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BACKUPMON BACKUPMON v1.9.1 -Oct 28, 2025- Backup/Restore your Router: JFFS + NVRAM + External USB Drive! CIFS/SMB/NFS! (Available in AMTM!)

Hola mates, I'm trying to configure BACKUPMON but I can't make it work, I think I've done everything but it seems to me that something is missing. I don't have much experience with this addons, can you tell me that I could be miss. TKS.!





BACKUPMON Backup Target Network Connection Tester

The Backup Target Network Connection Tester allows you to play with your connection
variables, such as your username/password, network UNC path, target directories and
local backup drive mount paths. If your network target is configured correctly, this
utility will write a test folder out there, and copy a test file into the test folder
in order to validate that read/write permissions are correct.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1) : Test Target Media Type : Network
(2) : Test Target Username : admin
(3) : Test Target Password : admin
(4) : Test Target UNC Path : \\\\192.168.50.25\\Backups
|--- Test NFS Mount Options : N/A
(5) : Test Target Backup Mount Point : /tmp/mnt/testbackups
(6) : Test Target Dir Path : /router/test-backup
(7) : Test CIFS/SMB Version : 2.1
|
(t) : Test your Network Backup Connection
(p) : Import your Primary Backup Settings
(s) : Import your Secondary Backup Settings
(e) : Exit Back to Setup + Operations Menu

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Selection: t

Messages:
WARNING: Unable to PING Backup Target (192.168.50.25). Retrying...
WARNING: Unable to PING Backup Target (192.168.50.25). Retrying...
WARNING: Unable to PING Backup Target (192.168.50.25). Retrying...
ERROR: Unable to PING backup target (192.168.50.25). Please check your configuration/permissions.
WARNING: External test drive mount point not set. Created under: /tmp/mnt/testbackups
mount: mounting \\\\192.168.50.25\\Backups on /tmp/mnt/testbackups failed
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...
mount: mounting \\\\192.168.50.25\\Backups on /tmp/mnt/testbackups failed
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...
mount: mounting \\\\192.168.50.25\\Backups on /tmp/mnt/testbackups failed
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...
ERROR: Unable to mount to external network drive [/tmp/mnt/testbackups]. Please check your configuration. Exiting.
Press any key to acknowledge...


1770064104450.png






Path in my external disk.

gabox@RT-BE86U-81E8:/tmp/mnt/asusdisk# ls
MerlinAU.d backups entware lost+found myswap.swp
gabox@RT-BE86U-81E8:/tmp/mnt/asusdisk# cd backups/
gabox@RT-BE86U-81E8:/tmp/mnt/asusdisk/backups# ls
gabox@RT-BE86U-81E8:/tmp/mnt/asusdisk/backups#
 
gabox said:
Hola mates, I'm trying to configure BACKUPMON but I can't make it work, I think I've done everything but it seems to me that something is missing. I don't have much experience with this addons, can you tell me that I could be miss. TKS.!





BACKUPMON Backup Target Network Connection Tester

The Backup Target Network Connection Tester allows you to play with your connection
variables, such as your username/password, network UNC path, target directories and
local backup drive mount paths. If your network target is configured correctly, this
utility will write a test folder out there, and copy a test file into the test folder
in order to validate that read/write permissions are correct.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1) : Test Target Media Type : Network
(2) : Test Target Username : admin
(3) : Test Target Password : admin
(4) : Test Target UNC Path : \\\\192.168.50.25\\Backups
|--- Test NFS Mount Options : N/A
(5) : Test Target Backup Mount Point : /tmp/mnt/testbackups
(6) : Test Target Dir Path : /router/test-backup
(7) : Test CIFS/SMB Version : 2.1
|
(t) : Test your Network Backup Connection
(p) : Import your Primary Backup Settings
(s) : Import your Secondary Backup Settings
(e) : Exit Back to Setup + Operations Menu

