Create payloads (fylr backup)

This page describes the process of creating a local backup of JSON payloads from a source instance

The fylr backup command performs GET requests to the API of the source instance, until all relevant base types and records are retrieved and stored in local files.

A basic backup command looks like this:

fylr backup \
  --server '<source-url>/api/v1/' \
  --login 'root' \
  --password '<cleartext>' \
  --dir '<instance folder>/' \
  --compression 9 \
  --purge

--server, --login and --password refer to the source server.

--purge deletes a backup in --dir in case there is already one. All existing files in this directory are deleted!

The backup over the API only stores the data in local files. The files are only referenced by URLs. Only during restoring, the files are loaded from the source instance. Until the restore is finished, the source instance still needs to be reachable.

Not all events will be migrated from easydb5 to fylr, because they have no purpose in fylr. Also, some events need to be changed.

For a complete overview, see below

Parameters

This is a complete overview of the command line parameters (run fylr backup -h):

Usage: fylr backup [flags]

Backup ez5 or FYLR via API

Flags:

-h, --help                      Show context-sensitive help.
-v, --verbose                   Set to true, to show additional info.
-n, --log-network               Set to true, to log all network traffic.
    --server=STRING             Source url (overwrites URL of source instance from config)
-l, --login=STRING              If --server is set, use as login. Make sure to use the system root user to connect if used together with --purge.
-p, --password=STRING           If --server is set, use as password
    --client-id=""              If --server is set, use as OAUTH2 client ID
    --client-secret=""          If --server is set, use as OAUTH2 client secret
    --client-token-url=""       If --server is set, use as OAUTH2 token url
    --insecure                  Set to true, to not verify the server's certificate chain and host name
    --log=STRING                Set output to logfile
    --purge                     For backup: set to true, to purge the target directory. For restore: set to true, to purge the target and copy the datamodel. The current password of the user used for the login will be set for the system root user.
    --continue                  Set to true, to continue.
    --verify                    If set, verify payloads of an existing backup (same what --continue does at the beginning).
    --chunk-size=100            chunk size for fetching/pushing data.
    --include-events=""         Comma separated list of event types. Use "-" to skip backup/restoring of events. Empty string will backup/restore all known event types.
    --max-parallel=1            Maximum numbers of parallel workers. 0 uses the number of available CPUs. This creates more load on the source / target system. Defaults to "1" (only one parallel process).
-d, --dir=STRING                Target directory.
    --compression=0             0: no compression, 1: speed, 9: best.
    --all-versions              Set to true, to request all versions of an object.
    --include=""                Filter regexp to include objecttypes.
    --maximum-count=0           Limit records. Set to 0 for unlimited.
    --retry-max-count=10        Number of retries for failed requests with network problems.
    --retry-sleep-between=30    Wait time in seconds between retries for failed requests.
    --pretty                    Output pretty JSON.

--dir

Target folder for the backup files. If it does not exist, it will be created. If it exists, and --purge is used, an existing folder is deleted and created new.

  • this parameter is mandatory!

  • type: string

--server

API Url of the source instance. The Url must include the API base endpoint, for fylr this is <source url>/api/v1.

  • this parameter is mandatory!

  • type: string

--login

Username of the user in the source instance. It should be a user with root rights or sufficient read rights.

  • this parameter is mandatory!

  • type: string

--password

Password of the user in the source instance.

  • this parameter is mandatory!

  • type: string

--purge

Defines the mode of the backup (purge or continue).

If this is true, the complete backup starts from the beginning, and an existing backup folder with the same name is purged.

The parameters --purge and --continue are mutually exclusive. Not both can be true.

If the target folder already exists, this parameter (or --continue) must be set, otherwise the backup will fail.

  • type: bool

  • default: false

--continue

Defines the mode of the backup (purge or continue).

If this is true, the backup continues from the last point in the manifest.json file, if a previous backup run was interrupted.

The parameters --purge and --continue are mutually exclusive. Not both can be true.

If the target folder already exists, this parameter (or --purge) must be set, otherwise the backup will fail.

  • type: bool

  • default: false

--size

Deprecated! This parameter is removed in fylr in version v6.18.0.

The target size for objects in payloads. The effective size of the generated payloads is limited by --chunk.

  • type: int

  • minimum: 1

  • maximum: 1000

  • default: 100

--chunk

Deprecated! This parameter is removed in fylr in version v6.18.0.

The requested size for objects from the source instance. Can be used to control the size of the responses. It can be lowered if the requests cause timeouts or network problems.

This parameter was renamed to --chunk-size

  • type: int

  • minimum: 1

  • maximum: 1000

  • default: 100

--chunk-size

This parameter is available in fylr from version v6.18.0.

The requested size for objects from the source instance. Can be used to control the size of the responses. It can be lowered if the requests cause timeouts or network problems.

  • type: int

  • minimum: 1

  • maximum: 1000

  • default: 100

--limit

Deprecated! This parameter is removed in fylr in version v6.18.0.

Set this to a number bigger than 0 to limit the number of objects of each objecttype. This can be used to test or debug, and can be combined with --include to only backup a small sample of the source instance.

This parameter was renamed to --max-count

  • type: int

  • minimum: 0

  • default: 0

--max-count

This parameter is available in fylr from version v6.18.0.

Set this to a number bigger than 0 to limit the number of objects of each objecttype. This can be used to test or debug, and can be combined with --include to only backup a small sample of the source instance.

  • type: int

  • minimum: 0

  • default: 0

--max-parallel

This parameter is available in fylr from version v6.18.0.

Maximum numbers of parallel workers.

