mbentley/timemachine

docker image to run Samba or AFP (netatalk) to provide a compatible Time Machine for MacOS

Tags

• latest, smb - SMB image based off of alpine:latest
• smb-armv7l - SMB image based off of alpine:latest for the armv7l architecture
• afp - AFP image based off of debian:jessie (deprecated but still available)

Warning: I would strongly suggest migrating to the SMB image as AFP is being deprecated by Apple and I've found it to be much more stable. I do not plan on adding any new features to the AFP based config and I switched the default image in the latest tag to the SMB variant on October 15, 2020.

To pull this image: docker pull mbentley/timemachine:smb

Example usage for SMB

Example usage with --net=host to allow Avahi discovery; all available environment variables set to their default values:

docker run -d --restart=always \
  --name timemachine \
  --net=host \
  -e CUSTOM_SMB_CONF="false" \
  -e CUSTOM_USER="false" \
  -e DEBUG_LEVEL="1" \
  -e MIMIC_MODEL="TimeCapsule8,119" \
  -e EXTERNAL_CONF="" \
  -e HIDE_SHARES="no" \
  -e TM_USERNAME="timemachine" \
  -e TM_GROUPNAME="timemachine" \
  -e TM_UID="1000" \
  -e TM_GID="1000" \
  -e PASSWORD="timemachine" \
  -e SET_PERMISSIONS="false" \
  -e SHARE_NAME="TimeMachine" \
  -e SMB_INHERIT_PERMISSIONS="no" \
  -e SMB_NFS_ACES="yes" \
  -e SMB_PORT="445" \
  -e SMB_VFS_OBJECTS="acl_xattr fruit streams_xattr" \
  -e VOLUME_SIZE_LIMIT="0" \
  -e WORKGROUP="WORKGROUP" \
  -v /path/on/host/to/backup/to/for/timemachine:/opt/timemachine \
  -v timemachine-var-lib-samba:/var/lib/samba \
  -v timemachine-var-cache-samba:/var/cache/samba \
  -v timemachine-run-samba:/run/samba \
  mbentley/timemachine:smb

Example usage with exposing ports without Avahi discovery; all available environment variables set to their default values:

docker run -d --restart=always \
  --name timemachine \
  --hostname timemachine \
  -p 137:137/udp \
  -p 138:138/udp \
  -p 139:139 \
  -p 445:445 \
  -e CUSTOM_SMB_CONF="false" \
  -e CUSTOM_USER="false" \
  -e DEBUG_LEVEL="1" \
  -e HIDE_SHARES="no" \
  -e EXTERNAL_CONF="" \
  -e MIMIC_MODEL="TimeCapsule8,119" \
  -e TM_USERNAME="timemachine" \
  -e TM_GROUPNAME="timemachine" \
  -e TM_UID="1000" \
  -e TM_GID="1000" \
  -e PASSWORD="timemachine" \
  -e SET_PERMISSIONS="false" \
  -e SHARE_NAME="TimeMachine" \
  -e SMB_INHERIT_PERMISSIONS="no" \
  -e SMB_NFS_ACES="yes" \
  -e SMB_PORT="445" \
  -e SMB_VFS_OBJECTS="acl_xattr fruit streams_xattr" \
  -e VOLUME_SIZE_LIMIT="0" \
  -e WORKGROUP="WORKGROUP" \
  -v /path/on/host/to/backup/to/for/timemachine:/opt/timemachine \
  -v timemachine-var-lib-samba:/var/lib/samba \
  -v timemachine-var-cache-samba:/var/cache/samba \
  -v timemachine-run-samba:/run/samba \
  mbentley/timemachine:smb

Tips for Automatic Discovery w/Avahi

This works best with --net=host so that discovery can be broadcast. Otherwise, you will need to expose the above ports and then you must manually map the share in Finder for it to show up (open Finder, click Shared, and connect as smb://hostname-or-ip/TimeMachine with your TimeMachine credentials). Using --net=host only works if you do not already run Samba or Avahi on the host! Alternatively, you can use the SMB_PORT option to change the port that Samba uses. See below for another workaround if you do not wish to change the Samba port.

Conflicts with Samba and/or Avahi on the Host

Note: If you are already running Samba on your Docker host (or you're wanting to run this on your NAS), you should be aware that using --net=host will cause a conflict with the Samba install. As an alternative, you can use the macvlan driver in Docker which will allow you to map a static IP address to your container. If you have issues setting up Time Machine with the configuration, feel free to open an issue and I can assist - this is how I persoanlly run time machine.

