carmanagement/scripts/backup-restore-guide.md

Backup & Restore Guide

What gets backed up

File	Contents
postgres.dump	Full PostgreSQL database (pg_dump custom format)
api-uploads.tar.gz	User-uploaded files (vehicle images, documents, etc.)
traefik-letsencrypt.tar.gz	Let's Encrypt SSL certificates
volumes/	Raw Docker volume archives (Redis, pgmanage, etc.)
manifest.txt	Backup metadata (timestamp, project name)

Note: The .env.docker.production file is NOT included in backups. Store it separately in a secure location (password manager, encrypted storage). You will need it to restore on a new server.

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Running a Backup

cd ~/car_management_system

# Default — saves to ./backups/<timestamp>/
bash scripts/docker-prod-backup.sh

# Custom backup directory
bash scripts/docker-prod-backup.sh /mnt/external/backups

The script will create a timestamped directory, e.g.:

backups/rentaldrivego-prod-20260522T103000Z/

PostgreSQL does not need to be stopped. The script brings it up automatically if needed.

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Running a Restore

Warning: Restore is destructive. It will overwrite the current database and uploaded files.

cd ~/car_management_system

bash scripts/docker-prod-restore.sh backups/rentaldrivego-prod-<timestamp> --yes

The --yes flag is required. Without it, the script exits with instructions.

What the restore does (in order)

1. Stops all app services (api, dashboard, storefront, admin, pgmanage, redis, traefik)
2. Starts PostgreSQL
3. Restores the database with pg_restore --clean --if-exists
4. Restores uploaded files into the api_uploads volume
5. Restores Traefik SSL certificates
6. Restores remaining Docker volumes (Redis, pgmanage)
7. Starts all services back up

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Automated Daily Backups (cron)

To schedule a daily backup at 3:00 AM:

(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo '0 3 * * * cd /root/car_management_system && bash scripts/docker-prod-backup.sh /root/car_management_system/backups >> /var/log/rentaldrivego-backup.log 2>&1') | crontab -

Verify the cron job was added:

crontab -l

Cleaning up old backups

To keep only the last 7 days of backups, add a cleanup job:

(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo '30 3 * * * find /root/car_management_system/backups -maxdepth 1 -name "rentaldrivego-prod-*" -mtime +7 -exec rm -rf {} +') | crontab -

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Restoring on a Fresh Server

1. Install Docker and Docker Compose on the new server
2. Clone the repository
3. Recreate .env.docker.production (from your secure backup of that file)
4. Copy the backup directory to the new server
5. Run the restore script:

   bash scripts/docker-prod-restore.sh /path/to/backup --yes
   

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Verifying a Backup

Check the backup directory contents and sizes:

ls -lh backups/rentaldrivego-prod-<timestamp>/
cat backups/rentaldrivego-prod-<timestamp>/manifest.txt

Test that the database dump is valid:

pg_restore --list backups/rentaldrivego-prod-<timestamp>/postgres.dump | head -20