This is a short tutorial on how to run backups for REI3. Let me know if I missed something or if its not clear enough. Let´s begin.
To recover a REI3 instance you need to backup:
- The database
- Uploaded files
- Transfer files
Execute a backup with the integrated utility
You can use the integrated backup utility of REI3 to run backups for you. It can be enabled in the admin UI under 'Backups'.
Keep in mind:
- The target directory should be on a different system like a NAS or backup server - a complete system failure would otherwise make your backups useless. You can also regularly copy backups from the local system to somewhere else; writing the backups to a different system immediately removes one possible cause of failure.
- If your on Linux you need the
pg_dump utility available for REI3 to run database backups; you can install it via the package postgresql-client. REI3 on Windows includes all required tools.
- The backup utility can only create full backups. When your database or uploaded files grow large, backups will take longer and might negatively affect system performance. When this happens, you should switch to incremental backups.
Execute backups manually
First, you need to backup two directories - uploaded files and transfer files. If your organization does not operate backup tools, Robocopy or Rsync will do. Both directories are referenced inside the application configuration file config.json under paths->files & paths->transfer; the config file is by default located in the application directory.
If you loose the uploaded files directory, you will loose all files ever uploaded to REI3. The transfer file directory is less critical - your system will work without it, but the Builder utility will not run properly.
Second, you need to backup your database. On Linux, make sure that pg_dump is available. Under Windows, a compatible version of pg_dump is located in the pgsql\bin directory.
To backup your database:
- Look up your database credentials. If you do not have them handy, look inside the file
config.json.
- Run
pg_dump to create a full database backup to a directory of your choice. The full command is:
pg_dump -h HOSTNAME -p 5432 -U USERNAME -d DATABASENAME -Fd -f TARGETDIR
