Skip to content

backup

Backup management commands for triggering, listing, deleting, and restoring backups.

Synopsis

docker-backup backup <subcommand> <container> [key] [flags]

Description

The backup command communicates with the running daemon via Unix socket to manage backups. The daemon must be running for these commands to work.

Subcommands

run

Trigger an immediate backup for a container.

docker-backup backup run <container>

Arguments

Argument Required Description
container Yes Container name

Example

# Trigger backup for all configs on the container
docker-backup backup run postgres

list

List all backups for a container.

docker-backup backup list <container>

Arguments

Argument Required Description
container Yes Container name

Example

docker-backup backup list postgres

Output: 

KEY                                        SIZE      DATE
postgres/db/2024-01-15/030000.tar.zst     2.1 MB    2024-01-15 03:00:00
postgres/db/2024-01-14/030000.tar.zst     2.0 MB    2024-01-14 03:00:00
postgres/db/2024-01-13/030000.tar.zst     1.9 MB    2024-01-13 03:00:00

Total: 3 backup(s)

delete

Delete a specific backup.

docker-backup backup delete <container> <key>

Arguments

Argument Required Description
container Yes Container name
key Yes Backup key (from list output)

Example

docker-backup backup delete postgres "postgres/db/2024-01-13/030000.tar.zst"

Warning

Deleted backups cannot be recovered.

restore

Restore a backup to a running container.

docker-backup backup restore <container> <key>

Arguments

Argument Required Description
container Yes Container name
key Yes Backup key (from list output)

Example

docker-backup backup restore postgres "postgres/db/2024-01-15/030000.tar.zst"

Data Loss

Restoring will overwrite existing data. Make sure you have a current backup before restoring.

Flags

Global Flags

Flag Default Description
--socket /var/run/docker-backup.sock Unix socket path

Examples

Complete Workflow

# List available backups
docker-backup backup list my-postgres

# Trigger a new backup before making changes
docker-backup backup run my-postgres

# Verify the new backup
docker-backup backup list my-postgres

# If something goes wrong, restore
docker-backup backup restore my-postgres "my-postgres/db/2024-01-15/143022.tar.zst"

# Clean up old backups manually
docker-backup backup delete my-postgres "my-postgres/db/2024-01-10/030000.tar.zst"

Docker Exec Usage

When running docker-backup in a container:

# Trigger backup
docker exec docker-backup docker-backup backup run postgres

# List backups
docker exec docker-backup docker-backup backup list postgres

# Restore backup
docker exec docker-backup docker-backup backup restore postgres "postgres/db/2024-01-15/030000.tar.zst"

Scripting

#!/bin/bash
CONTAINER="postgres"

# Get latest backup key
LATEST=$(docker-backup backup list "$CONTAINER" | tail -2 | head -1 | awk '{print $1}')

if [ -n "$LATEST" ]; then
    echo "Latest backup: $LATEST"
    # Could trigger restore here if needed
fi

Error Handling

Common Errors

"connection refused"
The daemon is not running. Start the daemon first.
"container not found"
The container doesn't exist or doesn't have backup labels enabled.
"backup not found"
The specified backup key doesn't exist. Use list to see available backups.

See Also