When prompted, enter a username and password of an account on the linux server that has permissions to the /timemachine directory. Select the NAS Time Machine Target on the server and click “Use Disk” and then “Connect” The share that’s configured in the afp.conf file should be available to select. Now, on your Mac, you should be able to open the Time Machine settings in System Preferences and use Select Disk… to pick your new Time Machine backup drive. 1 I prefer GPT because it’s newer and the larger capacity drives it can support 2.įirewall-cmd -permanent -add-port =/udp I have a spare hard drive that I’ve dedicated to Time Machine backups that I’ve installed in my file server. Create Backup Directory and Assign Permissions.I’ll be using Fedora 35 Server Edition as my backup server for this blog post, but be aware that other Linux distros will have slightly different commands. Thanks to the Apple File System (APFS) and its filesystem snapshot capabilities, Time Machine backups are very efficient, perform well, and can be used to do a full system restore at a specific point in time in addition restoring individual files.Īttaching a USB hard drive as a backup target is the simplest way to get started with Time Machine backups, but server backups are, in my opinion, the most convenient for the long term - no cables or drives cluttering my desk and anytime I’m connected to my file server via wifi, the automated backups will still run. If you use a Mac, Time Machine is a powerful, simple, and all encompassing backup solution that is built in to MacOS. Use a disk on a linux server to store MacOS Time Machine backups.

Mac install from time machine backup