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Rclone Remote Targets

Remote targets are where your offsite backups live. The key is consistency: use predictable remote paths, validate access, and avoid destructive sync operations until you are confident.

Quick Summary
  • List configured remotes: rclone listremotes.
  • Validate a remote: rclone lsd remote: and rclone ls remote:path.
  • Prefer rclone copy for backups.
  • Use rclone sync only when you intentionally want mirroring (and accept deletions).

List and validate remotes​

rclone-list-remotes.sh
rclone version
rclone listremotes

Test a remote root:

rclone-test-remote-root.sh
rclone lsd remote:

Create a remote directory layout​

Use a stable layout so restores are predictable.

Example:

remote-layout-example.txt
remote:wp-backups/
  site-a/
    files/
    db/
    logs/
  site-b/
    files/
    db/
    logs/

Create directories:

rclone-create-remote-directories.sh
rclone mkdir remote:wp-backups/site-a/files
rclone mkdir remote:wp-backups/site-a/db
rclone mkdir remote:wp-backups/site-a/logs

Copy backups to a remote (safe default)​

rclone-copy-backups-safe.sh
rclone copy /backups remote:wp-backups/site-a \
  --include 'wp-files-*' \
  --include 'wp-db-*' \
  --include '*.log'

Sync backups to a remote (mirroring)​

warning

rclone sync deletes remote files that are not present locally. If your local disk is partially missing, sync can propagate the loss.

rclone-sync-backups-mirroring.sh
rclone sync /backups remote:wp-backups/site-a

Remote verification​

rclone-verify-remote-files.sh
rclone lsf remote:wp-backups/site-a/files | sed -n '1,60p'
rclone lsf remote:wp-backups/site-a/db | sed -n '1,60p'

For integrity verification, you can also use rclone check for some remotes:

rclone-check-local-vs-remote.sh
rclone check /backups remote:wp-backups/site-a

Next steps​

  • Offsite + local redundancy: opt/docker-data/apps/docusaurus/site/docs/server/linux-server/10-backup-disaster-recovery/offsite--local-redundancy.mdx.
  • Retention and pruning: opt/docker-data/apps/docusaurus/site/docs/server/linux-server/10-backup-disaster-recovery/rotation--retention-policies.mdx.