====== Trac Backup ======
[[:[TracGuideToc]]]

Since Trac uses a database backend, some extra care is required to safely create a backup of a [[:TracEnvironment|project environment]]. Luckily, [[: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:
<code>
  $ trac-admin /path/to/projenv hotcopy /path/to/backupdir
</code>


[[: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`.

==== Restoring a Backup ====

Backups are simply a copied snapshot of the entire [[: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 [[:TracStandalone|tracd]]), restore the directory structure from the backup and restart the service.

  ''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