Backup & Disaster Recovery

Frappe provides built-in backup and restore commands via bench. ALWAYS back up before updates, migrations, or any destructive operation. A backup that has never been test-restored is NOT a backup.

Quick Reference

# Database-only backup (default)
bench backup

# Full backup with public + private files
bench backup --with-files

# Backup specific site
bench --site mysite.com backup --with-files

# Backup with compression (.tgz instead of .tar)
bench backup --with-files --compress

# Backup only specific DocTypes
bench backup --only "Sales Invoice,Purchase Invoice"

# Backup excluding specific DocTypes
bench backup --exclude "Error Log,Activity Log"

# Custom backup path
bench backup --backup-path /mnt/backups/

# Restore from backup
bench --site mysite.com restore /path/to/backup.sql.gz

# Restore with files
bench --site mysite.com restore /path/to/backup.sql.gz \
    --with-public-files /path/to/files.tar \
    --with-private-files /path/to/private-files.tar

# Setup automated backups (cron)
bench setup backups

What Gets Backed Up

Backup file naming: {datetime}_{hash}_{site}-database.sql.gz

Backup Decision Tree

What do you need to back up?
|
+-- Quick database snapshot before a change?
|   +-- bench backup (database only, fast)
|
+-- Full backup before upgrade or migration?
|   +-- bench backup --with-files --compress
|
+-- Automated daily backups?
|   +-- bench setup backups (cron-based)
|   +-- OR S3 Backup Settings (cloud storage)
|
+-- Offsite / cloud backup?
|   +-- S3 Backup Settings DocType (built-in)
|   +-- OR custom script with rclone/aws-cli
|
+-- Partial backup (specific DocTypes)?
|   +-- bench backup --only "DocType1,DocType2"
|
+-- Disaster recovery?
|   +-- Full backup + files + tested restore procedure
|   +-- See Disaster Recovery section below

bench backup: All Options

bench backup [OPTIONS]

# Path options
--backup-path PATH              # Save all backup files to this directory
--backup-path-db PATH           # Custom path for database dump
--backup-path-conf PATH         # Custom path for site config backup
--backup-path-files PATH        # Custom path for public files archive
--backup-path-private-files PATH # Custom path for private files archive

# Filter options
--only, --include, -i DOCTYPES  # Include ONLY these DocTypes (comma-separated)
--exclude, -e DOCTYPES          # Exclude these DocTypes (comma-separated)
--ignore-backup-conf            # Ignore include/exclude from site config

# Flags
--with-files                    # Include public and private files
--compress                      # Use .tgz format (gzip compressed tar)
--verbose                       # Show detailed output

Safety feature: If backup fails (any exception), partial files are automatically deleted to avoid consuming disk space with incomplete backups.

bench restore: All Options

bench --site [site-name] restore [OPTIONS] SQL_FILE_PATH

# SQL_FILE_PATH: path to .sql or .sql.gz file
# Can be relative to sites/ directory or absolute path

# Options
--db-root-username USERNAME     # MariaDB/PostgreSQL root username
--db-root-password PASSWORD     # MariaDB/PostgreSQL root password
--db-name NAME                  # Use custom database name
--admin-password PASSWORD       # Set administrator password after restore
--install-app APP_NAME          # Install app after restore
--with-public-files PATH        # Restore public files (.tar or .tgz)
--with-private-files PATH       # Restore private files (.tar or .tgz)

# Flags
--force                         # Bypass downgrade warnings (NOT recommended)

CRITICAL: Downgrades are NOT supported. Restoring a backup from a newer version onto an older version triggers a warning. NEVER use --force to bypass this unless you understand the consequences.

Automated Backups

Cron-Based (bench setup backups)

# Sets up daily backup cron job
bench setup backups

# This adds to crontab:
# 0 */6 * * * cd /home/frappe/frappe-bench && bench backup --with-files

S3 Backup Settings (Built-in DocType)

Configure in ERPNext: Settings > S3 Backup Settings

# Programmatic S3 backup trigger
from frappe.integrations.offsite_backup_utils import send_email
import frappe

# The S3 backup runs via scheduled job when enabled
# To trigger manually:
from frappe.integrations.doctype.s3_backup_settings.s3_backup_settings import take_backups_s3
take_backups_s3()

Custom Backup Script

#!/bin/bash
# custom-backup.sh — Daily backup with rotation and offsite copy
set -e

BENCH_DIR="/home/frappe/frappe-bench"
BACKUP_DIR="/mnt/backups/frappe"
RETENTION_DAYS=30
S3_BUCKET="s3://my-frappe-backups"
DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H%M)

cd $BENCH_DIR

# Create backup
bench backup --with-files --compress --backup-path "$BACKUP_DIR/$DATE/"

# Sync to S3
aws s3 sync "$BACKUP_DIR/$DATE/" "$S3_BUCKET/$DATE/"

# Remove local backups older than retention period
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -type d -mtime +$RETENTION_DAYS -exec rm -rf {} +