0 uses the number of available CPUs.

Defaults to 1 (only one parallel process).

This creates more load on the source system.

  • type: int

  • minimum: 0

  • default: 1

--compression

GZIP compression level.

If 0 is selected, there is no compression and the payloads are stored as .json files. If a value bigger than 0 is selected, the payloads are stored as compressed .json.gz files.

  • type: int

  • minimum: 0

  • maximum: 9

  • default: 0

--all-versions

Set to true so that all history versions of the records are requested.

Not to be confused with asset versions (see parameters for fylr restore)!

  • type: bool

  • default: false

--include

If this is a valid non empty regex string, only objecttypes are backupped where the internal objecttype name matches the regex.

  • type: string

--include-events

Comma separated list of event types.

Use --include-events=- to skip backup of events.

If this parameter is unset, all events are backupped

Specific event types, which are irrelevant for the migration, are never in the backup, even if they are specifically requested.

For now, this includes OBJECT_INDEX, SESSION_INVALID, FRONTEND_ERROR and COLLECTION_OWNER_RIGHTS_ERROR, but this might be extended in the future.

  • type: string

  • default: ""

--retry-max-count

If a request fails with one of the following HTTP status codes that indicate network problems, the request is repeated for a maximum number of times: 502: Bad Gateway, 503: Service Unavailable, 504: Gateway Timeout

  • type: int

  • default: 10

--retry-sleep-between

Defines the waiting time in seconds between repeated failed requests.

  • type: int

  • default: 30

--client-id

If the source instance uses OAuth2 for user authentication, this is the configured Client ID.

  • type: string

--client-secret

If the source instance uses OAuth2 for user authentication, this is the configured Client Secret. Can be kept empty if the instance is public.

  • type: string

--client-token-url

If the source instance uses OAuth2 for user authentication, this is the OAuth2 callback endpoint of the instance. For fylr this is <source url>/api/oauth2/token.

  • type: string

--insecure

Set to true to skip the certificate check for the connection to the source instance.

Only use this option if you can trust the remote server!

  • type: bool

  • default: false

--verbose

Set to true to log debugging info.

  • type: bool

  • default: false

--log-network

Set to true to log the requests and responses.

  • type: bool

  • default: false

--log

If this is a valid file path, the log output is written to this file. If this is empty (default), the log output is written to stdout instead.

  • type: string

--pretty

This parameter is available in fylr from version v6.17.0.

Set to true to save the data in a prettified JSON.

  • type: bool

  • default: false

Migration of events: differences between easydb5 and fylr

If events are migrated (see parameter --include-events), there are differences between easydb5 and fylr. For some events, the eventtype or the basetype is changed. Also there are events in easydb5 which have no matching event in fylr, these events are not migrated at all.

The event info block will be migrated without any changes. IDs which relate to objects, files, etc., are replaced during the restore process. This is done for IDs on top level (object_id), and known IDs in the info block.

In the following table, all migrated events are listed, including changes which are automatially done during the restore process. Events which are not listed here are never migrated from easydb5 to fylr.

Eventtype in easydb5
Eventtype in fylr
Notes

ASSET_DOWNLOAD_CONFIRMATION_MESSAGE

ASSET_DOWNLOAD_CONFIRMATION_MESSAGE

  • Basetype is set to message, there was no basetype in easydb5

  • The following IDs in the info block are replaced:

    • assets.#.id: The ID is replaced with the new file ID

CUSTOM_TYPE_UPDATER_RESPONSE

CUSTOM_DATA_TYPE_UPDATER

  • Eventtype is changed

CUSTOM_TYPE_UPDATER_START

CUSTOM_DATA_TYPE_UPDATER

  • Eventtype is changed

CUSTOM_TYPE_UPDATER_RESPONSE_ERROR

CUSTOM_DATA_TYPE_UPDATER_ERROR

  • Eventtype is changed

CUSTOM_TYPE_UPDATER_RESPONSE_FAILED

CUSTOM_DATA_TYPE_UPDATER_ERROR

  • Eventtype is changed

SCHEMA_COMMIT

DATAMODEL_COMMIT

  • Eventtype is changed

DETAIL_VIEW

DETAIL_VIEW

EMAIL_SENT

EMAIL_SENT

DOWNLOAD_EXPORT

EXPORT_DOWNLOAD

  • Eventtype is changed

ASSET_DOWNLOAD

FILE_DOWNLOAD

  • Eventtype is changed

  • Basetype is changed from asset to file

  • The following IDs in the info block are replaced:

    • export._id: The related record is not migrated, the ID is set to null

    • export_user_id: The ID is replaced with the new user ID

ASSET_EXPORT_DOWNLOAD

FILE_DOWNLOAD

  • Eventtype is changed

  • Basetype is changed from asset to file

  • The following IDs in the info block are replaced:

    • export._id: The related record is not migrated, the ID is set to null

    • export_user_id: The ID is replaced with the new user ID

OBJECT_DELETE

OBJECT_DELETE

OBJECT_INSERT

OBJECT_INSERT

OBJECT_UPDATE

OBJECT_UPDATE

SEARCH

SEARCH

USER_CREATED

USER_INSERT

  • Eventtype is changed

  • Basetype is set to user, there was no basetype in easydb5

USER_LOGIN

USER_LOGIN

  • Basetype is set to user, there was no basetype in easydb5

USER_LOGOUT

USER_LOGOUT

  • Basetype is set to user, there was no basetype in easydb5

WEBHOOK_OK

WEBHOOK

  • Eventtype is changed

WEBHOOK_ERROR

WEBHOOK_ERROR

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