= 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.

  ''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