If you spent hours setting up Home Assistant automations, Jellyfin metadata, and Nextcloud users, you do not want to do it again if your hard drive fails. You must back up your system configuration.
Overview
Because LocalNode uses Docker, the system is beautifully separated into "App Code" and "App Data". You do not need to back up the app code (the containers); those can be re-downloaded from the internet in 3 minutes. You only need to back up the App Data (your settings, databases, and preferences).
Understanding the AppData folder
Every single app on the LocalNode stores its configuration inside a specific directory, usually /opt/localnode/appdata.
Jellyfin's watch history and user accounts? In that folder.
Home Assistant's Zigbee network map? In that folder.
AdGuard Home's DNS blocklists? In that folder.
If you zip that single folder and move it to a safe place, you have backed up the brains of your entire server.
Step 1: Creating the automated backup
Just like backing up Immich photos, we will use the built-in LocalNode Backup Manager to save this data to an external drive.
Log into your main LocalNode dashboard at http://localnode.local.
In the sidebar, click on Backup Manager.
Click Create Backup Task.
Under "Source", select System Configuration (AppData).
Under "Destination", select your external drive.
Set the Schedule to Daily (e.g., 04:00 AM).
Set the Retention Policy to keep the last 7 or 14 backups. The configuration data is very small (usually under 2GB total), so keeping 14 copies takes up almost no space.
Click Save & Enable.
Illustration pending
LocalNode Backup Manager listing scheduled AppData jobs such as nightly configuration snapshots.
Reserved for a LocalNode product screenshot when available; UI layout may differ from third-party docs.
⚠️ Warning: This backs up the configuration. It does NOT back up your 4TB of movie files in Jellyfin. To back up your media, you need a separate backup task targeting the /media folder to an external drive large enough to hold it.
Step 2: How to restore a backup
If disaster strikes (e.g., a power surge kills your SSD), you would buy a new SSD, flash a fresh copy of LocalNode OS onto it, and plug in your backup USB drive.
On the fresh server, go to the Backup Manager.
Click the Restore tab.
Select the ZIP file from your external drive.
Click Restore.
The system will stop all Docker containers, unzip the old configuration over the blank defaults, and restart the containers. Your server will boot up looking exactly as it did the night the backup was taken.