Chapter 5. Preparing for data loss with IdM backups
IdM provides the ipa-backup utility to backup IdM data, and the ipa-restore utility to restore servers and data from those backups.
This section covers the following topics:
Red Hat recommends running backups as often as necessary on a hidden replica with all server roles installed, especially the Certificate Authority (CA) role if the environment uses the integrated IdM CA. See Installing an IdM hidden replica.
5.1. IdM backup types
With the ipa-backup utility, you can create two types of backups:
- Full-server backup
- Contains all server configuration files related to IdM, and LDAP data in LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) files
- IdM services must be offline.
- Suitable for rebuilding an IdM deployment from scratch.
- Data-only backup
- Contains LDAP data in LDIF files and the replication changelog
- IdM services can be online or offline.
- Suitable for restoring IdM data to a state in the past
5.2. Naming conventions for IdM backup files
By default, IdM stores backups as .tar archives in subdirectories of the /var/lib/ipa/backup/ directory.
The archives and subdirectories follow these naming conventions:
- Full-server backup
An archive named
ipa-full.tarin a directory namedipa-full-<YEAR-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS>, with the time specified in GMT time.[root@server ~]# ll /var/lib/ipa/backup/ipa-full-2021-01-29-12-11-46 total 3056 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 158 Jan 29 12:11 header -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 3121511 Jan 29 12:11 ipa-full.tar
- Data-only backup
An archive named
ipa-data.tarin a directory namedipa-data-<YEAR-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS>, with the time specified in GMT time.[root@server ~]# ll /var/lib/ipa/backup/ipa-data-2021-01-29-12-14-23 total 1072 -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 158 Jan 29 12:14 header -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1090388 Jan 29 12:14 ipa-data.tar
Uninstalling an IdM server does not automatically remove any backup files.
5.3. Considerations when creating a backup
The important behaviors and limitations of the ipa-backup command include the following:
-
By default, the
ipa-backuputility runs in offline mode, which stops all IdM services. The utility automatically restarts IdM services after the backup is finished. - A full-server backup must always run with IdM services offline, but a data-only backup may be performed with services online.
-
By default, the
ipa-backuputility creates backups on the file system containing the/var/lib/ipa/backup/directory. Red Hat recommends creating backups regularly on a file system separate from the production filesystem used by IdM, and archiving the backups to a fixed medium, such as tape or optical storage.
- Consider performing backups on hidden replicas. IdM services can be shut down on hidden replicas without affecting IdM clients.
The
ipa-backuputility checks if all of the services used in your IdM cluster, such as a Certificate Authority (CA), Domain Name System (DNS), and Key Recovery Agent (KRA), are installed on the server where you are running the backup. If the server does not have all these services installed, theipa-backuputility exits with a warning, because backups taken on that host would not be sufficient for a full cluster restoration.For example, if your IdM deployment uses an integrated Certificate Authority (CA), a backup run on a non-CA replica will not capture CA data. Red Hat recommends verifying that the replica where you perform an
ipa-backuphas all of the IdM services used in the cluster installed.You can bypass the IdM server role check with the
ipa-backup --disable-role-checkcommand, but the resulting backup will not contain all the data necessary to restore IdM fully.
5.4. Creating an IdM backup
Create a full-server and data-only backup in offline and online modes using the ipa-backup command.
Prerequisites
-
You must have
rootprivileges to run theipa-backuputility.
Procedure
To create a full-server backup in offline mode, use the
ipa-backuputility without additional options.[root@server ~]# ipa-backup Preparing backup on server.example.com Stopping IPA services Backing up ipaca in EXAMPLE-COM to LDIF Backing up userRoot in EXAMPLE-COM to LDIF Backing up EXAMPLE-COM Backing up files Starting IPA service Backed up to /var/lib/ipa/backup/ipa-full-2020-01-14-11-26-06 The ipa-backup command was successful
To create an offline data-only backup, specify the
--dataoption.[root@server ~]# ipa-backup --dataTo create a full-server backup that includes IdM log files, use the
--logsoption.[root@server ~]# ipa-backup --logsTo create a data-only backup while IdM services are running, specify both
--dataand--onlineoptions.[root@server ~]# ipa-backup --data --online
If the backup fails due to insufficient space in the /tmp directory, use the TMPDIR environment variable to change the destination for temporary files created by the backup process:
[root@server ~]# TMPDIR=/new/location ipa-backupVerification
Ensure the backup directory contains an archive with the backup.
