# Kopia repository server installation doc **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [December 28, 2020, 8:34am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-repository-server-installation-doc/251 "2020-12-28T08:34:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![samuel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@samuel](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/samuel)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 8:34am UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-repository-server-installation-doc/251/1 "2020-12-28T08:34:04Z")
Hi, I managed to have a working backup using Kopia repository server’s feature. I’m on a Debian 9. Here is what I did. If you see something wrong, feel free to comment and/or correct. Once doc is ok, I’ll add it to website - Install kopia on server using the appropriate method - Create a user on the server (kopia) ```bash useradd kopia ``` - Change user’s homedir to a partition with space if your /home doesn’t have enough (could be /opt, /var, etc.) ```bash usermod -d /opt/kopia kopia ``` - Create a kopia\_conf dir ```bash cd /opt/kopia mkdir kopia_conf ``` - Create a storage directory ```bash mkdir datas ``` - Create service ([https://forum.frank-mankel.org/topic/848/kopia-http-s-server/3](https://forum.frank-mankel.org/topic/848/kopia-http-s-server/3)) ```bash vi /etc/systemd/service/kopia.service ``` ```ini [Unit] Description=Kopia Server After=syslog.target After=network.target [Service] Type=simple User=kopia Group=kopia ExecStart=/usr/bin/kopia server --htpasswd-file full_path/kopia_conf/kopia_auth --tls-cert-file full_path/kopia_conf/kopia.cert --tls-key-file full_path/kopia_conf/kopia.key --address :51515 Restart=always RestartSec=5 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target # and adjust paths ``` - Configure kopia (Based on this page [https://kopia.io/docs/repository-server/](https://kopia.io/docs/repository-server/)) Create user(s) account(s) ```bash cd kopia_conf htpasswd -c kopia_auth user1@host1 # !!! (Lowercase client host) ``` - Start server to generate keys ```bash kopia server start --htpasswd-file full_path/kopia_conf/kopia_auth --tls-generate-cert --tls-cert-file full_path/kopia_conf/kopia.cert --tls-key-file full_path/kopia_conf/kopia.key --address :51515 # !!! Write down the hash SERVER CERT SHA256 ``` - Configure repository Connect to web interface https://\:51515 with credentials created earlier Create a local storage Dir : “datas” - Stop server and start service Stop server () start kopia service ```bash systemctl start kopia.service ``` - Connect with client (kopiaUI) 1. Start KopiaUI, fill the fields with according informations 2. enter server address : https://\:51515 3. use SERVER CERT SHA256 generated earlier 4. use password created earlier 5. add directories to backup 6. create snapshots ---
**Author:** ![jkowalski](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/jkowalski/32/3_2.png) [@jkowalski](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/jkowalski)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-repository-server-installation-doc/251/2 "2020-12-28T18:27:00Z")
That’s nice, note you can also use pre-existing trusted TLS certificate files. For example If you own `somedomain.com` you can use LetsEncrypt to generate trusted cert and key for `kopia.somedomain.com` and use that instead of your server IP and since the cert is trusted you won’t need to pass SHA256 at all. ---
**Author:** ![peter](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/peter/32/441_2.png) [@peter](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/peter)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 3:47pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-repository-server-installation-doc/251/3 "2022-12-08T15:47:13Z")
As it took me several tries to setup a kopia server (in my case on a raspberry pi using the nextcloudpi image) and connect to it, here the steps that did work for me: ```bash # create a user to run the kopia server sudo adduser kopia sudo usermod -a -G kopia kopia # it makes life easier if you can access the conf & repo as the default 'pi' user sudo usermod -a -G kopia pi # allow access to this port from outside, nextcloudpi uses the universal firewall sudo ufw allow 51515/tcp comment 'kopia server' # now some steps as user kopia sudo su - kopia mkdir kopia_conf cd kopia_conf # this might be no longer necessary, I'm not sure? htpasswd -c kopia_auth myuser@another-host # IMPORTANT: You need to connect locally to server's repo before the server is started! kopia repository connect filesystem --path=.../repo/ # Once connected, you can then add users: kopia server user add $USER@$HOSTNAME kopia server user add myuser@another-host # NOW: at the FIRST server start: generate KEY & write down fingerprint kopia server start --htpasswd-file /home/kopia/kopia_conf/kopia_auth --tls-generate-cert --tls-cert-file /home/kopia/kopia_conf/kopia.cert --tls-key-file /home/kopia/kopia_conf/kopia.key --address 192.168.178.xx:51515` # next starts: keep certificate kopia server start --htpasswd-file /home/kopia/kopia_conf/kopia_auth --tls-cert-file /home/kopia/kopia_conf/kopia.cert --tls-key-file /home/kopia/kopia_conf/kopia.key --address 192.168.178.xx:51515 ``` And to connect from a client, connect to the this nice server from myuser@another-host (added above as user): ```bash kopia repository connect server --url https://192.168.178.xx:51515 --server-cert-fingerprint kopia snapshot create ... ``` I plan to improve the documentation and provide a PR, as soon as I have some spare time. ---
**Author:** ![wayland](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/kopia.discourse.group/wayland/32/268_2.png) [@wayland](https://kopia.discourse.group/u/wayland)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2023, 6:08pm UTC](https://kopia.discourse.group/t/kopia-repository-server-installation-doc/251/4 "2023-12-04T18:08:05Z")
Do I really need to use tls certificates? I will be connecting over VPN so not sure if it is really necessary to have additional certificates? I remember having issues in the browser when I tried to open the local web page