# Configuration backups
It is often useful to create backups of your settings. You may wish to migrate Brewblox to a different host, or simply be prepared for possible SD card failures.
For these scenarios, it is possible to create and load backups of your Brewblox settings and databases.
# How to
Backups are both made and loaded using the brewblox-ctl commandline tool.
To create a backup, use the backup save
command.
brewblox-ctl backup save
This will create a new zip archive in the backup/
directory inside your Brewblox directory. The file name includes the current date and time.
To load settings from a backup, use the backup load [ARCHIVE]
command,
and run brewblox-ctl update to migrate any outdated settings.
brewblox-ctl backup load /home/pi/brewblox/backup/brewblox_backup_20200303_1433.zip
brewblox-ctl update
# Content
The backup archive includes the following:
- .env
- docker-compose.yml
- Datastore databases
- Dashboards
- Widgets
- Block names
- Builder layouts
- Exported Spark blocks
NOT included in the backup archive:
- History data
- Docker images
# Transferring backup files
The easiest way to move files between your computer and the Pi is to use FileZilla (opens new window).
The host field should be sftp://IP_ADDRESS
. Username / password are the same as when logging in over SSH.
# Limitations
Backups make a copy of your settings, not a snapshot of your entire system. Backups cannot be used to revert to an earlier Brewblox release.
After loading an old backup, it is advisable to run brewblox-ctl update
to migrate your configuration to the latest version.
# Automatically creating backups
You can use cron (opens new window) to automatically run scripts daily/weekly/hourly.
For example, to create weekly backups:
crontab -u $USER -e
Choose Nano as editor, and append the following line to the file:
@weekly (cd $HOME/brewblox; $HOME/.local/bin/brewblox-ctl backup save)
Press ctrl+X to save and exit.
If you now run crontab -l
, you should see the file, including the line you just added.