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Data Backup

Data Backup

Backup functionality is provided natively using the django-dbbackup library. This library provides multiple options for creating backups of your InvenTree database and media files. In addition to local storage backup, multiple external storage solutions are supported (such as Amazon S3 or Dropbox).

Note that a backup operation is not the same as migrating data. While data migration exports data into a database-agnostic JSON file, backup exports a native database file and media file archive.

Database Version

When performing backup and restore operations, it is imperative that you are running from the same installed version of InvenTree. Different InvenTree versions may have different database schemas, which render backup / restore operations incompatible.

Configuration

The following configuration options are available for backup:

Environment Variable Configuration File Description Default
INVENTREE_BACKUP_STORAGE backup_storage Backup storage backend django.core.files.storage.FileSystemStorage
INVENTREE_BACKUP_DIR backup_dir Backup storage directory No default
INVENTREE_BACKUP_OPTIONS backup_options Specific backup options (dict) No default

Storage Providers

If you want to use an external storage provider, extra configuration is required. As a starting point, refer to the django-dbbackup documentation.

Specific storage configuration options are specified using the backup_options dict (in the configuration file).

Perform Backup

Manual Backup

To perform a basic manual backup operation, run the following command from the shell:

invoke backup

This will perform backup operation with the default parameters. To see all available backup options, run:

invoke backup --help

Backup During Update

When performing an update of your InvenTree installation - via either docker or bare metal - a backup operation is automatically performed.

Skip Backup Step

You can opt to skip the backup step during the update process by adding the --skip-backup option.

Daily Backup

If desired, InvenTree can be configured to perform automated daily backups. The run-time setting to control this is found in the Server Configuration tab.

Automatic daily backup Automatic daily backup

Optional Feature

Automated backup is disabled by default, and must be enabled by an admin user

Restore from Backup

To restore from a previous backup, run the following command from the shell (within virtual environment if configured):

invoke restore

To see all available options for restore, run:

invoke restore --help

Advanced Usage

Not all functionality of the db-backup library is exposed by default. For advanced usage (not covered by the documentation above), refer to the django-dbbackup commands documentation.

Advanced Users Only

Any advanced usage assumes some underlying knowledge of django, and is not documented here.