1. Create a macvlan Docker network (assuming your local subnet is 192.168.1.0/24, the default gateway is 192.168.1.1, and eth0 for the host's network interface):

docker network create -d macvlan --subnet=192.168.1.0/24 --gateway=192.168.1.1 -o parent=eth0 macvlan1

On devices such as Synology DSM, the primary network interface may be ovs_eth0 due to the usage of Open vSwitch. If you are unsure of your primary network interface, this command may help:

$ route | grep ^default | awk '{print $NF}'
eth0

The macvlan driver can use another network interface as the documentation states above but in cases where multiple network interfaces may exist and they might not all be connected, choosing the primary network interface is generally safe.

1. Add --network macvlan1 and --ip 192.168.1.x to your docker run command where 192.168.1.x is a static IP to assign to Time Machine

Example macvlan setup using docker-compose

services:
timemachine:
  hostname: timemachine
  mac_address: "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF"
  networks:
    timemachine:
      ipv4_address: 192.168.1.x

networks:
timemachine:
  driver: macvlan
  driver_opts:
    parent: eth0
  ipam:
    config:
      - subnet: 192.168.1.0/24
        ip_range: 192.168.1.0/24
        gateway: 192.168.1.1

1. hostname, mac_address, and ipv4_address are optional, but can be used to control how it is configured on the network. If not defined, random values will be used.
2. This config requires docker-compose version 1.27.0+ which implements the compse specification.

Volume & File system Permissions

If you're using an external volume like in the example above, you will need to set the filesystem permissions on disk. By default, the timemachine user is 1000:1000.

Also note that if you change the TM_USERNAME value that it will change the data path from /opt/timemachine to /opt/<value-of-TM_USERNAME>.

Default credentials:

• Username: timemachine
• Password: timemachine

Optional variables for SMB

Variable	Default	Description
CUSTOM_SMB_CONF	false	indicates that you are going to bind mount a custom config to /etc/samba/smb.conf if set to true
CUSTOM_USER	false	indicates that you are going to bind mount /etc/password, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow; and create data directories if set to true
DEBUG_LEVEL	1	sets the debug level for nmbd and smbd
EXTERNAL_CONF	not set	specifies a directory in which individual variable files, ending in .conf, for multiple users; see Adding Multiple Users & Shares for more info
HIDE_SHARES	no	set to yes if you would like only the share(s) a user can access to appear
MIMIC_MODEL	TimeCapsule8,119	sets the value of time machine to mimic
TM_USERNAME	timemachine	sets the username time machine runs as
TM_GROUPNAME	timemachine	sets the group name time machine runs as
TM_UID	1000	sets the UID of the TM_USERNAME user
TM_GID	1000	sets the GID of the TM_GROUPNAME group
PASSWORD	timemachine	sets the password for the timemachine user
SET_PERMISSIONS	false	set to true to have the entrypoint set ownership and permission on the /opt/<username> in the container
SHARE_NAME	TimeMachine	sets the name of the timemachine share to TimeMachine by default
SMB_INHERIT_PERMISSIONS	no	if yes, permissions for new files will be forced to match the parent folder
SMB_NFS_ACES	yes	value of fruit:nfs_aces; support for querying and modifying the UNIX mode of directory entries via NFS ACEs
SMB_PORT	445	sets the port that Samba will be available on
SMB_VFS_OBJECTS	acl_xattr fruit streams_xattr	value of vfs objects
VOLUME_SIZE_LIMIT	0	sets the maximum size of the time machine backup; a unit can also be passed (e.g. - 1 T). See the Samba docs under the fruit:time machine max size section for more details
WORKGROUP	WORKGROUP	set the Samba workgroup name

Adding Multiple Users & Shares

In order to add multiple users who have their own shares, you will need to create a file for each user and put them in a directory. The file name must end in .conf or it will not be parsed and the contents must be environment variable formatted proper and include all of the values below in the example. Only VOLUME_SIZE_LIMIT can be empty if you do not want to set a quota.

Example EXTERNAL_CONF File

This is an example to create a user named foo. The EXTERNAL_CONF variable should point to the directory that contains the user definition files. Create multiple files with different attributes to create multiple users and shares.

foo.conf

TM_USERNAME=foo
TM_GROUPNAME=foogroup
PASSWORD=foopass
SHARE_NAME=foo
VOLUME_SIZE_LIMIT="1 T"
TM_UID=1000
TM_GID=1000

Example run command for EXTERNAL_CONF

This run command has the necessary path to where the external user files will be mounted (set in EXTERNAL_CONF) and the volume mount that matches the path specified in EXTERNAL_CONF.

