Backing up and restoring data

In customer-managed instances of IBM® Rapid Infrastructure Automation®, you can back up workflows, authentications, APIs, and other data, and restore the backup data if required.

All instance data is backed up, including data for these configuration items:

Workflows
Users
Permissions
Authentications
Job definitions, schedules, and results
UI theme customizations
Integrations
Logs
Automation Center panels and tiles
APIs
Worker groups
Advanced system settings
External login provider configuration

(1.1.4 and later versions) Backing up and restoring via local storage

Starting in 1.1.4, you can create ad hoc backups of your instance data in local storage by running a script that compresses the data into an archive file. You can then restore the data in the same instance or a separate instance by running a script that decompresses the data.

Backing up data

(1.1.4 only) On the host where you want to take a backup, enable the addon_toolbox service.
1. Go to the root directory of the product package, that is, the <M0XXXEN> directory, where <M0XXXEN>.zip is the package name.
2. Search for the rna-core-values.yaml file and go to the folder that contains it.
3. Edit the rna-core-values.yaml file and set the value of the rna.addon_toolbox.replicas attribute to 1:
```
imageRegistry: 423562884727.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
rna:
  instance:
    address: "<management_host_IP_address>": 
  addon_toolbox: 
    replicas: 1
```
4. Upgrade the Helm chart to enable the addon_toolbox service by running this command:
```
helm upgrade -n rna-core -f rna-core-values.yaml rna-core ./RNA/images/chart-ibm-rna-core-v<chart_version>.tgz
```
  <chart_version> is the version of the Helm chart in your instance. For example, the Helm chart version in version 1.1.4 is 2024.3.547-b140.
Create a backup data file by running this command:
```
kubectl -n rna-core exec -i $(kubectl -n rna-core get pod | grep addon-toolbox | awk '{print $1}') -- run-adhoc-backup.sh --Encryption_Key <backup_password> > <backup_file_name>.tgz
```
- You must create and provide the <backup_password> and <backup_file_name> values when you run this command.
- After you run the command, list the files in the current folder and verify that the backup data file is successfully created.
Store the admin user’s login credentials from the current instance in a safe location.
If you decide to create a separate instance to restore the data, you need these credentials to log in to the new instance.

Restoring data

Optional: Create a separate instance of IBM Rapid Infrastructure Automation®.
1. Install IBM Rapid Infrastructure Automation® on a separate host. For more information, see Installing.
2. Transfer the backup data file to the new host.
(1.1.4 only) On the host where you want to restore the backup data, enable the addon_toolbox service.
1. Go to the root directory of the application package, that is, the <M0XXXEN> directory, where <M0XXXEN>.zip is the package name.
2. Search for the rna-core-values.yaml file and go to the folder that contains it.
3. Edit the rna-core-values.yaml file and set the value of the rna.addon_toolbox.replicas attribute to 1:
```
imageRegistry: 423562884727.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
rna:
  instance:
    address: "<management_host_IP_address>": 
  addon_toolbox: 
    replicas: 1
```
4. Upgrade the Helm chart to enable the addon_toolbox service by running this command:
```
helm upgrade -n rna-core -f rna-core-values.yaml rna-core ./RNA/images/chart-ibm-rna-core-v<chart_version>.tgz
```
  <chart_version> is the version of the Helm chart in your instance. For example, the Helm chart version in version 1.1.4 is 2024.3.547-b140.
On the host where you want to restore the backup data, run this command:
```
cat <backup_file_name.tgz> | kubectl -n rna-core exec -i $(kubectl -n rna-core get pod | grep addon-toolbox | awk '{print $1}') -- run-adhoc-restore.sh --Encryption_Key <backup_password>
```
<backup_file_name> and <backup_password> are the file name and password values that you provided when you created the backup file.
Monitor the command output to verify that the data is restored successfully.
The restoration is successful when the Restore script completed message is shown in the command output.

Backing up and restoring on a VM

If you run the application on a virtual machine (VM), you can create a VM snapshot, which you can use as a backup. If required, you can use the snapshot to restore the data on your VM to its pre-snapshot state.

For 1.1.3 and earlier versions, if you do not run the application on a VM, contact IBM Support for further steps on backing up and restoring your data.