machine (one-time)

Mac:

brew install rclone

Windows: Download the installer from https://rclone.org/downloads/

Linux:

sudo -v ; curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

Step 2 — Generate the token

On your local machine:

rclone authorize "drive"

Your browser will open automatically. Sign in with the site's Google account and approve access. Rclone prints the token to your terminal:

Paste the following into your remote machine --->
{"access_token":"ya29...","token_type":"Bearer","refresh_token":"1//...","expiry":"..."}
<---End paste

Copy that JSON (the {...} part).

Step 3 — Clone the repository and write the config

On the server:

git clone https://github.com/wmo-raf/climweb-backup-sync.git
cd climweb-backup-sync

Create rclone/config/rclone.conf with the token you copied:

[gdrive]
type = drive
scope = drive.file
token = PASTE_TOKEN_JSON_HERE

Replace PASTE_TOKEN_JSON_HERE with the {"access_token":...} JSON on a single line.

Step 4 — Set environment variables

cp .env.sample .env
nano .env

BACKUP_DIR=/home/user/climweb/climweb/backup
SITE_NAME=zambia
REMOTE_FOLDER=gdrive:ClimWeb Backups/
DB_RETENTION_DAYS=10
MEDIA_RETENTION_DAYS=3
MEDIA_UPLOAD_WEEKDAY=1

Step 5 — Start the backup container

docker compose up -d climweb-backup-rclone --build

Done. Backups will upload daily at midnight UTC.

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Option 2 — OneDrive

Same approach as Google Drive — run rclone authorize locally once, paste the token into the server config.

Step 1 — Install rclone on your local machine (one-time)

See Option 1 Step 1.

Step 2 — Generate the token

On your local machine:

rclone authorize "onedrive"

Your browser will open. Sign in with the Microsoft account. Copy the token JSON printed to your terminal.

Step 3 — Clone the repository and write the config

On the server:

git clone https://github.com/wmo-raf/climweb-backup-sync.git
cd climweb-backup-sync

Create rclone/config/rclone.conf:

[onedrive]
type = onedrive
token = PASTE_TOKEN_JSON_HERE
drive_id = YOUR_DRIVE_ID
drive_type = personal

To find your drive_id: run rclone config on your local machine, follow the OneDrive setup, and rclone will display and save the drive ID automatically. Copy the full [onedrive] section from ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf to the server.

Note: OneDrive's free tier is 5 GB. With the default retention settings (~50 MB for DB + 1 weekly media snapshot) this is enough for most installations, but large media folders may require reducing DB_RETENTION_DAYS.

Step 4 — Set environment variables

cp .env.sample .env
nano .env

BACKUP_DIR=/home/user/climweb/climweb/backup
SITE_NAME=zambia
REMOTE_FOLDER=onedrive:ClimWeb Backups/
DB_RETENTION_DAYS=10
MEDIA_RETENTION_DAYS=3
MEDIA_UPLOAD_WEEKDAY=1

Step 5 — Start the backup container

docker compose up -d climweb-backup-rclone

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Testing and logs

Run a backup manually:

docker exec -it climweb-backup-rclone /app/rclone_daily.sh

View logs:

docker logs climweb-backup-rclone
# or inside the container:
docker exec -it climweb-backup-rclone tail -f /var/log/backup.log

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Adjust the backup schedule

Edit rclone/crontab (default: midnight UTC):

0 0 * * * /app/rclone_daily.sh >> /var/log/backup.log 2>&1

Rebuild after changes:

docker compose up -d --build climweb-backup-rclone

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Remote storage layout

ClimWeb Backups/              (your Google Drive or OneDrive folder)
  db/
    zambia-db-2026-05-23.psql.bin
    zambia-db-2026-05-24.psql.bin
    ...
    zambia-db-2026-05-27.psql.bin   ← daily DB snapshots, ~3–5 MB each
  media/
    zambia-media-2026-05-26.tar     ← 1 weekly media snapshot

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Notes

• rclone/config/rclone.conf is git-ignored and should never be committed.
• Make sure climweb dbbackup and climweb mediabackup run before this container's cron job each day. The script uploads the most recent file it finds in the backup directory.
• To keep more media snapshots, increase MEDIA_RETENTION_DAYS — e.g. 28 keeps 4 weekly copies (uses ~4× the media file size on the remote).