What’s the Best Way to Back Up Your Docker Setup?

I use Dokploy to handle my setup, and it offers great options for backing up volumes and databases to S3, either manually or on a schedule. It makes the whole process much simpler!

I've installed Docker on a Proxmox Debian VM, and I back up the entire VM using Proxmox's backup feature. I also save my Docker Compose files separately with Portainer backup.

For my config files, I sync them to Google Drive using rclone, which lets me filter out certain types of files and directories. I don’t back up databases to Google since I’m okay with losing those, but for critical information, I might reconsider. I also sync everything to a low-powered Synology server in my home, and I've been talking with a friend in the homelab community about doing encrypted syncs between our servers.

For anything that needs backing up, I use bind mounts and keep them organized in a single folder, with one directory for each service. I also save a copy of each compose file. Personally, I don't bother backing up volumes since containers are meant to be ephemeral. I've always used bind mounts, so I haven't seen a need to switch to volumes myself, but to each their own!

I rely on Docker Compose files stored in a git repository, and use bind mounts for any data that isn’t ephemeral. It's a straightforward way to manage backups.