Setting up “Time Capsule” for free with Linux

I read that it is possible to set up a network based “Time Capsule” service for use with “Time Machine” in OS X. This requires setting up Apple File Sharing (AFP) with Ubuntu Linux. This was a bit of a pain to set up. Got it working after a couple hours of struggle.

• Set up netatalk to share a folder
• Add the .com.apple.timemachine.supported file
• Create the sparsebundle on your mac and copy it to the NAS

Below are some links and more info

I hope to type up a complete howto when I get time. In the mean time, heres some of the links I used to get it working:

• http://holyarmy.org/2008/01/24/time-machine-backup-to-linux-via-netatalk
• http://roncox.org/12
• http://www.damontimm.com/blog/how-to-install-netatalk-afp-on-ubuntu-with-encrypted-authentication/
• http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080420211034137
• http://blog.our-files.com/?p=5
• http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=410274
• http://www.hellinga.org/index.php?id=2&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=4&tx_ttnews[year]=2007&tx_ttnews[month]=05&tx_ttnews[day]=26&cHash=12028cb059

Here is a little trick to prevent the netatalk package from updating in Ubuntu:

echo “netatalk hold” | sudo dpkg –set-selections

Also, during my journey, I came across this “Time Machine”-ish software for Linux. It may be worth checking out for automated Linux backups.

• http://code.google.com/p/flyback/