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[2107.30 --> 2107.68] Hooray!
[2107.68 --> 2110.38] You in the audience, we got a couple of emails in about it too.
[2110.58 --> 2113.74] And so I finally gave this Google Drive backup a try.
[2113.90 --> 2115.92] It's an add-on specifically for Home Assistant.
[2116.14 --> 2121.06] And this is a good example of why it's kind of nice to have the full supervised Home Assistant setup
[2121.06 --> 2124.96] is it's easy to add repositories for this kind of stuff, and you're off to the races.
[2125.70 --> 2128.70] And what it lets me do, and if you're not familiar, we talked about it a little bit,
[2128.76 --> 2131.22] is it lets you take your snapshots and send them up to Google Drive.
[2131.30 --> 2132.78] Pretty simple. That's all it does.
[2132.78 --> 2139.44] What I've learned now after using it for a little bit is it has a couple of nice built-in management features.
[2139.56 --> 2144.88] It'll keep four snapshots locally, and by default it'll keep four snapshots in Google Drive,
[2144.96 --> 2146.94] but that is totally configurable.
[2147.42 --> 2150.42] You can also have it automatically create the snapshots for you,
[2150.56 --> 2154.68] which is probably a feature I needed more than I realized.
[2154.68 --> 2160.54] I was only doing snapshots right before major events, but if you think about it, it could break at any time.
[2161.08 --> 2161.86] Something could die.
[2162.22 --> 2163.70] You need stuff that's more current.
[2163.80 --> 2170.10] So I set this every three days at 2 a.m. to take a snapshot and then upload it to Google Drive.
[2170.28 --> 2175.64] And what I really was impressed by is how it displays what snapshots are local only,
[2175.74 --> 2179.60] what snapshots are on Drive, and just really easy options to manage it.
[2179.92 --> 2183.84] And as you would expect, it's stupid easy to connect it to your Google account.
[2183.84 --> 2188.20] It just uses all of Google's authorization stuff where you go through all the standard Google login screens,
[2188.32 --> 2190.56] and it's set up and you're off to the races.
[2190.64 --> 2192.04] I can't believe how easy it was.
[2192.18 --> 2193.62] And now it's just hands off.
[2194.02 --> 2195.94] There's a little triangle as well that shows up to say,
[2196.18 --> 2200.20] this snapshot will be deleted when I run the next backup set,
[2200.28 --> 2205.12] just so that you know, oh, right, that's my weekly snapshot falling off the end of the conveyor belt.
[2205.30 --> 2208.06] I like this pairing with Duplicati too.
[2208.18 --> 2211.18] So this is how I'm still backing up any of my system level stuff.
[2211.18 --> 2213.70] This has nothing to do with Raspberry Pi or Home Assistant.
[2213.82 --> 2216.90] You could use this on any Linux box, and I really, really love it.
[2217.60 --> 2222.00] Duplicati is what I use for off-siting my Docker Compose files,
[2222.12 --> 2225.02] my configuration files in general, Etsy Config,
[2225.56 --> 2229.66] any of those kinds of things that I think I would want to be able to restore
[2229.66 --> 2231.96] if I were to reload a base system.
[2231.96 --> 2234.74] I use Duplicati to off-site that system level stuff.
[2235.12 --> 2238.82] So now I have this Home Assistant Google Drive paired for the snapshots,
[2239.04 --> 2243.14] which is the application level stuff, and Duplicati for the system level stuff.
[2243.42 --> 2247.30] And I feel like I probably have my backup more dialed in than I ever have right now.
[2247.74 --> 2252.04] Are you not ever tempted to use, you know, Git to manage your config files?
[2252.10 --> 2253.24] Because they are just text files.
[2253.70 --> 2257.34] You've put that seed in my mind a little while ago, and I have been considering it.
[2257.34 --> 2262.10] It's mostly just taking the time to set it up and bother.
[2262.68 --> 2266.36] Because what I have now kind of works, so I don't have like an impetus to replace it.
[2266.62 --> 2270.02] But I know I probably should replace it before I have that impetus.
[2271.10 --> 2278.22] I'm reminded of a conversation I had at my first developer job with one of the senior architects.
[2278.50 --> 2283.04] I came in fresh out of my computer science degree.
