DunneNote Host

DunneNote Host (the backup host) lets one of your computers keep encrypted backups of the notebooks on your other computers, over your home or office network. You install it on the computer that should hold the backups.

• It runs as you and needs no administrator rights.
• It runs only while you are logged in. This is deliberate: a computer sitting at its login screen is not accepting connections.
• Backups sent to it are always encrypted by the sending computer first. The host only ever stores encrypted data.

This page is marked In progress because the host installer is still going through final acceptance testing, particularly on Windows.

Before you install#

1. Pick the computer that will keep the backups. It must be on the same network as the computers you back up.
2. Give it a fixed network address. The host listens on one address, which you confirm during install. In your router, set up a DHCP reservation for this computer. If its address changes later, the host can't start until you reinstall it with the new address.
3. Use the same version everywhere. The host and the DunneNote app must be the same version. Each package includes a BUILD.txt file identifying its build. An older host can't talk to a newer app.

Install#

Download the DunneNote Host package for your system from the download page, under DunneNote Host: macOS (Apple Silicon), Windows (x64) or Linux (x64). Pick the same version as your DunneNote app, and check its SHA-256 checksum. Unpack it (named like DunneNote-Host-0.9.2-…), then:

It asks two questions. Press Enter to accept the suggestion in brackets:

• Which network address? It suggests this computer's current address.
• Where should backups be kept? It suggests a DunneNote Backups folder in your home folder. You can choose another, but not one inside a notebook's folder.

It then installs the host, starts it, sets it to start at every login, and checks that it is listening before it says OK.

To install without questions, run sh install.sh --yes, or on Windows powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install.ps1 -Yes. To set the values yourself, add --bind, --replica-dir and --port (on Windows -Bind, -ReplicaDir and -Port).

Pair a computer#

Pairing lets another of your computers back up to this host. You do it once per computer.

Before the first backup, turn on encryption for the new destination: Encrypt backups at this destination…. See Backup and restore.

Pairing another computer later doesn't affect computers already paired with this host.

Turn autostart off and on#

Off stops the host now and keeps it from starting at your next login. On starts it now and at every login. Nothing is uninstalled either way.

On macOS, bootout on its own doesn't turn it off: it comes back at the next login. The disable step is what keeps it off.

You can also just run the installer again to turn autostart back on. It keeps everything else.

Change the address or backup folder#

Run the installer again with the new values. It keeps this host's identity.

• New folder only: paired computers keep working with no change.
• New address: pair each computer again. The address is carried inside the pairing code.

A new backup folder starts empty. Backups in the old folder are not moved. To keep them, move the old folder's entire contents into the new folder before you reinstall.

Uninstall#

The host stops and no longer starts at login. Two things are kept on purpose:

• The backups in the folder you chose. They are your other computers' data. Delete them yourself only if you mean to.
• The host's identity, in .dunnenote-host in your home folder. Paired computers trust exactly this identity. Keep it if you might reinstall.

Troubleshooting#

Is it running?

Exit codes (on Windows, the scheduled task's Last Run Result; on Linux, status=):

One user per Windows computer. Only one Windows account on a computer can run the host at a time.

Related#

• Tutorial: back up to another computer
• Backup and restore