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Backing things up

Note

To backup 99% of your configuration backup at least the /app/config folder. Please read the whole page (or at least "Scenario 2: Corrupted database") for details. Note that database definitions might change over time. The safest way is to restore your older backups into the same version of the app they were taken from and then gradually upgarde between releases to the latest version.

There are 3 artifacts that can be used to backup the application:

File Description Limitations
/db/app.db Database file(s) The database file might be in an uncommitted state or corrupted
/config/app.conf Configuration file Can be overridden with the APP_CONF_OVERRIDE env variable.
/config/devices.csv CSV file containing device information Doesn't contain historical data

Backup strategies

The safest approach to backups is to backup everything, by taking regular file system backups (I use Kopia).

Arguably, the most time is spent setting up the device list, so if only one file is kept I'd recommend to have a latest backup of the devices_<timestamp>.csv or devices.csv file, followed by the app.conf file. You can also download app.conf and devices.csv file in the Maintenance section:

Backup and Restore Section in Maintenance

Scenario 1: Full backup

End-result: Full restore

💾 Source artifacts:

  • /app/db/app.db (uncorrupted)
  • /app/config/app.conf

📥 Recovery:

To restore the application map the above files as described in the Setup documentation.

Scenario 2: Corrupted database

End-result: Partial restore (historical data and some plugin data will be missing)

💾 Source artifacts:

  • /app/config/app.conf
  • /app/config/devices_<timestamp>.csv or /app/config/devices.csv

📥 Recovery:

Even with a corrupted database you can recover what I would argue is 99% of the configuration.

  • upload the app.conf file into the mounted /app/config/ folder as described in the Setup documentation.
  • rename the devices_<timestamp>.csv to devices.csv and place it in the /app/config folder
  • Restore the devices.csv backup via the Maintenance section

Data and backup storage

To decide on a backup strategy, check where the data is stored:

Core Configuration

The core application configuration is in the app.conf file (See Settings System for details), such as:

  • Notification settings
  • Scanner settings
  • Scheduled maintenance settings
  • UI configuration

Core Device Data

The core device data is backed up to the devices_<timestamp>.csv or devices.csv file via the CSV Backup CSVBCKP Plugin. This file contains data, such as:

  • Device names
  • Device icons
  • Device network configuration
  • Device categorization
  • Device custom properties data

Historical data

Historical data is stored in the app.db database (See Database overview for details). This data includes:

  • Plugin objects
  • Plugin historical entries
  • History of Events, Notifications, Workflow Events
  • Presence history