Backups you have proven you can restore

A console that does not lie about success

• A verified restore is the main metric

  Green does not mean “the backup ran”, it means “we restored from it”. No verification, no green.

• Silence is a signal too

  A report that did not arrive on time is its own status, “No report”, not “OK”. Success is never shown by default.

• State over decoration

  A dense instrument panel: the failing source is visible in a second. A status is always told by icon, text and color, never by color alone.

Sources by status, not by list

Sources with problems come first. A status is computed from the last backup and the last restore verification: green only where the restore is actually proven.

How it works

Sard orchestrates backups; restic does storage, deduplication and encryption. Backup data never passes through the server.

• The agent dials out

  The agent is a gRPC client over mTLS. Hosts open no inbound ports.

• Data skips the server

  The agent streams the backup straight to storage through restic. The server holds only control.

• Sources are plugins

  Every source implements one interface: prepare → dump → stream → verify. The SDK is Apache-2.0.

Restore verification: a separate agent proves the backup restores

A verifier on another machine pulls the snapshot from the repository, restores it in an isolated sandbox and compares the copy with the fingerprint taken at backup. The “Verified” status appears only after that.

What is checked

1. Level 1Storage integrityrestic check reading a part of the data
2. Level 2Restorerestic restore --verify or pg_restore in a sandbox
3. Level 3Startthe copy opens in its own application
4. Level 4Meaning of the datathe copy’s fingerprint matches the source’s fingerprint
5. Level 5Restore timeall stages passed and the restore time measured

Learn more

Restore verification, security, installation, sources, storage and answers to common questions.

• Restore verificationA verifier on a separate machine restores a snapshot and compares it with the source.
• SecuritymTLS, keys on the hosts, a CA of its own, signed releases.
• Install and operateDocker Compose, offline install, the first-start wizard, metrics, server recovery.
• Plugins and SDKThe source interface, a JSON Schema config, secrets. The SDK is Apache-2.0.
• PostgreSQLA pg_dump logical dump streamed into restic, the cluster roles as a separate snapshot.
• Files and directoriesBacks up paths of a Linux host into restic: excludes, control paths, an honest failure.
• StorageS3 (AWS, B2, Yandex, VK, Selectel), SFTP or disk. restic encrypts and deduplicates.
• For integrators and MSPsClient backups with no inbound ports. Multi-tenancy is planned, in the MSP edition.
• FAQWhat Sard is, what works today, license, security.

What works today

Sard is in early development and not production-ready. An honest list of what exists and what does not yet.

The roadmap is a plan, not a promise. Read the roadmap

Plans

The open core is free and runs without enterprise modules. Enterprise is switched on by a license key, and the key decides the edition: Pro or MSP. The enterprise features are planned and not in the product yet.

• Community

  The open core, AGPL-3.0

  Free

  • Backs up files and PostgreSQL with restic (S3, SFTP, disk)Available now
  • Schedules, on-demand runs, Telegram reportsAvailable now
  • Agents over mTLS, install from the server, signed releasesAvailable now
  • Automatic restore verification: PostgreSQL and filesAvailable now
  • Restore from the console into a new placeAvailable now
  • Backup of Sard itselfAvailable now
  • One administrator, one tenantAvailable now
  • Restore from the console over existing dataPlanned
  • New sources: 1C on PostgreSQL, MikroTik, Eltex, MySQLPlanned
  Set it up

• Pro

  For a single organization

  Terms on request

  No tenant management, and the number of users is limited by agreement. Resale is not allowed.

  • Everything in CommunityAvailable now
  • SSO and RBAC: users, roles, sign-in through an external IdPPlanned
  • Audit logPlanned
  • Reports: RPO, RTO, statistics of restores, storages and backupsPlanned
  • LLM integration: anomaly analysis, help with administration and with writing verification scriptsPlanned
  • Enterprise-grade pluginsPlanned
  • External CA and certification (Vault, PKCS#11, GOST)Planned
  Contact us

• MSP

  For integrators and MSPs

  Terms on request

  Allows providing the service to clients.

  • Everything in ProAvailable now
  • Tenant management: many clients in one installationPlanned
  Contact us

A server in 10 minutes

You need a Linux host (amd64 or arm64) with Docker Engine 26.0+, the Compose plugin 2.26+ and curl. The commands run sard-server and PostgreSQL from the published image.

SARD_TAG=v0.1.0-beta.1
mkdir -p ~/sard && cd ~/sard
curl -fsSLO "https://github.com/Artur-Abalov/Sard/releases/download/$SARD_TAG/docker-compose.yml"
curl -fsSL -o .env "https://github.com/Artur-Abalov/Sard/releases/download/$SARD_TAG/sard.env.example"
mkdir -p db
curl -fsSL -o db/db-init.sh "https://github.com/Artur-Abalov/Sard/releases/download/$SARD_TAG/db-init.sh"
curl -fsSL -o db/bootstrap.sql "https://github.com/Artur-Abalov/Sard/releases/download/$SARD_TAG/bootstrap.sql"
curl -fsSL -o db/pg_hba.conf "https://github.com/Artur-Abalov/Sard/releases/download/$SARD_TAG/pg_hba.conf"
curl -fsSL -o db/postgres-entrypoint.sh "https://github.com/Artur-Abalov/Sard/releases/download/$SARD_TAG/postgres-entrypoint.sh"
sudo chgrp 10001 .env && chmod 640 .env
docker compose up -d --wait
curl -fsS http://localhost:8080/api/v1/status

The first start asks for the administrator password in the console: a one-time code is printed in the server log, and the setup wizard walks you through the CA and the backup of the server itself.

Operator guideDemo from a clean VM to a restored file