[2283.42 --> 2284.06] Just a lad.
[2284.40 --> 2284.68] Yeah.
[2285.22 --> 2286.90] Saying, well, why don't we just rewrite this?
[2286.90 --> 2287.90] Why don't we just rewrite that?
[2288.00 --> 2288.72] I mean, this is stupid.
[2288.82 --> 2289.46] This is really old.
[2289.54 --> 2290.98] Why are we still running Java 5?
[2291.12 --> 2291.98] And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[2292.68 --> 2295.30] And he sort of sat me down, and it was over like lunch break.
[2295.34 --> 2297.04] It wasn't like a super formal thing.
[2297.10 --> 2301.90] But he was like, well, what you've got to realize, Alex, is that when you rewrite code,
[2302.34 --> 2304.42] obviously there's a cost to rewriting the code.
[2305.26 --> 2307.04] Someone has to pay that bill.
[2307.72 --> 2311.04] The business, in air quotes, the business has to pay that bill.
[2311.04 --> 2318.18] Some product manager somewhere has to sign off product owner and say, yes, I'm going to pay for this out of my budget and do that.
[2318.98 --> 2319.32] All right.
[2319.40 --> 2320.12] Okay, cool.
[2321.16 --> 2322.86] What's the spec going to be?
[2323.38 --> 2325.64] Well, at a minimum, it's got to be what it already does.
[2325.64 --> 2330.48] But what the product owner is looking for is something extra.
[2330.72 --> 2338.06] They want to add a new type of credit card that they can accept, or they want to add a new feature, whatever it might be.
[2338.06 --> 2354.10] And so the bill for them to add a new feature to the existing pile of crap that's already there is, you know, 5% versus 105% of rewriting the entire code base, which could take multiple years.
[2354.78 --> 2362.56] During which time, you still have to innovate to keep ahead of your competition and patch and write code for the old code base.
[2362.56 --> 2379.22] And you're just like, oh, yeah, now I see why massive enterprises have code bases that are 30, 40 years old that people are scared to touch because what they have just works and is a stinking cash cow.
[2379.40 --> 2381.26] So the spec is the code.
[2381.32 --> 2382.16] The code is the spec.
[2382.36 --> 2384.40] Why would anybody fit?
[2384.54 --> 2390.18] If it ain't broke, don't fix it or just keep fixing the minimum viable fixes, you know?
[2390.18 --> 2393.76] What you call technical debt, they call an investment.
[2394.96 --> 2396.02] It's very true.
[2396.38 --> 2397.22] It's very true.
[2397.76 --> 2401.78] Yeah, I've very much had that same arc over my career.
[2401.94 --> 2404.72] I was the bull in the china shop.
[2404.76 --> 2407.98] Let's come in and tear it all down and replace it with the new stuff guy.
[2409.00 --> 2413.34] And towards the end, I was the guy being like, well, let's not replace it.
[2413.40 --> 2414.72] Let's build on what we've got.
[2414.72 --> 2417.88] But I feel like in some ways, you know, you learn how to do things better.
[2418.10 --> 2420.32] And by the end, you should be able to build on what you've done.
[2420.98 --> 2423.00] But software is tricky like that.
[2423.32 --> 2424.64] Sometimes it is better just to restart.
[2424.80 --> 2426.78] And we see it a lot with the projects we use to self-host.
[2426.88 --> 2433.90] You'll see them either fork or you'll see them just sort of reboot completely with a little bit less features because that's the only way they could get it out the door.
[2434.74 --> 2436.40] Well, we're just about done, I think.
[2436.70 --> 2438.24] But we have more in the post show.
[2438.36 --> 2440.30] If you are a member, you get a little extra show.
[2440.30 --> 2444.24] You can go to self-hosted.show slash SRE if you'd like to become one.
[2444.64 --> 2449.24] Not only do you support the show, but you do get a limited ad feed and that extra content out there.
[2449.86 --> 2452.36] As always, you can go to self-hosted.show slash contact.
[2452.66 --> 2454.34] That's the place to go to get in touch with us.
[2454.44 --> 2456.54] And you can find me on Twitter at Ironic Badger.
[2456.94 --> 2458.60] I'm there too at Chris LAS.
[2458.68 --> 2460.70] And the show is at self-hosted show.