Backup & Recovery

Backup & Recovery

Protect your institution’s data with regular backups and learn how to restore when needed.

Time Required: 15 minutes Module: Core (Database Administration) User Role: System Administrator

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Table of Contents

1. Backup Overview
2. Creating Backups
3. Automated Backups
4. Restoring from Backup
5. Backup Best Practices
6. Troubleshooting

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Backup Overview

What Gets Backed Up

Component	Included	Description
Database	Yes	All records, settings, configurations
File Store	Yes	Uploaded documents, images, attachments
Custom Code	Optional	Custom modules (if applicable)

Backup Types

Type	Use Case	Size
Full Backup (with filestore)	Complete system recovery	Large
Database Only	Data recovery	Medium
Incremental	Frequent backups	Small

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Creating Backups

Method 1: Database Manager (Web Interface)

1. Navigate to /web/database/manager in your browser
2. Enter the master password
3. Click Backup next to your database
4. Select backup format:
   • ZIP (with filestore) - Complete backup
   • pg_dump - Database only
5. Click Backup
6. Download the backup file

Method 2: Command Line

For PostgreSQL database backup:

# Full database backup
pg_dump -U odoo -F c -b -v -f backup_$(date +%Y%m%d).dump dbname

# With compression
pg_dump -U odoo dbname | gzip > backup_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

Method 3: Odoo CLI

# Using odoo-bin
./odoo-bin -d dbname --backup /path/to/backup.zip

Backup Naming Convention

Use consistent naming for easy identification:

openeducat_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM.zip

Example: openeducat_2026-01-06_14-30.zip

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Automated Backups

Setting Up Scheduled Backups

Using Cron

Create a backup script:

#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR="/var/backups/openeducat"
DB_NAME="openeducat"
DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M)

# Create backup
pg_dump -U odoo -F c $DB_NAME > $BACKUP_DIR/db_$DATE.dump

# Copy filestore
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/filestore_$DATE.tar.gz /var/lib/odoo/filestore/$DB_NAME

# Remove backups older than 30 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -type f -mtime +30 -delete

Schedule with crontab:

# Daily backup at 2 AM
0 2 * * * /path/to/backup_script.sh

Backup Retention Policy

Backup Type	Frequency	Retention
Daily	Every day	7 days
Weekly	Every Sunday	4 weeks
Monthly	1st of month	12 months
Yearly	January 1st	5 years

Cloud Backup Options

Provider	Integration
AWS S3	s3cmd, aws-cli
Google Cloud	gsutil
Azure Blob	azcopy
Dropbox	rclone

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Restoring from Backup

Method 1: Database Manager (Web Interface)

1. Navigate to /web/database/manager
2. Enter the master password
3. Click Restore Database
4. Fill in the form:

Field	Description
Master Password	Database master password
File	Upload backup ZIP file
Database Name	Name for restored database
Neutralize	Check to disable external integrations

5. Click Restore

Method 2: Command Line

For PostgreSQL restore:

# Stop Odoo service first
sudo systemctl stop odoo

# Restore database
pg_restore -U odoo -d dbname -v backup.dump

# Or for SQL backups
psql -U odoo dbname < backup.sql

# Restore filestore
tar -xzf filestore_backup.tar.gz -C /var/lib/odoo/filestore/

# Start Odoo service
sudo systemctl start odoo

Post-Restore Steps

1. Verify data integrity - Check key records exist
2. Test login - Ensure user accounts work
3. Check attachments - Verify uploaded files are accessible
4. Review scheduled actions - Disable if running in test environment
5. Update external integrations - If restored to different server

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Backup Best Practices

Storage Guidelines

Recommendation	Details
Multiple locations	Store backups on different servers/cloud
Encryption	Encrypt sensitive backup files
Access control	Restrict who can access backups
Regular testing	Verify backups can be restored monthly

Pre-Backup Checklist

• Sufficient disk space available
• Database not in heavy use (if possible)
• Previous backup completed successfully
• Backup location accessible

Security Considerations

Practice	Implementation
Encrypt backups	Use GPG or similar encryption
Secure transfer	Use SFTP/SCP for remote copies
Access logging	Track who accesses backup files
Separate credentials	Use different passwords for backups

Disaster Recovery Plan

1. Document procedures - Written recovery steps
2. Assign responsibilities - Who handles recovery
3. Test quarterly - Perform full recovery test
4. Update contacts - Emergency contact list
5. Review regularly - Update plan as systems change

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Troubleshooting

Backup fails to complete

Possible causes:

• Insufficient disk space
• Database connection issues
• Permission problems

Solutions:

1. Check available disk space: df -h
2. Verify database credentials
3. Check file permissions on backup directory

Restore fails with error

Common errors:

Error	Solution
”Database exists”	Drop existing database or use new name
”Permission denied”	Check PostgreSQL user permissions
”Invalid backup format”	Verify backup file is not corrupted
”Version mismatch”	Ensure PostgreSQL versions match

Filestore not restored

Symptoms: Database works but images/attachments missing

Solution:

1. Verify filestore was included in backup
2. Check filestore path configuration
3. Restore filestore separately if needed
4. Verify file permissions (odoo user must own files)

Large backup performance

For large databases:

1. Use parallel dump: pg_dump -j 4 (4 parallel jobs)
2. Compress during backup
3. Schedule during low-usage hours
4. Consider incremental backups

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Related Topics

• System Requirements
• Module Configuration
• Troubleshooting

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Last updated: January 2026