Backup

A backup of your database is all you need to be able to recreate your PostOwl in the event of a problem. All your content (indluding images) is in a single SQLite file.

More backup options coming soon!#

We’ve just launched PostOwl, so for now, backups are manual process. We’ll be adding docs on other ways to backup (including using litestram) very soon!

Fly.io Database Backups#

You can pull a backup locally and run it to check if it is valid. That’s also quite useful for developing/testing against the latest production data.

1. Make a snapshot remotely
   • fly ssh console
   • sqlite3 /data/db.sqlite3 ".backup /data/db.sqlite3.backup"
   • sqlite3 /data/db.sqlite3.backup "PRAGMA integrity_check;" (optional integrity check)
   • Exit the remote console (CTRL+D)
2. Download the database
   • fly sftp get /data/db.sqlite3.backup data/db.sqlite3.backup
   • you now have a local copy which you can restore later or rename to db.sqlite3 and use locally for testing.

To restore a backup in production, you need to be a bit careful and follow these steps (your site could be down for a few minutes during the restore).

1. Make sure nobody writes to the app
2. Make a backup as shown above
3. Delete the existing production database files:
   • fly ssh console
   • rm -rf /data/db.*
   • Exit the remote console (CTRL+D)
4. Copy your local backup file to production using SFTP
   • fly sftp shell
   • cd /data
   • put data/db.sqlite3.backup db.sqlite3
   • Exit SFTP client (CTRL+D)
5. Restart the app (so that the new DB gets picked up)
   • fly apps restart