Backups and restore on blitz.cloud

blitz.cloud backs up every running database every night to separate storage, away from the servers your apps run on. The free plan keeps the last 7 nights, Pro the last 30. On Pro the files your apps keep on disk are copied every night too. PostgreSQL, MariaDB and app files can be put back to any of those nights with one button, and each restore can be undone. A database that sleeps with its apps is copied once just before it goes to sleep and not again until it wakes, and its last copies are kept until newer ones replace them.

What is backed up

A database or app that is not running at night, for example while it moves to another server, is copied later that day, once it runs again.

The small cache some App Store apps bring next to their database, like Paperless-ngx and Docmost, is not backed up. It writes nothing to disk, so there is nothing to copy.

Where the copies go

Backups are streamed to storage in the EU that is separate from the servers running your apps, so a problem with those servers doesn't take the copies with it. They are encrypted by the backup tool (restic) before they leave the cluster. Each Pro account's file copies sit in a repository of their own that the app itself can add to but never delete from.

Restoring a database

Open the database on the Databases page. Each night is listed by date, like "the night of Friday 12 September". Pick one and confirm.

A restore replaces the database with that night's copy. It does not merge. Anything written since that night is gone afterwards, and the confirmation says so before you press the button. We copy the database as it is right now first, so you can undo the restore.

Redis restores are not a button yet. The copies are taken like any other, but putting one back needs the engine stopped and a file replaced. Write to hallo@blitzworks.io and we do it by hand.

Restoring an app's files (Pro)

Open the app, then Settings, then Backups. Each night is listed with its size. Pick one and confirm.

The app stops for a few minutes, every folder it keeps is put back to that night, and it starts again by itself. Files added or changed since then are gone afterwards. We copy the folders as they are right now first, and that copy is kept for 7 days, so you can undo the restore from the same list. Databases are not touched; each has copies of its own.

If a file could not be read when the copy was taken, the list says how many.

Deleting deletes the backups

When you delete a database, every nightly copy of it goes too. When you delete your account, every copy of its databases and app files goes within a day. That's where a click destroys data that can't be brought back, so the dialogs say it in those words.

On the free plan

Folders an app keeps on disk survive restarts, but on the free plan they are not copied anywhere. If your app stores uploads or a SQLite file on disk, keep your own copy of anything you can't lose, or use a managed database.

Size

How much a database holds is measured with the first nightly copy. Until then the card says "size known after tonight's copy" instead of showing zero.