Installed CrashPlan on my ReadyNAS Ultra 4

I use CrashPlan+ (20% discount link, I do not get any bonus) to backup my computer (Mac) to the cloud in addition to using TimeMachine. I just installed CrashPlan on my ReadyNAS Ultra 4 for automatic backup 🙂 Here is how I did it (adapted from these instructions. You will have to buy an extra subscription for the NAS or upgrade your existing subscription to a Family subscription. Installing CrashPlan on the ReadyNAS itself rather than adding the NAS when mounted to your computer means that the NAS can backup itself. In my case this also means a faster backup since I use WiFi on my computer and the NAS is directly connected to my router.

• Download Java (headless linux, small footprint): http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/embedded/downloads/javase/index.html
• Copy downloaded Java install file to /c/backup (the backup share)
• Download and install Java addon for ReadyNAS: http://minimserver.com/ejre-installer.html
• Enable SSH for your ReadyNAS if you have not done so before.
• Download CrashPlan för Linux copy to ~/ for root user.
• Unpack CrashPlan install file (unpacks to CrashPlan-install):

  % tar -xvf CrashPlan_3.5.3_Linux.tgz

Go to the CrashPlan-install directory and run ./install.sh

% cd CrashPlan-install
% ./install.sh

Below follows a dump of my interactions:

Do you accept and agree to be bound by the EULA? (yes/no) yes

What directory do you wish to install CrashPlan to? [/usr/local/crashplan]
/usr/local/crashplan does not exist.  Create /usr/local/crashplan? (y/n) [y]

What directory do you wish to link the CrashPlan executable to? [/usr/local/bin]

What directory do you wish to store backups in? [/usr/local/var/crashplan] /crashplan-backup
/crashplan-backup does not exist.  Create /crashplan-backup? (y/n) [y]

What directory contains your SYSV init scripts? [/etc/init.d]

What directory contains your runlevel init links? [/etc/rc2.d]

Your selections:
CrashPlan will install to: /usr/local/crashplan
And put links to binaries in: /usr/local/bin
And store datas in: /crashplan-backup
Your init.d dir is: /etc/init.d
Your current runlevel directory is: /etc/rc2.d

Is this correct? (y/n) [y]

• Configure the client on the ReadyNAS via GUI on desktop by following the instructions for configuring a headless client. Below is a summarization of the steps.
  • Quit the CrashPlan Desktop client on the machine you want to use to configure the client on the ReadyNAS (machine will be referred to as 1.1.1.1).
  • Edit the ui.properties file (on a Mac: /Applications/CrashPlan.app/Contents/Resources/Java/conf/ui.properties) to use service port 4200 (uncomment and edit the line servicePort parameter)
  • Create a SSH port forward to your ReadyNAS (from a Mac, open a terminal and type ssh -N -L 4200:localhost:4243 root@<ReadyNAS IP-address>)
  • Start the CrashPlan Desktop client on 1.1.1.1
  • Configure backup of ReadyNAS (login to account, set up subscription, select folders to backup).

Update: Here is a post on how to update the CrashPlan client/Java version.