SemanticBackup

SemanticBackup is a .NET 8 backup service for SQL Server, MySQL, and MariaDB with a web dashboard, background workers, automatic scheduling, compression, and optional delivery targets (FTP, SMTP, Dropbox, Object Storage, and download links).

What The System Does

SemanticBackup continuously runs background jobs that:

1. Read configured resources and databases from Configs/appsettings*.json.
2. Generate backup schedules from each database BackupEveryHrs value.
3. Queue and execute backups.
4. Compress backup files to .zip (if enabled).
5. Dispatch uploads/deliveries to enabled targets.
6. Track status in real time for the dashboard.
7. Send notification emails when backup or upload failures occur (if enabled).

Configuration

All runtime configuration is loaded from:

• SemanticBackup/Configs/appsettings.json
• SemanticBackup/Configs/appsettings.Development.json
• SemanticBackup/Configs/appsettings.Docker.json

1. AdminUsers

Controls dashboard login accounts.

• Identity key is EmailAddress.
• At least one admin user should be configured.

2. BackupConfigurations

Array of backup resources.
Each item defines:

• Name: friendly resource name
• Type: SQLSERVER, MYSQL, or MARIADB
• ConnectionString: database server connection
• Databases: list of database backup rules
  • Name
  • BackupEveryHrs
  • FullBackup
• UploadTo: enabled delivery types for this resource

3. UploadConfigurations

Global settings for each upload channel:

• DownloadLink
• Ftp
• Smtp
• ObjectStorage
• Dropbox

These values are used when a resource enables the matching upload type in UploadTo.

4. NotificationConfigs

Global failure alert settings:

• NotifyOnBackupFailure
• NotifyOnUploadFailure
• NotifyEmailDestinations (array of email addresses)

5. SystemConfigOptions

Core runtime options:

• DefaultBackupDirectory
• BackupFileSaveFormat
• MaxWorkers
• AutoCompressToZip
• BackupExpiryAgeInDays
• ExecutionTimeoutInMinutes
• InDepthBackupRecordDeleteEnabled
• SMTP system mail options used by notification service

Example Configuration

{
  "AdminUsers": [
    {
      "FullName": "Administrator",
      "EmailAddress": "admin@example.com",
      "Password": "change-me",
      "Timezone": "Africa/Nairobi",
      "TimezoneOffset": "+03:00"
    }
  ],
  "BackupConfigurations": [
    {
      "Name": "Main SQL Server",
      "Type": "SQLSERVER",
      "ConnectionString": "Server=127.0.0.1,1433;User ID=sa;Password=StrongPassword;TrustServerCertificate=True;",
      "Databases": [
        {
          "Name": "test-db",
          "BackupEveryHrs": 3,
          "FullBackup": true
        }
      ],
      "UploadTo": [ "downloadLink", "ftp", "smtp" ]
    }
  ],
  "UploadConfigurations": {
    "DownloadLink": {
      "UseShortDownloadLink": true
    },
    "Ftp": {
      "Server": "ftp.example.com",
      "Username": "ftp-user",
      "Password": "ftp-password",
      "Directory": "/backups/"
    },
    "Smtp": {
      "SMTPEnableSSL": true,
      "SMTPHost": "mail.smtp.domain.com",
      "SMTPPort": 587,
      "SMTPEmailAddress": "your.smtp@email-here.com",
      "SMTPEmailCredentials": "#your.smtp.password#",
      "SMTPDefaultSMTPFromName": "SEMANTIC SYSTEM BACKUP",
      "SMTPDestinations": "ops@example.com"
    }
  },
  "NotificationConfigs": {
    "NotifyOnBackupFailure": false,
    "NotifyOnUploadFailure": false,
    "NotifyEmailDestinations": [ "ops@example.com" ]
  },
  "SystemConfigOptions": {
    "DefaultBackupDirectory": "c:\\backups\\",
    "BackupFileSaveFormat": "{{database}}\\{{database}}-{{datetime}}.{{databasetype}}.bak",
    "MaxWorkers": 2,
    "AutoCompressToZip": true,
    "BackupExpiryAgeInDays": 7,
    "ExecutionTimeoutInMinutes": 10,
    "InDepthBackupRecordDeleteEnabled": true
  }
}

Running With Docker

docker pull ghcr.io/swagfin/semantic-backup:latest
docker run -d -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/swagfin/semantic-backup:latest

Dashboard

Use the web dashboard to:

• Monitor resources and database backup activity
• Inspect backup and delivery status
• View real-time updates from SignalR streams

Screenshots

Dashboard with backup metrics and status visualization.

Database backup execution and tracking.

License

SemanticBackup is released under the MIT License.