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Selection: t

Messages:
WARNING: Unable to PING Backup Target (192.168.50.25). Retrying...
WARNING: Unable to PING Backup Target (192.168.50.25). Retrying...
WARNING: Unable to PING Backup Target (192.168.50.25). Retrying...
ERROR: Unable to PING backup target (192.168.50.25). Please check your configuration/permissions.
WARNING: External test drive mount point not set. Created under: /tmp/mnt/testbackups
mount: mounting \\\\192.168.50.25\\Backups on /tmp/mnt/testbackups failed
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...
mount: mounting \\\\192.168.50.25\\Backups on /tmp/mnt/testbackups failed
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...
mount: mounting \\\\192.168.50.25\\Backups on /tmp/mnt/testbackups failed
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...
ERROR: Unable to mount to external network drive [/tmp/mnt/testbackups]. Please check your configuration. Exiting.
Press any key to acknowledge...


View attachment 70178





Path in my external disk.

gabox@RT-BE86U-81E8:/tmp/mnt/asusdisk# ls
MerlinAU.d backups entware lost+found myswap.swp
gabox@RT-BE86U-81E8:/tmp/mnt/asusdisk# cd backups/
gabox@RT-BE86U-81E8:/tmp/mnt/asusdisk/backups# ls
gabox@RT-BE86U-81E8:/tmp/mnt/asusdisk/backups#
Click to expand...

You need to import your settings before you attempt to test the connection.

Use the option p before you use the option t.
 
ExtremeFiretop said:
You need to import your settings before you attempt to test the connection.

Use the option p before you use the option t.
Click to expand...
Ok, perfect. So... what's wrong with this? Tks.


1770066870406.png
 
gabox said:
Ok, perfect. So... what's wrong with this? Tks.


View attachment 70179
Click to expand...

That still looks like the default settings.
You need to import your settings with the option p before you use the option t.

Did you configure your settings for the add-on ?
Why is the username admin and the password admin? Why is the network address still the default 192.168.50.25?

Load the add-on, configure your SMB settings with option "sc"
Then once done, you can then go to the test network backup and first import your settings with option p and then test with option t.
 
gabox said:
Ok, perfect. So... what's wrong with this? Tks.


View attachment 70179
Click to expand...
  1. What is the destination device at 192.168.50.25?
  2. Is it on the same subnet as your RT-BE86U?
  3. What protocol is being used?
  4. Has the Backups directory been created, and is it accessible via admin user?
 
Sorry mates, I just want to load my backups on my USB disk. Make the changes but in the test it gives me this. My disk is dedicated entirely to the router in ext4 format.


1770068037751.png
 
gabox said:
Sorry mates, I just want to load my backups on my USB disk. Make the changes but in the test it gives me this. My disk is dedicated entirely to the router in ext4 format.


View attachment 70180
Click to expand...
Something to try. Instead of trying to use the (Test your Network Backup Target) to test a non network backup ie: local backup.
Just try ( Run a Manual Backup) from the main set-up and operations menu.

Just for S%$s and Giggles I set-up my secondary backup to USB and it works fine.

Code: 
SUCCESS: Secondary Backup completed successfully

Date/Time: Feb 02 2026 19:35:06
Asus Router Model: RT-BE88U
Firmware/Build Number: 3006.102.6_0
EXT USB Drive Label Name: rt-be88u

SUCCESS: BACKUPMON completed a successful secondary backup to destination: USB

Sent by the "backupmon.sh" script.
From the "RT-BE88U" router.

2026-Feb-02 Mon 07:35:06 PM EST
 
Last edited:
gabox said:
Sorry mates, I just want to load my backups on my USB disk. Make the changes but in the test it gives me this. My disk is dedicated entirely to the router in ext4 format.


View attachment 70180
Click to expand...
I'd recommend using the mount point of "/tmp/mnt/asusdisk", and leave it at that.

And if you're backing up locally to your USB, don't choose "Network". Pick USB.

So configure it like that and if you're still running into issues, please send a screenshot of your main backup settings, ok?
 
Last edited:
Thanks a lot Folks!

1770123425534.png
Is it path correct or should I also point it to my USB disk?

1770123211036.png


1770123263033.png
 
That works! Tks.