[root@server ~]# ls /var/lib/ipa/backup/ipa-full-2020-01-14-11-26-06 header ipa-full.tar
Additional resources
5.5. Creating a GPG2-encrypted IdM backup
You can create encrypted backups using GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) encryption. The following procedure creates an IdM backup and encrypts it using a GPG2 key.
Prerequisites
- You have created a GPG2 key. See Creating a GPG2 key.
Procedure
Create a GPG-encrypted backup by specifying the
--gpgoption.[root@server ~]# ipa-backup --gpg Preparing backup on server.example.com Stopping IPA services Backing up ipaca in EXAMPLE-COM to LDIF Backing up userRoot in EXAMPLE-COM to LDIF Backing up EXAMPLE-COM Backing up files Starting IPA service Encrypting /var/lib/ipa/backup/ipa-full-2020-01-13-14-38-00/ipa-full.tar Backed up to /var/lib/ipa/backup/ipa-full-2020-01-13-14-38-00 The ipa-backup command was successful
Verification
Ensure that the backup directory contains an encrypted archive with a
.gpgfile extension.[root@server ~]# ls /var/lib/ipa/backup/ipa-full-2020-01-13-14-38-00 header ipa-full.tar.gpg
Additional resources
5.6. Creating a GPG2 key
The following procedure describes how to generate a GPG2 key to use with encryption utilities.
Prerequisites
-
You need
rootprivileges.
Procedure
Install and configure the
pinentryutility.[root@server ~]# dnf install pinentry [root@server ~]# mkdir ~/.gnupg -m 700 [root@server ~]# echo "pinentry-program /usr/bin/pinentry-curses" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf
Create a
key-inputfile used for generating a GPG keypair with your preferred details. For example:[root@server ~]# cat >key-input <<EOF %echo Generating a standard key Key-Type: RSA Key-Length: 2048 Name-Real: GPG User Name-Comment: first key Name-Email: root@example.com Expire-Date: 0 %commit %echo Finished creating standard key EOF
Optional: By default, GPG2 stores its keyring in the
~/.gnupgfile. To use a custom keyring location, set theGNUPGHOMEenvironment variable to a directory that is only accessible by root.[root@server ~]# export GNUPGHOME=/root/backup [root@server ~]# mkdir -p $GNUPGHOME -m 700
Generate a new GPG2 key based on the contents of the
key-inputfile.[root@server ~]# gpg2 --batch --gen-key key-inputEnter a passphrase to protect the GPG2 key. You use this passphrase to access the private key for decryption.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Please enter the passphrase to │ │ protect your new key │ │ │ │ Passphrase: <passphrase> │ │ │ │ <OK> <Cancel> │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Confirm the correct passphrase by entering it again.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Please re-enter this passphrase │ │ │ │ Passphrase: <passphrase> │ │ │ │ <OK> <Cancel> │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Verify that the new GPG2 key was created successfully.
gpg: keybox '/root/backup/pubring.kbx' created gpg: Generating a standard key gpg: /root/backup/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created gpg: key BF28FFA302EF4557 marked as ultimately trusted gpg: directory '/root/backup/openpgp-revocs.d' created gpg: revocation certificate stored as '/root/backup/openpgp-revocs.d/8F6FCF10C80359D5A05AED67BF28FFA302EF4557.rev' gpg: Finished creating standard key
Verification
List the GPG keys on the server.
[root@server ~]# gpg2 --list-secret-keys gpg: checking the trustdb gpg: marginals needed: 3 completes needed: 1 trust model: pgp gpg: depth: 0 valid: 1 signed: 0 trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 1u /root/backup/pubring.kbx ------------------------ sec rsa2048 2020-01-13 [SCEA] 8F6FCF10C80359D5A05AED67BF28FFA302EF4557 uid [ultimate] GPG User (first key) <root@example.com>
Additional resources
