Everyone talks about self-hosted and getting started with Docker. But there’s one key aspect of self-hosting that a lot of users miss out on — properly backing up their containers. Let’s just say, I discovered that firsthand when the SSD volume on my NAS crashed and brought down my entire smart home with it. Clearly, hoping for the best is not the best strategy. Now, there are, of course, a wide variety of ways to back up Docker containers. But I wanted something tried and tested, simple to configure, and, more importantly, something I wouldn’t have to mess around with much once configured. In typical open-source, there’s a tool for the job, and I came across Repliqate. Repliqate uses an extremely simple Docker Compose-based approach combined with Docker labels to automate container backups, and it’s quickly become my go-to solution to ensure that my Docker containers are effectively backed up. Here’s how you can get started with Repliqate.