Mac OS X Time Machine with Linux Server

Time Machine was one of those features that pushed me over the edge to buy the mac. The one thing that was a little disappointing is that it only works with a locally-connected drive (by default). This behavior, however, can be changed. I used Appletalk on my Linux box, but I’ve heard of people using Samba (SMB) and NFS. Here’s how to set it up using Appletalk:

1. Install netatalk with ssh enabled on your Linux box (instructions for doing this on Ubuntu are found here).
2. Create a new directory to use as your Time Machine vault.
   sudo mkdir /var/timemachine
3. Edit /etc/netatalk/AppleVolumes.default to add your AFP network drive (man page for this file is found at this link). At the bottom you will find the entries that define the Appletalk mount point and the “friendly name”. Add the following line at the end of the file to “mount” your new timemachine directory:
   /var/timemachine/ "Time Machine"
4. Now, back on the Mac, select Finder’s “Go->Connect To Server” menu option. Enter the Appletalk address of your Linux box. For example, if my Linux box was at IP address 192.168.1.2, I would use this connection string:
   afp://192.168.1.2
   If it prompts you for a username and password, use one that has read and write access to the /var/timemachine/ directory. I have found it easiest to just add a user to Linux that matches the username/password of a user on the Mac.
5. Select “Time Machine” as the drive to mount.
6. You need to tell Time Machine that it’s OK to use network drives for a backup volume by executing the following from a Mac Terminal shell:
   defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
7. Open Time Machine, select your new “Time Machine” network drive, and off you go.