Backup and Restore

This guide covers backup and restore strategies for databases, files, and volumes in your development environment.

Database Backups

Single Database

Export a specific database:

dev mysqldump database_name > backup.sql

With compression:

dev mysqldump database_name | gzip > backup.sql.gz

All Databases

Backup all databases:

dev mysqldump --all-databases > all_databases.sql

Specific Tables

Backup specific tables:

dev mysqldump database_name table1 table2 > tables_backup.sql

Schema Only

Backup structure without data:

dev mysqldump --no-data database_name > schema.sql

Data Only

Backup data without structure:

dev mysqldump --no-create-info database_name > data.sql

Database Restore

Restore Single Database

dev mysql database_name < backup.sql

From compressed backup:

gunzip < backup.sql.gz | dev mysql database_name

Create Database First

If the database doesn't exist:

dev mysql -e "CREATE DATABASE database_name;"
dev mysql database_name < backup.sql

Restore All Databases

dev myroot < all_databases.sql

Note: Use myroot for restoring all databases as it requires root privileges.

MySQL 8 Backups

For MySQL 8 databases, use direct connection:

Backup

mysqldump -h 127.0.0.1 -P 3308 -u root -p database_name > backup.sql

Restore

mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -P 3308 -u root -p database_name < backup.sql

Workspace Backups

Entire Workspace

If using local workspace directory:

cd ~/development
tar -czf workspace-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz workspace/

Specific Project

Backup a single project:

cd ~/development/workspace
tar -czf project-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz customer/project/

Exclude Dependencies

Exclude vendor and node_modules:

tar -czf project-backup.tar.gz \
  --exclude='vendor' \
  --exclude='node_modules' \
  --exclude='.git' \
  customer/project/

Docker Volume Backups

Workspace Volume

If using Docker volumes instead of local directories:

docker run --rm \
  -v dockerdev-workspace-volume:/data \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  ubuntu tar czf /backup/workspace-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /data

MySQL Volume

Backup MySQL data directory:

docker run --rm \
  -v dockerdev-mysql-volume:/data \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  ubuntu tar czf /backup/mysql-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /data

Restore from Backups

Workspace Restore

cd ~/development
tar -xzf workspace-backup-20241126.tar.gz

Volume Restore

docker run --rm \
  -v dockerdev-workspace-volume:/data \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  ubuntu bash -c "cd /data && tar xzf /backup/workspace-backup.tar.gz --strip 1"

Automated Backups

Daily Database Backup Script

Create ~/bin/dev-backup.sh:

#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR=~/backups
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d)

mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

cd ~/development

# Backup all databases
./bin/dev mysqldump --all-databases | gzip > $BACKUP_DIR/databases-$DATE.sql.gz

# Backup workspace
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/workspace-$DATE.tar.gz \
  --exclude='workspace/*/vendor' \
  --exclude='workspace/*/node_modules' \
  workspace/

# Keep only last 7 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.sql.gz" -mtime +7 -delete
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +7 -delete

Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/bin/dev-backup.sh

Cron Job

Add to crontab (crontab -e):

# Daily backup at 2 AM
0 2 * * * ~/bin/dev-backup.sh

Magento-Specific Backups

Magento 2 Full Backup

cd workspace/customer/project/htdocs

# Database
dev mysqldump magento2 | gzip > ../backups/db-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

# Media files
tar -czf ../backups/media-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz pub/media/

# Configuration
cp app/etc/env.php ../backups/env.php.backup

Magento 2 Restore

cd workspace/customer/project/htdocs

# Database
gunzip < ../backups/db-20241126.sql.gz | dev mysql magento2

# Media
tar -xzf ../backups/media-20241126.tar.gz

# Configuration
cp ../backups/env.php.backup app/etc/env.php

# Clear cache
dev console bin/magento cache:flush

Best Practices

Before Updates

Always backup before:

Upgrading PHP versions
Updating major dependencies
Significant code changes
Docker environment updates

What to Backup

Essential:

Databases
Custom code
Configuration files
User-uploaded content

Optional:

Vendor dependencies (can be reinstalled)
Generated files (can be regenerated)
Cache (not needed)

Storage

Store backups:

On a different disk/partition
In cloud storage (S3, Dropbox, etc.)
On external drives
Multiple locations for critical data

Testing Restores

Periodically test your backups:

# Test database restore
dev mysql test_db < backup.sql
dev mysql -e "SHOW TABLES FROM test_db;"
dev mysql -e "DROP DATABASE test_db;"

Quick Backup Commands

Before Risky Operation

# Quick database backup
dev mysqldump mydb > quick-backup-$(date +%H%M).sql

# Quick file snapshot
tar -czf quick-backup-$(date +%H%M).tar.gz workspace/customer/project/

After Successful Changes

Delete quick backups:

rm quick-backup-*.sql
rm quick-backup-*.tar.gz

Troubleshooting

mysqldump: Command not found

Use the full dev command:

./bin/dev mysqldump database > backup.sql

Permission Denied

Ensure you have write permissions:

ls -la
chmod +w .

Out of Disk Space

Check available space:

df -h

Clean up old backups or compress existing ones.

Corrupt Backup

Verify backup integrity:

gunzip -t backup.sql.gz
tar -tzf backup.tar.gz

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