= Trac Backup =
[[TracGuideToc]]

Since Trac uses a database backend, some extra care is required to safely create a backup of a [wiki:TracEnvironment project environment]. Luckily, [wiki:TracAdmin trac-admin] has a command to make backups easier: `hotcopy`.

  ''Note: Trac uses the `hotcopy` nomenclature to match that of [http://subversion.tigris.org/ Subversion], to make it easier to remember when managing both Trac and Subversion servers.''

== Creating a Backup ==

To create a backup of a live TracEnvironment, simply run:
{{{

  $ trac-admin /path/to/projenv hotcopy /path/to/backupdir

}}}

[wiki:TracAdmin trac-admin] will lock the database while copying.''

The resulting backup directory is safe to handle using standard file-based backup tools like `tar` or `dump`/`restore`.

Please, note, that hotcopy command does not overwrite target directory and when such exists, hotcopy ends with error: `Command failed: [Errno 17] File exists:` This is discussed in [trac:ticket:3198 #3198].

=== Restoring a Backup ===

Backups are simply a copied snapshot of the entire [wiki:TracEnvironment project environment] directory, including the SQLite database. 

To restore an environment from a backup, simply stop the process running Trac (i.e. the Web server or [wiki:TracStandalone tracd]), restore the directory structure from the backup and restart the service.[[BR]]

To restore the environment from a backup you must before init the environment like that
trac-admin /path/to/project/trac/ initenv
After that copy the backup in the correct place (replace the files created by initenv)
If you don't do an "initenv", trac won't be able to find the database path.

  ''Note: Automatic backup of environments that don't use SQLite as database backend is not supported at this time. As a workaround, we recommend that you stop the server, copy the environment directory, and make a backup of the database using whatever mechanism is provided by the database system.''

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See also: TracAdmin, TracEnvironment, TracGuide, TracMigrate