Backup and recovery
Creating backups using the provided script
ArchivesSpace provides some simple scripts for backing up a single
instance to a .zip
file. You can run:
scripts/backup.sh --output /path/to/backup-yyyymmdd.zip
and the script will generate a file containing:
- A snapshot of the demo database (if you’re using the demo database)
- A snapshot of the Solr index and related indexer files
If you are running against MySQL and have mysqldump
installed, you
can also provide the --mysqldump
option. This will read the
database settings from your configuration file and add a dump of your
MySQL database to the resulting .zip
file.
Managing your own backups
If you want more control over your backups, you can develop your own scripts. ArchivesSpace stores all persistent data in the database, so as long as you have backups of your database then you can always recover.
If you are running MySQL, the mysqldump
utility can dump the database
schema and data to a file. It’s a good idea to run this with the
--single-transaction
option to avoid locking your database tables
while your backups run. It is also essential to use the --routines
flag, which will include functions and stored procedures in the
backup (which ArchivesSpace uses at least for Jasper reports).
If you are running with the demo database, you can create periodic database snapshots using the following configuration settings:
# In this example, we create a snapshot at 4am each day and keep
# 7 days' worth of backups
#
# Database snapshots are written to 'data/demo_db_backups' by
# default.
AppConfig[:demo_db_backup_schedule] = "0 4 * * *"
AppConfig[:demo_db_backup_number_to_keep] = 7
Solr indexes can always be recreated from the contents of the database, but backing them up can reduce your recovery time if disaster strikes. You can create periodic Solr snapshots using the following configuration settings:
# Create one snapshot per hour and keep only one.
#
# Solr snapshots are written to 'data/solr_backups' by default.
AppConfig[:solr_backup_schedule] = "0 * * * *"
AppConfig[:solr_backup_number_to_keep] = 1
Recovering from backup
When recovering an ArchivesSpace installation from backup, you will need to restore:
- Your database (either the demo database or MySQL)
- The search indexes and related indexer files
Of the two, the database backup is the most crucial–search indexes are worth restoring if you have backups, but they can be recreated from scratch if necessary.
Recovering your database
If you are using MySQL, recovering your database just requires loading
your mysqldump
backup into an empty database. If you are using the
scripts/backup.sh
script (described above), this dump file is named
mysqldump.sql
in your backup .zip
file.
To load a MySQL dump file, follow the directions in Set up your MySQL database to create an empty database with the appropriate permissions. Then, populate the database from your backup file using the MySQL client:
mysql -uarchivesspace -p < mysqldump.sql
(change the username as required and enter your password when prompted).
If you are using the demo database, your backup .zip
file will
contain a directory called demo_db_backups
. Each subdirectory of
demo_db_backups
contains a backup of the demo database. To
restore from a backup, copy its archivesspace_demo_db
directory back
to your ArchivesSpace data directory. For example:
cp -a /unpacked/zip/demo_db_backups/demo_db_backup_1373323208_25926/archivesspace_demo_db \
/path/to/archivesspace/data/
Recovering the search indexes and related indexer files
This step is optional since indexes can be rebuilt from the contents of the database. However, recovering your search indexes can reduce the time needed to get your system running again.
The backup .zip
file contains two directories used by the
ArchivesSpace indexer:
- solr.backup-[timestamp]/snapshot.[timestamp] – a snapshot of the index files.
- solr.backup-[timestamp]/indexer_state – the files used by the indexer to remember what it last indexed.
To restore these directories from backup:
- Copy your index snapshot to
/path/to/archivesspace/data/solr_index/index
- Copy your indexer_state backup to
/path/to/archivesspace/data/indexer_state
For example:
mkdir -p /path/to/archivesspace/data/solr_index
cp -a /unpacked/zip/solr.backup-26475-1373323208/snapshot.20130709084008464 \
/path/to/archivesspace/data/solr_index/index
cp -a /unpacked/zip/solr.backup-26475-1373323208/indexer_state \
/path/to/archivesspace/data/
Checking your search indexes
ArchivesSpace ships with a script that can run Lucene’s CheckIndex
tool for you, verifying that a given Solr index is free from
corruption. To test an index, run the following command from your
archivesspace
directory:
# Or scripts/checkindex.bat for Windows
scripts/checkindex.sh data/solr_index/index
You can use the same script to check that your Solr backups are valid:
scripts/checkindex.sh /unpacked/zip/solr.backup-26475-1373323208/snapshot.20130709084008464