Chapter 8. Backing Up Satellite Server and Capsule Server

The full backup creates uncompressed archives of MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and Pulp database files and Satellite configuration files. Compression occurs after the archives are created to decrease the time when Satellite services are unavailable. Consequently, a full backup requires space to store the following data:

Red Hat Satellite 6.4 uses the foreman-maintain backup script to make backups. To see the usage statement, enter the following command:

# foreman-maintain backup --help

There are three main methods of backing up Satellite Server:

For offline backups:

# foreman-maintain backup offline --help

For online backups:

# foreman-maintain backup online --help

For backups from snapshots:

# foreman-maintain backup snapshot --help

If you must set the directory name yourself add the --preserve-directory option and add a directory name. The backup is then stored in the directory you provide on the command line.

If you use --preserve-directory, no data is removed if the backup fails.

Note that user postgres needs write access to that directory if you have a local PgSQL database.

You can use both online and offline methods to back up remote databases, but if you use offline methods, such as snapshot, the foreman-maintain backup script performs a database dump.

#!/bin/bash -e
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
DESTINATION=/var/backup_directory
if [[ $(date +%w) == 0 ]]; then
  foreman-maintain backup offline --assumeyes $DESTINATION
else
  LAST=$(ls -td -- $DESTINATION/*/ | head -n 1)
  foreman-maintain backup offline --assumeyes --incremental "$LAST" $DESTINATION
fi
exit 0

Note that the foreman-maintain backup script requires /sbin and /usr/sbin directories to be in PATH, and the --assumeyes option, because the command prompts for confirmation for the backup to proceed.

Perform an online backup only for debugging purposes. If there are procedures affecting the Pulp database, the Pulp part of the backup procedure repeats until it is no longer being altered. Because the backup of the Pulp database is the most time consuming part of backing up Satellite, if you make a change that alters the Pulp database during this time, the backup procedure keeps restarting.

When performing an online backup, if there are procedures affecting the Pulp database, the Pulp part of the backup procedure repeats until it is no longer being altered. Because the backup of the Pulp database is the most time consuming part of backing up Satellite, if you make a change that alters the Pulp database during this time, the backup procedure keeps restarting.

For production environments, use the snapshot method. For more information, see Section 8.1.7, “Performing a Snapshot Backup”. If you want to use the online backup method in production, proceed with caution and ensure that no modifications occur during the backup.

The snapshot backup method uses Logical Volume Manager (LVM) snapshots of the Pulp, MongoDB, and PostgreSQL directories. The backup is then created from the LVM snapshots and not from the running Satellite as with online backup, which mitigates the risk of creating an inconsistent backup. The snapshot backup method is faster than a full offline backup, which reduces Satellite downtime.

foreman-maintain backup snapshot -h

Prerequisites

Before you perform the snapshot backup, ensure that the following conditions exist:

Run the backup script:

# foreman-maintain backup snapshot /var/backup_directory

The foreman-maintain backup snapshot makes snapshots when the services are active, and stops all services which could impact the backup. This makes the maintenance window shorter. After the successful snapshot, all services are restarted and LVM snapshots are removed.

A backup using the foreman-maintain backup script proceeds in a sequence of steps. To skip part of the backup add the --whitelist option to the command and add the step label that you want to omit. For example:

# foreman-maintain backup online --whitelist backup-metadata  -y /var/backup_directory

To see a list of available step labels use:

# foreman-maintain advanced procedure run -h