Duplicati Backup Server on Offshore VPS

Duplicati targets users who want a backup tool with a polished web UI, mobile notifications, and clear retention policy editors. restic is CLI first and integrates well with automation. borg is SSH only and shines on pure Linux fleets. Duplicati covers the mixed environment case where Windows desktops, macOS laptops, and Linux servers all back up to the same remote target.

On the server side Duplicati does not need a special daemon - it backs up to SFTP, WebDAV, S3, or any other supported backend. AnubizHost VPS comes with SSH and SFTP enabled by default so the server side is essentially free. Add MinIO or rclone for S3 or WebDAV semantics if you prefer those over raw SFTP.

For SFTP backend simply create a dedicated user on the AnubizHost VPS, lock it to its home directory with ChrootDirectory in sshd_config, and point Duplicati clients to that account. For S3 backend deploy MinIO in a Docker container behind Caddy with automatic TLS. For WebDAV backend run nginx with dav_ext module or use SFTPGo which speaks SFTP, WebDAV, and HTTP from one binary.

Storage sizing follows the same rule as other backup tools. Allow 3 to 5x the raw client data for full retention plus snapshots. Duplicati deduplicates and compresses on the client side so the wire and disk footprint is much smaller than the raw figures suggest. Plan 1 TB NVMe for a 5 to 10 user household and scale up from there.

Duplicati encrypts blocks with AES-256 before upload and the passphrase never leaves the client. The server side stores opaque encrypted blobs that cannot be inspected, modified, or restored without the passphrase. Even AnubizHost staff cannot read the contents. Combine with full disk encryption on the VPS for defense in depth.

Offshore hosting matters because backup data often contains the most sensitive content - financial records, business documents, personal media, password manager exports. Hosting that data in Romania, Iceland, or Finland keeps it outside Five Eyes intelligence sharing and under jurisdictions that require local court orders for any access. Crypto billing in Bitcoin or Monero completes the privacy stack.