Alfresco 5.0c backup script WINDOWS

[drisschelouati]

Hi everyone,

iam currently trying to set up a beckup strategy for our installation of alfresco. Reading a lot of tutorials about alfresco backup scripts, i noticed they are mostly written for LINUX systems, and the few i could find for windows are getting slightly old.

I wanted to submit to the forum a sample script that i modified from a linux version, to get some advice from specialists, just to know if iam on the right way.

Tutorials also speak about creating a .pgpass file with the following content :

*:*:*:postgres:[DB-PASSWORD] ‍‍‍

is this LINUX specific, or does it have to be done in WINDOWS too? if it's the case, where should i put that file?

here is the script, please tell me if everything is ok, i haven't tested it yet, not being sure of what ive wrote because it is a port of a shell script:

# Archive Dynamics script - Backup of Alfresco # Configuration:  CURRENT_FOLDER=$(pwd)            # Script folder  TIMESTAMP=$( date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S )      # Create timestamp  DUMP_NUM=10               # Number of backups to keep  AL_FOLDER="C:\alfresco"         # Alfresco folder  AL_DATA="C:\alfresco\alf_data"      # Alfresco data folder  DB_HOME="C:\alfresco\postgresql"      # PostgreSQL folder# Function - Stop Alfrescofunction al_stop(){  $AL_FOLDER\servicerun STOP   # If Alfresco does not stop we MUST exit script  # Backing up files with Alfresco working may  # corrupt data indexes!!  if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then    echo "Alfresco Stop FAILED - STOP SCRIPT!"    exit 1;  fi}# Function - Start Alfrescofunction al_start(){  $AL_FOLDER\servicerun START}# Function - Start PostgreSQL Serverfunction p_start(){  $DB_HOME\scripts\servicerun START}# Verify that argument was providedif [ -d "$1" ]; then  # A folder has been provided, save it  TARGET_FOLDER="$1"else  # No argument was provided for backup location  echo "Usage: $0 [TARGET_PATH]"  exit 0fi#—————————————-# 1 - Begin by stopping Alfresco#—————————————-  al_stop#—————————————-# 2 - Backup the Alfresco database#—————————————-  # Start the postgreSQL database (which is stopped automatically  # by the Alfresco stop script)  p_start   # Create a filename for the database tar  DB_DUMP=alfresco_db_${TIMESTAMP}.tar   # Backup the database to the target folder  # -Ft = Export database as tar file  $DB_HOME\bin\pg_dump -Ft alfresco > $TARGET_FOLDER\$DB_DUMP   # Check if an error was returned  if [ "$?" = "0" ]; then    echo "DB EXPORT WORKED!"  else    echo "DB EXPORT FAILED!"  fi#——————————————# 3 - Backup the Alfresco content folder#——————————————  # Create a file name with timestamp  AL_DUMP=alfresco_data_${TIMESTAMP}.tgz   # Tar the Alfresco data folder to the backup  # to the backup folder specified  tar zcf $TARGET_FOLDER\$AL_DUMP $AL_DATA#——————————————# 4 - Merge the database and data files#——————————————   # Create a backup filename with timestamp  BACKUP_FILE="$alfresco_bak_${TIMESTAMP}.tgz"  tar zcf $TARGET_FOLDER\$BACKUP_FILE $TARGET_FOLDER\$AL_DUMP $TARGET_FOLDER\$DB_DUMP   # If files were merged, delete the duplicates  if [ -f "$TARGET_FOLDER\$BACKUP_FILE" ]; then    echo "BACKUP SUCCESSFUL"    rm $TARGET_FOLDER\$AL_DUMP    rm $TARGET_FOLDER\$DB_DUMP    SUCCESS=1  fi#——————————————# 5 - We're done, start the Alfresco service#——————————————  al_start#——————————————# 6 - Remove backups older than DUMP_NUM days#——————————————  if [ "$SUCCESS" = 1 ]; then    find $TARGET_FOLDER\*.tgz -type f -mtime +${DUMP_NUM} -exec rm {} \;  fi‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

As i understood, if it's ok and works, i should set the execution with a windows schedueled task. Is it recommended to script SOL4 indexes backup too?

Thanks for your help

[eswbitto]

I've never used a alfresco version on windows so I can only provide little information (sorry about that), but you are on the right track. The biggest thing is to make sure the alf_data folder (it contains your data and database AND solr). You don't need to create a separate backup for solr if your backing up the entire alf_data directory.

My shell script for windows is rusty, but are you combining the two compressed files together? (data and database?)

[drisschelouati]

Thank you for your answer,

yes as you can see, section number 4 organises the merge of data files and database. But about Sol4, so you say that i can actually back up all of the alf_data folder without any risks of corrupting data?

[eswbitto]

The short answer yes,

You still need to create a database dump. I would still recommend using a backup strategy that compresses your backups for space issues that could come up.

You should still read these for references for best practices:
http://fcorti.com/2013/02/06/alfresco-backup-script/
http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Backup_and_Restore

I've adopted fcorti's approach to backing up (using linux) and basically what gets backed up in the alf_data folder the entire folder and is then compressed. Then I create a dump of the database and compress it as well.

I think the biggest key is that if you adopt this same strategy you MUST always keep the two backups together.

Meaning: You can't restore a backup from last week and use the current database as of today. You have to restore the database from last week as well…Otherwise you screw yourself…