Feb 03 2026 09:50:27 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Successfully wrote a new config file
10 Feb 03 2026 10:15:46 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Successfully wrote a new config file
11 Feb 03 2026 10:16:10 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: **High Risk** -> EXT USB is backing up to EXT USB. TAR exclusion is in place.
12 Feb 03 2026 10:16:10 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: External drive (USB) mounted successfully as: /tmp/mnt/asusdisk
13 Feb 03 2026 10:16:10 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Backup Directory successfully created.
14 Feb 03 2026 10:16:10 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Daily Backup Directory successfully created.
15 Feb 03 2026 10:16:12 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Finished backing up JFFS to /tmp/mnt/asusdisk/router/RT-BE86U_Backups/02/jffs.tar.gz
16 Feb 03 2026 10:16:13 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Finished integrity check for /tmp/mnt/asusdisk/router/RT-BE86U_Backups/02/jffs.tar.gz
17 Feb 03 2026 10:16:13 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Finished backing up NVRAM to /tmp/mnt/asusdisk/router/RT-BE86U_Backups/02/nvram.cfg
18 Feb 03 2026 10:16:13 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Finished copying reference NVRAM extract to /tmp/mnt/asusdisk/router/RT-BE86U_Backups/02/nvram.txt
19 Feb 03 2026 10:16:13 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Finished copying routerfw.txt to /tmp/mnt/asusdisk/router/RT-BE86U_Backups/02/routerfw.txt
20 Feb 03 2026 10:16:13 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Starting backup of EXT Drive on Tue Feb 3 10:16:13 BRT 2026
21 Feb 03 2026 10:16:23 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Finished backing up EXT Drive in 10 sec to /tmp/mnt/asusdisk/router/RT-BE86U_Backups/02/asusdisk.tar.gz
22 Feb 03 2026 10:16:23 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Starting integrity check of EXT Drive on Tue Feb 3 10:16:23 BRT 2026
23 Feb 03 2026 10:16:23 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Finished integrity check for /tmp/mnt/asusdisk/router/RT-BE86U_Backups/02/asusdisk.tar.gz
24 Feb 03 2026 10:16:23 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Finished copying backupmon.sh script to /tmp/mnt/asusdisk/router/RT-BE86U_Backups
25 Feb 03 2026 10:16:23 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Finished copying backupmon.cfg file to /tmp/mnt/asusdisk/router/RT-BE86U_Backups
26 Feb 03 2026 10:16:23 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Finished copying pfexclusion.txt file to /tmp/mnt/asusdisk/router/RT-BE86U_Backups
27 Feb 03 2026 10:16:23 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: Finished copying restoration instructions.txt file to /tmp/mnt/asusdisk/router/RT-BE86U_Backups
28 Feb 03 2026 10:16:33 RT-BE86U-81E8 BACKUPMON[11648] - INFO: External USB drive continues to stay mounted.
 
gabox said:
Thanks a lot Folks!

View attachment 70188 Is it path correct or should I also point it to my USB disk?
Click to expand...
That path is fine... It will create your backups under your USB drive under that /router folder. That's where you can find them all. Congrats on getting it working! Everything else looks good. ;)
 
Last edited:
Thanks a lot for your fast answer and support same than rest of users.
 
I have a functioning BACKUPMON working with a windows server share.
Working well, thank you.

I was originally struggling to get it to work with a SMB share from a AiMesh node. From a windows machine I can view/map network drive/read/write the AiMesh node share without issue.

The main issue is: I cannot get my main router with BACKUPMON configured to mount the AiMesh node SMB share using the exact same credentials I do for the windows share. I just get "Invalid argument" no matter which cifs version I specify. Same credentials, only changing ip address from the node to windows share, all with exact same settings works fine.

Code: 
Messages:
INFO: Backup Target (192.168.1.2) reachable via PING.
INFO: External test drive mount point exists. Found under: /tmp/mnt/backupssmb
mount: mounting \\192.168.1.2\gtaxe16000 on /tmp/mnt/backupssmb failed: Invalid argument
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...
mount: mounting \\192.168.1.2\gtaxe16000 on /tmp/mnt/backupssmb failed: Invalid argument
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...

mount: mounting \\192.168.1.2\gtaxe16000 on /tmp/mnt/backupssmb failed: Invalid argument
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...

