docker

Backup and Restore

This guide covers backing up and restoring data for your Currents on-prem deployment.

Overview

Currents stores data in several locations:

Service	Default Path	Data Type
MongoDB	data/mongodb	Primary application data (projects, runs, tests, users)
ClickHouse	data/clickhouse	Analytics and reporting data
Redis	data/redis	Cache and session data (optional to backup)
RustFS	data/rustfs	Artifacts, screenshots, videos (if using the provided rustfs)

Before You Begin

Important: Always stop services before backing up to ensure data consistency.

cd on-prem
docker compose stop

Backup Procedures

Full Backup (All Data)

The simplest approach is to backup the entire data/ directory:

# Stop services
docker compose stop

# Create timestamped backup
tar -czvf backup-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).tar.gz data/

# Restart services
docker compose start

Important: In addition to data backups, securely store:

• Your .env file (contains credentials needed for restore) - use a password manager or secrets vault
• Your docker-compose.yml (or keep it version controlled)

MongoDB Backup

MongoDB contains your primary application data. For production environments, consider using mongodump for more reliable backups.

Option 1: File-based backup (services stopped)

docker compose stop
tar -czvf mongodb-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz data/mongodb/
docker compose start

Option 2: mongodump (services running)

# Source credentials from .env
source .env

# Run mongodump inside the container
docker compose exec mongodb mongodump \
  -u "$MONGODB_USERNAME" \
  -p "$MONGODB_PASSWORD" \
  --authenticationDatabase admin \
  --archive=/data/db/backup.archive

# Copy backup out of container
docker compose cp mongodb:/data/db/backup.archive ./mongodb-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).archive

# Clean up backup file in container
docker compose exec mongodb rm /data/db/backup.archive

ClickHouse Backup

ClickHouse stores analytics data. For large datasets, use ClickHouse’s native backup.

Option 1: File-based backup (services stopped)

docker compose stop
tar -czvf clickhouse-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz data/clickhouse/
docker compose start

Option 2: ClickHouse native backup (services running)

# Source credentials from .env
source .env

# Create backup using clickhouse-client
docker compose exec clickhouse clickhouse-client \
  --user currents \
  --password "$CLICKHOUSE_CURRENTS_PASSWORD" \
  --query "BACKUP DATABASE currents TO Disk('backups', 'backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)')"

Note: Native backups require configuring a backup disk in ClickHouse. See ClickHouse backup documentation.

RustFS / Object Storage Backup

If using local RustFS for object storage:

docker compose stop
tar -czvf rustfs-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz data/rustfs/
docker compose start

If using external S3-compatible storage, use your cloud provider’s backup features or tools like aws s3 sync or rclone.

Redis Backup (Optional)

Redis primarily stores cache data that can be regenerated. Backup is optional but can speed up recovery:

docker compose stop
tar -czvf redis-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz data/redis/
docker compose start

Restore Procedures

Prerequisites

Before restoring, ensure you have:

• Your backed up .env file (or recreate with the same credentials)
• Your docker-compose.yml file (or clone the repository and run setup)

Full Restore

# Stop services
docker compose down

# Remove existing data (careful!)
rm -rf data/

# Extract backup
tar -xzvf backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.gz

# Set permissions (Podman users - see quickstart troubleshooting)
# Example for rootful Podman:
# sudo chown -R 999:999 data/mongodb data/redis
# sudo chown -R 101:101 data/clickhouse

# Restart services
docker compose up -d

MongoDB Restore

From file-based backup

docker compose down
rm -rf data/mongodb/
tar -xzvf mongodb-backup-YYYYMMDD.tar.gz
docker compose up -d

From mongodump archive

# Copy backup into container
docker compose cp ./mongodb-backup-YYYYMMDD.archive mongodb:/data/db/backup.archive

# Source credentials
source .env

# Restore using mongorestore
docker compose exec mongodb mongorestore \
  -u "$MONGODB_USERNAME" \
  -p "$MONGODB_PASSWORD" \
  --authenticationDatabase admin \
  --archive=/data/db/backup.archive \
  --drop

# Clean up
docker compose exec mongodb rm /data/db/backup.archive

ClickHouse Restore

From file-based backup

docker compose down
rm -rf data/clickhouse/
tar -xzvf clickhouse-backup-YYYYMMDD.tar.gz
docker compose up -d

From native backup

# Source credentials from .env
source .env

# Restore backup using clickhouse-client
docker compose exec clickhouse clickhouse-client \
  --user currents \
  --password "$CLICKHOUSE_CURRENTS_PASSWORD" \
  --query "RESTORE DATABASE currents FROM Disk('backups', 'backup-YYYYMMDD')"

Note: See ClickHouse restore documentation for advanced options such as restoring to a different database or renaming tables.

RustFS Restore

docker compose down
rm -rf data/rustfs/
tar -xzvf rustfs-backup-YYYYMMDD.tar.gz
docker compose up -d

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