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Introduction

This article is intended for Bacula users and administrators. It briefly describes what Bacularis is and who it is designed for.

Why Bacularis exists

Although Bacula is a powerful and widely used backup solution, managing it using CLI tools alone can be time-consuming and demanding. Bacularis was created to simplify daily administrative work with Bacula and make it more accessible.

What exactly is Bacularis?

In short, Bacularis is a free and open-source web interface for Bacula. In addition to the user interface, it also provides a REST API for Bacula. Both the web UI and the API are built on top of an existing and working Bacula environment. In this architecture, Bacularis does not replace Bacula components - it manages them.

In summary, the most important things to know about Bacularis are:

• Web UI for daily Bacula administration
• REST API for automation and integrations
• Free and open-source project

What Bacularis is not

Now that we have defined what Bacularis is, let’s also clarify what it is not.

Bacularis is not a backup engine. It is not a standalone backup solution and relies entirely on Bacula components to perform backup and restore operations.

By default, Bacularis does not change Bacula’s behavior. After installation, your Bacula environment continues to work exactly as before - with the added ability to manage it through the Bacularis interface.

Bacularis does not modify Bacula configuration without explicit permission. The user must configure appropriate access rights to allow Bacularis to write Bacula configuration files.

How Bacularis works with Bacula

In its basic setup, a single Bacularis instance includes a web interface and an API that serves this interface. If needed, the Bacularis environment can be extended with additional API instances connected to a single central web UI.

Bacularis can do only what it is explicitly allowed to do. When configuring an API instance, you can define whether it is allowed to:

• use Bconsole to execute Bacula commands
• connect to the Bacula database (read-only access)
• configure Bacula components
• start, stop, and restart Bacula components
• manage autochangers
• manage Bacula software (installation, upgrade, removal)
• run Bacularis plugins

Each of these permissions extends Bacularis functionality and defines its scope of operation on a given API host.

Safety first: access configuration and control

By default, Bacularis operates in read-only mode for Bacula configuration. Granting write access enables full management of Bacula components.

The Bacularis administrator has full control over what Bacularis is allowed to do. The configuration is explicit and transparent. Bacularis does not introduce any hidden or implicit changes in the background.

Who is Bacularis for?

Simply put, Bacularis is for Bacula users. These users can be divided into several groups. Below are some examples, along with the key benefits Bacularis provides for each of them.

System administrators

• daily work with Bacula jobs
• data restores
• faster troubleshooting

Existing Bacula users

• easier configuration and management
• less switching between different Bacula tools
• everything available from a single central web interface

New Bacula users

• low entry barrier and easy start
• access to step-by-step configuration wizards
• data visualization (graphs and charts)

Home labs

• quick setup
• learning Bacula without fear
• ability to experiment with different configurations

Open-source and community-driven

Bacularis is free and open-source software, developed and maintained to remain open. Every opinion and every piece of feedback matters to us, because openness in Bacularis is not only about the code, but also about an open community and its voice. We believe this is the best path for the continued development of Bacularis.

On GitHub, you can find the Bacularis source code repositories. We also maintain a user forum where anyone can share feedback, get help or propose improvements.

How to get started

The fastest way to start working with Bacularis is the Quick Start guide. It is designed both for new Bacula users and for those who already have an existing backup environment.

If you need a more customized installation, we encourage you to visit the Bacularis documentation, especially the Installing Bacularis section.

Summary

We hope this article has helped you better understand what Bacularis is and who it is designed for. Bacularis simplifies daily Bacula administration while preserving full control over the entire backup environment in the hands of administrators.