ERROR: Unable to mount to external network drive [/tmp/mnt/backupssmb]. Please check your configuration. Exiting.
Press any key to acknowledge...
ERROR: Failed to run Network Backup Test Script -- Drive mount failed. Please check your configuration!
Press any key to acknowledge...

If I change the 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.10 it works, the difference being .10 is windows and .2 is node.

Is there some sort of issue with AiMesh node SMB service that is incompatible with Asus router mounting? That is the only thing I can think of at this point. The node share is setup using the AiMesh interface > select node > management > usb application
I've tried with credentials enabled and with guest mode, so no credentials required.
I've also used manual mounting from cl to see why it won't work. Same result using viktor suggested cl options for manual mount.

Hoping someone knows the easy answer for this. Thank you.

I'll update sig but:
Router: gt-axe16000
Node: gt-ax6000
Swap 10gb
 
@Viktor Jaep THanks for such a great tool! One suggestion to make it even better, have you considered adding an optional encryption layer / feature for backed-up files like amtm.tar.gz, jffs.tar.gz, nvram.txt, and nvram.cfg?

This would significantly improve the security of stored backups, especially for users relying on cloud storage like OneDrive or Google Drive. Router backups contain highly sensitive data like passwords, OpenVPN configs, and more. Personally, I always enable encryption when creating backups in tools that support it (Home Assistant settings backup, NAS setting backups, etc.). While I currently use rclone with encryption as a workaround for cloud storage, native encryption support would be even better, files would already be encrypted in local storage, protecting against unauthorized local network access without depending on any external tool.
 
natewin said:
I have a functioning BACKUPMON working with a windows server share.
Working well, thank you.

I was originally struggling to get it to work with a SMB share from a AiMesh node. From a windows machine I can view/map network drive/read/write the AiMesh node share without issue.

The main issue is: I cannot get my main router with BACKUPMON configured to mount the AiMesh node SMB share using the exact same credentials I do for the windows share. I just get "Invalid argument" no matter which cifs version I specify. Same credentials, only changing ip address from the node to windows share, all with exact same settings works fine.

Code: 
Messages:
INFO: Backup Target (192.168.1.2) reachable via PING.
INFO: External test drive mount point exists. Found under: /tmp/mnt/backupssmb
mount: mounting \\192.168.1.2\gtaxe16000 on /tmp/mnt/backupssmb failed: Invalid argument
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...
mount: mounting \\192.168.1.2\gtaxe16000 on /tmp/mnt/backupssmb failed: Invalid argument
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...

mount: mounting \\192.168.1.2\gtaxe16000 on /tmp/mnt/backupssmb failed: Invalid argument
WARNING: Unable to mount to external network drive. Retrying...

ERROR: Unable to mount to external network drive [/tmp/mnt/backupssmb]. Please check your configuration. Exiting.
Press any key to acknowledge...
ERROR: Failed to run Network Backup Test Script -- Drive mount failed. Please check your configuration!
Press any key to acknowledge...

If I change the 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.10 it works, the difference being .10 is windows and .2 is node.

Is there some sort of issue with AiMesh node SMB service that is incompatible with Asus router mounting? That is the only thing I can think of at this point. The node share is setup using the AiMesh interface > select node > management > usb application
I've tried with credentials enabled and with guest mode, so no credentials required.
I've also used manual mounting from cl to see why it won't work. Same result using viktor suggested cl options for manual mount.

Hoping someone knows the easy answer for this. Thank you.

I'll update sig but:
Router: gt-axe16000
Node: gt-ax6000
Swap 10gb
Click to expand...
I personally have never gone router to router, but I'm sure someone else has. It is strange that Windows would have no problem, but the router would. In the interim, I would probably not use BACKUPMON to do this troubleshooting since this is more of a networking issue at this point. Try dropping to a prompt, and use the raw mount commands to try some troubleshooting:

Code: 
modprobe md4

mount -t cifs "\\\\192.168.50.75\\sambashare" "/tmp/mnt/backups" -o "vers=2.1,username=USERNAME,password=PASSWORD"

cd /tmp/mnt/backups

ls

These are just samples, but would need to fill in with your particular credentials, or different cifs version.

