backup_restore.md

# Backup restore

![backup banner](backup_hrz.png)

## Create a backup of the GitLab system

A backup creates an archive file that contains the database, all repositories and all attachments.
This archive will be saved in backup_path (see `config/gitlab.yml`).
The filename will be `[TIMESTAMP]_gitlab_backup.tar`. This timestamp can be used to restore an specific backup.
You can only restore a backup to exactly the same version of GitLab that you created it on, for example 7.2.1.

```
# use this command if you've installed GitLab with the Omnibus package
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:backup:create

# if you've installed GitLab from source or using the cookbook
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:backup:create RAILS_ENV=production
```

Example output:

```
Dumping database tables:
- Dumping table events... [DONE]
- Dumping table issues... [DONE]
- Dumping table keys... [DONE]
- Dumping table merge_requests... [DONE]
- Dumping table milestones... [DONE]
- Dumping table namespaces... [DONE]
- Dumping table notes... [DONE]
- Dumping table projects... [DONE]
- Dumping table protected_branches... [DONE]
- Dumping table schema_migrations... [DONE]
- Dumping table services... [DONE]
- Dumping table snippets... [DONE]
- Dumping table taggings... [DONE]
- Dumping table tags... [DONE]
- Dumping table users... [DONE]
- Dumping table users_projects... [DONE]
- Dumping table web_hooks... [DONE]
- Dumping table wikis... [DONE]
Dumping repositories:
- Dumping repository abcd... [DONE]
Creating backup archive: $TIMESTAMP_gitlab_backup.tar [DONE]
Deleting tmp directories...[DONE]
Deleting old backups... [SKIPPING]
```

## Upload backups to remote (cloud) storage

Starting with GitLab 7.4 you can let the backup script upload the '.tar' file it creates.
It uses the [Fog library](http://fog.io/) to perform the upload.
In the example below we use Amazon S3 for storage.
But Fog also lets you use [other storage providers](http://fog.io/storage/).

For omnibus packages:

```ruby
gitlab_rails['backup_upload_connection'] = {
  'provider' => 'AWS',
  'region' => 'eu-west-1',
  'aws_access_key_id' => 'AKIAKIAKI',
  'aws_secret_access_key' => 'secret123'
}
gitlab_rails['backup_upload_remote_directory'] = 'my.s3.bucket'
```

For installations from source:

```yaml
  backup:
    # snip
    upload:
      # Fog storage connection settings, see http://fog.io/storage/ .
      connection:
        provider: AWS
        region: eu-west-1
        aws_access_key_id: AKIAKIAKI
        aws_secret_access_key: 'secret123'
      # The remote 'directory' to store your backups. For S3, this would be the bucket name.
      remote_directory: 'my.s3.bucket'
```

If you are uploading your backups to S3 you will probably want to create a new
IAM user with restricted access rights. To give the upload user access only for
uploading backups create the following IAM profile, replacing `my.s3.bucket`
with the name of your bucket:

```json
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1412062044000",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:AbortMultipartUpload",
        "s3:GetBucketAcl",
        "s3:GetBucketLocation",
        "s3:GetObject",
        "s3:GetObjectAcl",
        "s3:ListBucketMultipartUploads",
        "s3:PutObject",
        "s3:PutObjectAcl"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:s3:::my.s3.bucket/*"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1412062097000",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:GetBucketLocation",
        "s3:ListAllMyBuckets"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "*"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Sid": "Stmt1412062128000",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:ListBucket"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:s3:::my.s3.bucket"
      ]
    }
  ]
}
```

## Storing configuration files

Please be informed that a backup does not store your configuration files.
If you use an Omnibus package please see the [instructions in the readme to backup your configuration](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/blob/master/README.md#backup-and-restore-omnibus-gitlab-configuration).
If you have a cookbook installation there should be a copy of your configuration in Chef.
If you have a manual installation please consider backing up your gitlab.yml file and any SSL keys and certificates.

## Restore a previously created backup

You can only restore a backup to exactly the same version of GitLab that you created it on, for example 7.2.1.

```
# Omnibus package installation
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:backup:restore

# installation from source or cookbook
bundle exec rake gitlab:backup:restore RAILS_ENV=production
```

Options:

```
BACKUP=timestamp_of_backup (required if more than one backup exists)
```

Example output:

```
Unpacking backup... [DONE]
Restoring database tables:
-- create_table("events", {:force=>true})
   -> 0.2231s
[...]
- Loading fixture events...[DONE]
- Loading fixture issues...[DONE]
- Loading fixture keys...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture merge_requests...[DONE]
- Loading fixture milestones...[DONE]
- Loading fixture namespaces...[DONE]
- Loading fixture notes...[DONE]
- Loading fixture projects...[DONE]
- Loading fixture protected_branches...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture schema_migrations...[DONE]
- Loading fixture services...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture snippets...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture taggings...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture tags...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture users...[DONE]
- Loading fixture users_projects...[DONE]
- Loading fixture web_hooks...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture wikis...[SKIPPING]
Restoring repositories:
- Restoring repository abcd... [DONE]
Deleting tmp directories...[DONE]
```

## Configure cron to make daily backups

For Omnibus package installations, see https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/blob/master/README.md#scheduling-a-backup .

For installation from source or cookbook:
```
cd /home/git/gitlab
sudo -u git -H editor config/gitlab.yml # Enable keep_time in the backup section to automatically delete old backups
sudo -u git crontab -e # Edit the crontab for the git user
```

Add the following lines at the bottom:

```
# Create a full backup of the GitLab repositories and SQL database every day at 4am
0 4 * * * cd /home/git/gitlab && PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin bundle exec rake gitlab:backup:create RAILS_ENV=production CRON=1
```

The `CRON=1` environment setting tells the backup script to suppress all progress output if there are no errors.
This is recommended to reduce cron spam.