In short
System: backup password, encrypted backup every night at 01:30 (7 kept) and copy to a USB drive (FAT or exFAT) at 01:45; restore from System or at installation. Signed automatic updates at night (.deb package); with Docker, new versions are announced in System. Settings: learning, resolvers, local network, journal, then Warda restarts. System, Maintenance: restart the DNS resolver, empty the network table or the logs.
Backups#
- In System, choose a backup password and write it down somewhere safe: without it, a backup cannot be restored.
- Every night at 01:30, Warda makes an encrypted backup of your accounts, household, devices, rules and settings. The browsing history is never in it.
- Plug a USB drive (formatted FAT or exFAT) into the box: every night at
01:45, the backups are copied to it, in the folder
warda-backups.
Download a backup now gives a copy at any time. To restore: Restore a backup in System, or on the installation page of a new box.
Updates#
Installed with the package or the Raspberry Pi image, Warda updates itself, once a night between 02:00 and 05:00, only with versions signed by its publisher. If a new version does not start, the old one comes back by itself. In System, you can turn this automatic update off, check or update at once. The Raspberry Pi image also installs the security fixes of its system.
With Docker, Warda installs nothing. Once a day it checks for a new version signed by its publisher and shows it in System (Check every day for a new version, on by default; Check now checks at once). To install it, run in the folder of your compose file:
docker compose pull && docker compose up -dThe nightly copy to a USB drive is not done in Docker.
Settings#
The Settings page changes learning, resolvers, the names of your local network (printer, NAS: give the zone and the address of the router) and how long the journal is kept. Saving restarts Warda: a few seconds without name resolution.
If the hours or the reports are shifted, choose your Time zone on the same page: a box in a container is often on UTC.
Administration → Scheduled tasks shows what Warda does by itself (lists, backups, network scans, learning…): when each task last ran, whether it went well, and when it runs next.
Maintenance#
At the bottom of System, when something behaves strangely:
- Restart the DNS resolver empties the memory of the answers and starts the connections to the upstream servers again, without restarting Warda: useful after a change of your Internet box, or when a site answers with an old address.
- Empty the network table forgets the machines found by the network scan; your devices, their person or group and the names you gave them stay. The next scan finds the machines again.
- Empty the logs deletes the list of the names asked; the statistics, the reports and the settings stay.
Emptying asks your password again. The same page shows the terms of use you accepted and the anonymous daily statistics, with exactly what they send, and turns them off in one click. A box installed before the terms of use shows a banner to the administrators until one of them accepts them.