Operate
Backups
How Statup backs itself up, how to download a backup, and how to bring an instance back on the same server or on another.
A backup is one SQLite file. Statup writes it while it runs, so nothing has to be stopped. Backups are made on a schedule, before an upgrade, on demand from Settings, and on the command line.
What a backup contains
The accounts, the events, the services, the settings, the Journal, the logo, the uploaded icons, and the addresses of the alert channels. Anyone who knows a webhook address can post in its channel: keep the backups where you keep other secrets.
Automatic backups
Out of the box, Statup backs up every day at 03:00, in the instance time zone, keeps the latest seven, and backs up once more before each upgrade that changes the database. Settings › Backups shows the schedule beside its title; Change opens the settings:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Schedule | Every day, Every week or Never. Never turns the automatic backups off. |
| Day | The day of the week, for Every week. |
| Time | The time of day, such as 03:00 or 22h15, in the time zone of the instance. |
| Keep | How many automatic backups stay on the server, from 1 to 90. The oldest are removed as new ones are written. |
| Back up before each upgrade | Backs up the database when a new version has changes to apply to it, before it applies them. On by default, and independent of the schedule. |
- A backup that was due while Statup was stopped is taken when Statup starts.
- The backups made before an upgrade are kept three at a time. A backup made by hand and the one made before a restore are never removed by Statup.
- When an automatic backup fails, the Backups page says so, the Backups entry of Settings shows the failure, and the Journal records it. A backup before an upgrade that fails is logged by the server and does not stop the upgrade.
The files are written to BACKUP_DIR, with a name that holds the kind of backup and its date in UTC:
| Name | Made |
|---|---|
statup-auto-<date>.db | On the schedule. |
statup-before-<version>-<date>.db | Before an upgrade to that version. |
statup-backup-<date>.db | By hand, on the command line. |
statup-before-restore-<date>.db | Before a restore, from the data it replaces. |
Download a backup
The On the server list of the Backups page shows the backups in the folder, with their date, their kind and their size, and the folder at the foot. Download sends one to your computer.
Download a backup makes a new one on the spot, as a file named statup-backup-<date>.db. It is sent to your computer and not kept on the server. Each download is recorded in the Journal.
Command line
statup backup writes a backup and statup restore restores one, on the server and without the web app. See backup and restore.
Restore a backup
A backup made by an older Statup is brought up to date when it is restored. One made by a newer Statup is refused: upgrade Statup first. When the file is not a Statup backup, nothing changes.
On a new server
An instance with no account yet offers Restore a backup on its first screen. Pick one of the backups found in BACKUP_DIR, or A file from this computer, up to 256 MB. Then sign in with an account of the backup.
A backup copied into BACKUP_DIR under the name Statup gave it appears in the list. Once an account exists, this screen is gone: a running instance restores on the command line.
On a running instance
Stop Statup, then run statup restore with the backup. The data it replaces are first copied to statup-before-restore-<date>.db. Start Statup again, and sign in with an account of the backup.
Keep a copy elsewhere
The backups sit on the disk that holds Statup: a lost disk loses them too. Copy them to another machine, or point BACKUP_DIR to a folder on a mounted share.
With Docker, the folder is /data/backups in the statup_data volume. To copy it out, with statup the service of your docker-compose.yml:
docker compose cp statup:/data/backups ./backups
A copy of the whole volume while Statup is stopped also works.