# Verify latest backup exists on S3
aws s3 ls "$S3_BUCKET/$DATE/" || echo "WARNING: S3 sync failed!"

Backup Encryption

Encrypt Backups at Rest

# Encrypt backup with GPG (symmetric)
bench backup --with-files --compress
gpg --symmetric --cipher-algo AES256 \
    sites/mysite/private/backups/latest-database.sql.gz

# Decrypt for restore
gpg --decrypt backup.sql.gz.gpg > backup.sql.gz
bench --site mysite.com restore backup.sql.gz

Encrypt with OpenSSL

# Encrypt
openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -pbkdf2 \
    -in backup.sql.gz -out backup.sql.gz.enc

# Decrypt
openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -pbkdf2 \
    -in backup.sql.gz.enc -out backup.sql.gz

ALWAYS store encryption keys/passwords separately from backups. NEVER store the decryption key in the same location as the encrypted backup.

Restore Procedures

Full Site Restore

# 1. Stop services (traditional deployment)
sudo supervisorctl stop all

# 2. Restore database
bench --site mysite.com restore \
    /path/to/20240115_backup-database.sql.gz \
    --db-root-password YOUR_DB_ROOT_PASSWORD \
    --admin-password NEW_ADMIN_PASSWORD

# 3. Restore files
bench --site mysite.com restore \
    /path/to/20240115_backup-database.sql.gz \
    --with-public-files /path/to/20240115_backup-files.tar \
    --with-private-files /path/to/20240115_backup-private-files.tar

# 4. Run migrations (if version differs)
bench --site mysite.com migrate

# 5. Clear cache
bench --site mysite.com clear-cache

# 6. Restart services
sudo supervisorctl start all

Restore to New Site

# Create new site from backup (useful for staging/testing)
bench new-site staging.example.com \
    --db-root-password YOUR_DB_ROOT_PASSWORD \
    --admin-password STAGING_PASSWORD

bench --site staging.example.com restore \
    /path/to/production-backup.sql.gz \
    --with-public-files /path/to/files.tar \
    --with-private-files /path/to/private-files.tar

bench --site staging.example.com migrate

Docker Restore

# Copy backup into container
docker cp backup.sql.gz frappe-backend:/tmp/

# Restore
docker compose exec backend \
    bench --site mysite.com restore /tmp/backup.sql.gz \
    --db-root-password $DB_ROOT_PASSWORD

# Cleanup
docker compose exec backend rm /tmp/backup.sql.gz

Backup Verification

ALWAYS test restores regularly. A backup is only valid if it can be successfully restored.

#!/bin/bash
# verify-backup.sh — Test restore to verify backup integrity
set -e

BACKUP_SQL="/mnt/backups/frappe/latest/database.sql.gz"
TEST_SITE="backup-test.localhost"
BENCH_DIR="/home/frappe/frappe-bench"

cd $BENCH_DIR

# Create temporary test site
bench new-site $TEST_SITE --db-root-password $DB_ROOT_PASSWORD --admin-password test

# Restore backup
bench --site $TEST_SITE restore $BACKUP_SQL --db-root-password $DB_ROOT_PASSWORD

# Run basic verification
bench --site $TEST_SITE migrate
bench --site $TEST_SITE console <<'EOF'
import frappe
count = frappe.db.count("User")
print(f"User count: {count}")
assert count > 0, "No users found — backup may be corrupt"
print("Backup verification PASSED")
EOF

# Cleanup test site
bench drop-site $TEST_SITE --db-root-password $DB_ROOT_PASSWORD --force

echo "Backup verification complete"

Multi-Site Backup Strategy

#!/bin/bash
# backup-all-sites.sh — Backup every site in the bench
set -e

BENCH_DIR="/home/frappe/frappe-bench"
cd $BENCH_DIR

for site in $(bench --site all list-apps 2>/dev/null | grep -oP '^\S+'); do
    echo "Backing up $site..."
    bench --site "$site" backup --with-files --compress
done

Disaster Recovery Plan Template

1. PREVENTION
   - Automated daily backups (bench setup backups OR S3)
   - Offsite copies (S3, GCS, or remote server)
   - Encrypted backups for sensitive data
   - Backup retention: minimum 30 days

2. DETECTION
   - Monitor backup cron job (check /var/log/syslog)
   - Verify backup file sizes (alert if < expected)
   - Weekly automated restore test

3. RECOVERY (RTO target: < 4 hours)
   a. Provision new server (or use standby)
   b. Install Frappe/ERPNext (same version as backup)
   c. Restore from latest verified backup
   d. Run migrations
   e. Update DNS to point to new server
   f. Verify functionality

4. DOCUMENTATION
   - Backup locations and credentials
   - Encryption key storage (separate from backups)
   - Step-by-step restore procedure
   - Contact list for escalation

Version Differences

Reference Files

Related Skills

• frappe-ops-deployment — Production deployment (includes backup in update workflow)
• frappe-ops-performance — Performance tuning
• frappe-ops-bench — Bench CLI reference
• frappe-ops-upgrades — Version upgrade procedures (backup required)