Overview
Adaptavist's Backup Manager is a free plugin for Confluence which allows administrators to view and download nightly backups, delete backups and configure automatic housekeeping of their backups folder.
Installation
To install the backup manager, we recommend using the Confluence Repository client in the Confluence Administration Console - simply click the "Install" link associated with the plugin to install it.
Alternatively, you can download the plugin and install it manually from the plugin home page.
Opening the Backup Manager
Once installed, you'll see a new "Backup Manager" link in the Administration Console:
Click the link to display the main Backup Manager screen showing housekeeping options and a list of current backups.
Housekeeping Options
With default settings, