Backup

Backing up Buddy Self-Hosted

When you perform a backup, the system creates a tar.gz archive with all repositories and databases of your Buddy self-hosted installation.

Every time you perform a backup, a new archive is created. The names of the archives are UNIX timestamps that record the date and time when a backup was created.

To perform a backup, follow these steps.

1. Stop the app with this command:

   bash
   buddy stop$

2. Run this command to perform backup:

   bash
   buddy backup$

   Hint

   Use the buddy --full backup command to include cached files in the backup. Depending on your setup, this can make the backup archive much bigger.

Configuring recurrent backups

On Linux and macOS you can use cron to perform automatic backups.

Follow these steps to create a cronjob that performs a backup of Buddy self-hosted once a day at 12.00 PM:

1. Run crontab -e to open the cron table editor.

2. Add this line that defines the job:

   0 0 * * * ~/.buddy/app/backups/backup.sh

   Tip

   If you need help creating cron schedule expressions, check out this handy tool.
3. Go to ~/.buddy/app/backups/ and create a backup.sh file.

4. Add these lines to backup.sh:

   buddy --yes stop
   buddy --yes backup
   buddy --yes start

Restoring the application from a backup file

Follow these steps to restore Buddy self-hosted from a backup file:

1. Stop the app with this command:

   bash
   buddy stop$

2. Run this command:

   bash
   buddy restore$

3. Specify the path to the backup file. Alternatively, press enter to use the latest file from the default backup directory.

Moving Buddy Self-Hosted to another server

To relocate your self-hosted installation and data, follow these steps:

1. Stop the application:

   bash
   buddy stop$

2. Perform a backup:

   bash
   buddy backup$

   Hint

   Use the buddy --full backup command to include cached files in the backup. Depending on your setup, this can make the backup archive much bigger.
3. Copy the created backup file to the target server. By default, backups are stored in ~/.buddy/app/backups.

4. Install Buddy self-hosted on the target server using the backup file:

   bash
   curl -sSL https://get.buddy.works | sh && buddy --backup={PATH_TO_BACKUP_FILE} install$