Automating Shell Scripts

Configuration
1

So I have to backup plans in place now thanks to the great info on here and @turboc and others.

  1. rsync
    I use rsync over ssh to back up the configuration directory to another Pi I have on the network that does duty as a file server.

  2. dd
    I set up a command to run dd over ssh to make an image of the SD card and put that image on the file server Pi mentioned above.

What I am wondering is whether or not there is any benefit or use in automating this in HA? Or am I better off just using crontab?

I would like to run the rsync from within HA so I can synchronize those files as needed but I am not sure how to do this in HA. An input slider doesn’t seem like the thing you would use, and an input select might be better, but I am not sure how to set such a thing up.

Anyone have examples of how they are using and automating shell scripts from within HA?

2

HA automation

- alias: 'backup automation'
  trigger:
    platform: time
    hours: 0
    minutes: 1
    seconds: 0
  action:
    service: shell_command.backupha

Shell script

# Developed 30Nov2016
# Chip Cox
# designed to backup hass directory from a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant in a virtual environment

# Set Directory and filename variables
# This is the mount point for my usb drive.  
# your destination directory will probably be different
filedir=/mnt/usbdrive/

# I'm starting this backup in the home directory for the hass user.
srcdir="~"

#current date format DDMONYYYY
current_time=$(date "+%d%b%y")

# build output filename
filename=$filedir"hass"$current_time"backup.tar"

# display backup information.
echo $filename > ~/backup.log
echo "Current Time : $current_time" >> ~/backup.log

# Create the tar file given with verbose output and put the contents of srcdir in it.
# excluding .cache directory
#
cmd="tar -cvf $filename --exclude .cache $srcdir"

echo $cmd >> ~/backup.log

# DoIt
eval $cmd >> ~/backup.log
#now that you have the tar file, zip it up to save space.
gzip $filename >> ~/backup.log

Just realized I had left this line out that’s in my configuration.yaml

shell_command:
`  backupha: '/home/hass/habackup'`
3

@turboc, Was that in the documentation somewhere? If so, I am sorry, I looked in the Components section and saw shell script it didn’t lend itself well to helping me out.

4

LOL, yea, some of the documentation is that way. I’ve had lots of help from the people on the board too, just like you. This is just what I am using for my nightly backups

5

It’s under shell command

https://home-assistant.io/components/shell_command/

6

Where should one place shell commands? I use hass.io, but is /config the right location?

1 Like
7

Hi all - I am trying to automate a github backup similar to this.

I am able run the shell script from terminal. But, I cannot get an automation to execute this script.
here is what I have tried:

- id: '1600259092041'
  alias: HA backup github (youtube example)
  trigger:
  - at: 02:00
    platform: time
  condition: []
  action:
  - data:
      addon: a0d7b954_ssh
      input: /root/config/ha_gitpush.sh
    service: hassio.addon_stdin
  mode: single

###########

- alias: HA backup github (community example)
  trigger:
    platform: time
    at: 02:30:00
  action:
    service: shell_command.backupha

with configuration.yaml showing this to support the 2nd automation:

shell_command:
  backupha: '/root/config/ha_gitpush.sh'
1 Like