I would recommend probably cross-posting this issue in the regular Merlin forum as this is more of a networking issue... Once you figure out why or what settings need to be used, you can plug that into BACKUPMON once things are working.
 
salvo said:
@Viktor Jaep THanks for such a great tool! One suggestion to make it even better, have you considered adding an optional encryption layer / feature for backed-up files like amtm.tar.gz, jffs.tar.gz, nvram.txt, and nvram.cfg?

This would significantly improve the security of stored backups, especially for users relying on cloud storage like OneDrive or Google Drive. Router backups contain highly sensitive data like passwords, OpenVPN configs, and more. Personally, I always enable encryption when creating backups in tools that support it (Home Assistant settings backup, NAS setting backups, etc.). While I currently use rclone with encryption as a workaround for cloud storage, native encryption support would be even better, files would already be encrypted in local storage, protecting against unauthorized local network access without depending on any external tool.
Click to expand...
That's a great idea, @salvo! I'll look into what can be done to encrypt! :)
 
salvo said:
@Viktor Jaep THanks for such a great tool! One suggestion to make it even better, have you considered adding an optional encryption layer / feature for backed-up files like amtm.tar.gz, jffs.tar.gz, nvram.txt, and nvram.cfg?

This would significantly improve the security of stored backups, especially for users relying on cloud storage like OneDrive or Google Drive. Router backups contain highly sensitive data like passwords, OpenVPN configs, and more. Personally, I always enable encryption when creating backups in tools that support it (Home Assistant settings backup, NAS setting backups, etc.). While I currently use rclone with encryption as a workaround for cloud storage, native encryption support would be even better, files would already be encrypted in local storage, protecting against unauthorized local network access without depending on any external tool.
Click to expand...
Looks like I might be able to use OpenSSL to encrypt the tar files with AES 256 (slower, more secure) or AES 128 (faster, less secure but still very secure). It's definitely going to be a lift to handle this across all the different areas in the script that handle tar creation and restoration, but will be well worth it I think.
 
Progress! @salvo ... been doing lots of testing this weekend, and my poor RT-AX88U is taking the brunt of it all. So far, no failures on encryption, decryption and restoration. ;)

1775435771684.png


1775435905809.png


I've copied what I consider an "alpha" out there should anyone feel daring enough to play. It's easy enough to load stable v1.9.1 on top of it again.

BACKUPMON v1.10.0b2 (Unofficial TEST Beta, probably more like an well-functioning Alpha!) :)
Code: 
curl --retry 3 "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ViktorJp/BACKUPMON/develop/backupmon.sh" -o "/jffs/scripts/backupmon.sh" && chmod 755 "/jffs/scripts/backupmon.sh"

BACKUPMON v1.9.1 (Stable)
Code: 
curl --retry 3 "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ViktorJp/BACKUPMON/master/backupmon.sh" -o "/jffs/scripts/backupmon.sh" && chmod 755 "/jffs/scripts/backupmon.sh"
 
Last edited:
salvo said:
@Viktor Jaep THanks for such a great tool! One suggestion to make it even better, have you considered adding an optional encryption layer / feature for backed-up files like amtm.tar.gz, jffs.tar.gz, nvram.txt, and nvram.cfg?

This would significantly improve the security of stored backups, especially for users relying on cloud storage like OneDrive or Google Drive. Router backups contain highly sensitive data like passwords, OpenVPN configs, and more. Personally, I always enable encryption when creating backups in tools that support it (Home Assistant settings backup, NAS setting backups, etc.). While I currently use rclone with encryption as a workaround for cloud storage, native encryption support would be even better, files would already be encrypted in local storage, protecting against unauthorized local network access without depending on any external tool.
Click to expand...
By the way, it is worth noting that nation-states have been intercepting and storing vast amounts of encrypted internet traffic for years in covert data centers, with the long-term goal of decrypting it once quantum computing capabilities become sufficiently advanced. Not sure if that affects you or not. ;)
 
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