# Is kopia running in the background? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Topics\ **Created:** [March 7, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/is-kopia-running-in-the-background/1853 "2023-03-07T15:26:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![magne](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/magne/32/630_2.png) [@magne](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/magne)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/is-kopia-running-in-the-background/1853/1 "2023-03-07T15:26:29Z")
Hi, I installed kopia on arch linux. Is it running in the background all the time for scheduling backups, maintenance etc? I cant seem to find it as a service or process Do I have to run ‘kopia server start’ for it to run in the background? ---
**Author:** ![budy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/budy/32/38_2.png) [@budy](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/budy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2023, 10:20am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/is-kopia-running-in-the-background/1853/2 "2023-03-08T10:20:58Z")
Yes, you will have to either start kopia server manually, or write a little startup script and invoke that from systemd. ---
**Author:** ![magne](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/magne/32/630_2.png) [@magne](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/magne)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2023, 10:34am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/is-kopia-running-in-the-background/1853/3 "2023-03-08T10:34:51Z")
Thanks, I’ll do that 😀 I want to backup some file owned by root. Do I simply “sudo kopia server start”? Or is it a more secure/elegant way? ---
**Author:** ![budy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/budy/32/38_2.png) [@budy](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/budy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2023, 10:39am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/is-kopia-running-in-the-background/1853/4 "2023-03-08T10:39:35Z")
Using Kopia Server unattended is a bit involved, as it requires a start script and a config. Just running `kopia server start` won’t do it… You will then also have to configre a Kopia client locally in order to push snapshots into the server. If this client runs as root, you can snapshot anything you want on that server, as long as its a regular file. ---
**Author:** ![magne](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/magne/32/630_2.png) [@magne](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/magne)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2023, 11:03am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/is-kopia-running-in-the-background/1853/5 "2023-03-08T11:03:32Z")
ok, to clarify my setup. In my lan i have a arch-linux server (called hope.lan) This server containt the files i wish to back up. I want to back it up to a synology NAS, also on my lan. The synology is mounted on hope.lan as NFS I then start kopia server on hope.lan at boot and access the web gui from my desktop-computer. From the gui I configure kopia to schedule backup to synology. crontab -e @reboot sleep 180; sudo kopia server start --insecure --address [http://0.0.0.0:51515](http://0.0.0.0:51515) --server-username magne --server-password mypw --override-hostname hope --override-username magne I feel im on the right track, not sure i understand the override-username/hostname thingy… ---
**Author:** ![budy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/budy/32/38_2.png) [@budy](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/budy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2023, 3:53pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/is-kopia-running-in-the-background/1853/6 "2023-03-08T15:53:12Z")
Please take a look at this thread - we have been discussing this: > [@How to specify the root dir for kopia server](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/how-to-specify-the-root-dir-for-kopia-server/1775): > > I am in the process of setting up a kopia server on a VM. I do have a separate filesystem /backup where all backups should go for all the hosts that connect to that kopia server. I have read the documentation, but clouldn’t find a paramter or a config file where I could specify the root directory for backups/snapshots/… created by all the hosts that connect to this kopia server. So how do I specify the root dir for backups? Ps.: Also, is there more info available than on https://kopia.io/docs… Feel free to chime in with any additional questions you might have.