Note: You will need to either bind mount /opt or each SHARE_NAME directory under /opt for each user.

docker run -d --restart=always \
  --name timemachine \
  --net=host \
  -e CUSTOM_SMB_CONF="false" \
  -e CUSTOM_USER="false" \
  -e DEBUG_LEVEL="1" \
  -e MIMIC_MODEL="TimeCapsule8,119" \
  -e EXTERNAL_CONF="/users" \
  -e HIDE_SHARES="no" \
  -e TM_USERNAME="timemachine" \
  -e TM_GROUPNAME="timemachine" \
  -e TM_UID="1000" \
  -e TM_GID="1000" \
  -e PASSWORD="timemachine" \
  -e SET_PERMISSIONS="false" \
  -e SHARE_NAME="TimeMachine" \
  -e SMB_INHERIT_PERMISSIONS="no" \
  -e SMB_NFS_ACES="yes" \
  -e SMB_PORT="445" \
  -e SMB_VFS_OBJECTS="acl_xattr fruit streams_xattr" \
  -e VOLUME_SIZE_LIMIT="0" \
  -e WORKGROUP="WORKGROUP" \
  -v /path/on/host/to/backup/to/for/timemachine:/opt \
  -v timemachine-var-lib-samba:/var/lib/samba \
  -v timemachine-var-cache-samba:/var/cache/samba \
  -v timemachine-run-samba:/run/samba \
  -v /path/on/host/to/user/file/directory:/users \
  mbentley/timemachine:smb

Using a password file

This is an example to using Docker secrets to pass the password via a file

password.txt

my_secret_password

Example docker-compose file

The follow example shows the key values required for in your compose file.

version: "3.3" # or greater
services:
  timemachine:
    # ...
    environment:
      - PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/password
      # ...
    secrets:
      - password

secrets:
  password:
    file: ./password.txt

AFP Examples and Variables

Click to expand

Example docker-compose usage for AFP

docker-compose -f timemachine-compose.yml up -d

Example docker run usage for AFP

Example usage with --net=host to allow Avahi discovery to function:

docker run -d --restart=always \
  --net=host \
  --name timemachine \
  -e CUSTOM_AFP_CONF="false" \
  -e CUSTOM_USER="false" \
  -e LOG_LEVEL="info" \
  -e MIMIC_MODEL="TimeCapsule6,106" \
  -e TM_USERNAME="timemachine" \
  -e TM_GROUPNAME="timemachine" \
  -e TM_UID="1000" \
  -e TM_GID="1000" \
  -e PASSWORD="timemachine" \
  -e SET_PERMISSIONS="false" \
  -e SHARE_NAME="TimeMachine" \
  -e VOLUME_SIZE_LIMIT="0" \
  -v /path/on/host/to/backup/to/for/timemachine:/opt/timemachine \
  -v timemachine-netatalk:/var/netatalk \
  -v timemachine-logs:/var/log/supervisor \
  mbentley/timemachine:afp

Example usage with exposing ports without Avahi discovery:

docker run -d --restart=always \
  --name timemachine \
  --hostname timemachine \
  -p 548:548 \
  -p 636:636 \
  -e CUSTOM_AFP_CONF="false" \
  -e CUSTOM_USER="false" \
  -e LOG_LEVEL="info" \
  -e MIMIC_MODEL="TimeCapsule6,106" \
  -e TM_USERNAME="timemachine" \
  -e TM_GROUPNAME="timemachine" \
  -e TM_UID="1000" \
  -e TM_GID="1000" \
  -e PASSWORD="timemachine" \
  -e SET_PERMISSIONS="false" \
  -e SHARE_NAME="TimeMachine" \
  -e VOLUME_SIZE_LIMIT="0" \
  -v /path/on/host/to/backup/to/for/timemachine:/opt/timemachine \
  -v timemachine-netatalk:/var/netatalk \
  -v timemachine-logs:/var/log/supervisor \
  mbentley/timemachine:afp

This works best with --net=host so that discovery can be broadcast. Otherwise, you will need to expose the above ports and then you must manually map the share in Finder for it to show up (open Finder, click Shared, and connect as afp://hostname-or-ip/TimeMachine with your TimeMachine credentials).

Optional variables for AFP:

Variable	Default	Description
CUSTOM_AFP_CONF	false	indicates that you are going to bind mount a custom config to /etc/netatalk/afp.conf if set to true
CUSTOM_USER	false	indicates that you are going to bind mount /etc/password, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow; and create data directories if set to true
LOG_LEVEL	info	sets the netatalk log level
MIMIC_MODEL	TimeCapsule6,106	sets the value of time machine to mimic
TM_USERNAME	timemachine	sets the username time machine runs as
TM_GROUPNAME	timemachine	sets the group name time machine runs as
TM_UID	1000	sets the UID of the TM_USERNAME user
TM_GID	1000	sets the GID of the TM_GROUPNAME group
PASSWORD	timemachine	sets the password for the timemachine user
SET_PERMISSIONS	false	set to true to have the entrypoint set ownership and permission on /opt/timemachine
SHARE_NAME	TimeMachine	sets the name of the timemachine share to TimeMachine by default
VOLUME_SIZE_LIMIT	0	sets the maximum size of the time machine backup in MiB (mebibyte)

Thanks for odarriba and arve0 for their examples to start from.