Backup and Restore

This guide covers backing up and restoring RustChat data.

What to Back Up

1. PostgreSQL Database - All application data
2. S3/MinIO File Storage - User uploads
3. Configuration - Environment variables, secrets

Database Backup

Automated Daily Backups

Create a backup script:

#!/bin/bash
# /opt/rustchat/scripts/backup.sh

BACKUP_DIR="/backups/rustchat"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
DB_NAME="rustchat"
DB_USER="rustchat"
DB_HOST="localhost"

# Create backup directory
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Backup database
pg_dump -h $DB_HOST -U $DB_USER -d $DB_NAME \
    -F custom -f "$BACKUP_DIR/rustchat_db_$DATE.dump"

# Compress
gzip "$BACKUP_DIR/rustchat_db_$DATE.dump"

# Keep only last 7 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "rustchat_db_*.dump.gz" -mtime +7 -delete

echo "Backup completed: rustchat_db_$DATE.dump.gz"

Add to crontab:

# Daily at 2 AM
0 2 * * * /opt/rustchat/scripts/backup.sh >> /var/log/rustchat-backup.log 2>&1

Docker Compose Backup

# Create backup
docker compose exec postgres pg_dump -U rustchat rustchat > backup_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

# Compress
gzip backup_*.sql

File Storage Backup

S3/MinIO Backup

If using MinIO:

# Mirror bucket to backup location
mc mirror rustchat/rustchat-files /backups/rustchat-files

# Or use rclone
rclone sync minio:rustchat-files /backups/rustchat-files

AWS S3 Backup

# Enable versioning (recommended)
aws s3api put-bucket-versioning \
    --bucket rustchat-files \
    --versioning-configuration Status=Enabled

# Cross-region replication for disaster recovery
# Configure replication rules in S3 console

Restore from Backup

Database Restore

# Stop application
docker compose stop backend

# Restore database
docker compose exec -T postgres psql -U rustchat < backup_20240101.sql

# Or with pg_restore for custom format
docker compose exec postgres pg_restore \
    -U rustchat -d rustchat --clean --if-exists \
    /backups/rustchat_db_20240101.dump

# Start application
docker compose start backend

File Storage Restore

# Restore from backup
mc mirror /backups/rustchat-files rustchat/rustchat-files

# Or with rclone
rclone sync /backups/rustchat-files minio:rustchat-files

Disaster Recovery

Full System Restore

1. Prepare new server

   • Install Docker, Docker Compose
   • Restore configuration files

2. Restore database

   # Start just the database
   docker compose up -d postgres
   
   # Wait for it to be ready
   sleep 10
   
   # Restore backup
   docker compose exec -T postgres psql -U rustchat < backup.sql

3. Restore file storage

   mc mirror /backups/rustchat-files rustchat/rustchat-files

4. Start full stack

   docker compose up -d

Backup Verification

Test your backups regularly:

# Test restore to temporary database
docker run --rm -d --name test-postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=test postgres:16
sleep 5
docker exec -i test-postgres psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE rustchat_test;"
docker exec -i test-postgres psql -U postgres rustchat_test < backup.sql

# Verify
docker exec test-postgres psql -U postgres rustchat_test -c "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM users;"

# Cleanup
docker stop test-postgres
docker rm test-postgres

Backup Checklist

• [ ] Daily automated database backups
• [ ] Regular file storage backups
• [ ] Encrypted backup storage
• [ ] Off-site backup copies
• [ ] Backup verification tests
• [ ] Documented restore procedures
• [ ] Tested disaster recovery plan

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For monitoring: See Operations Guide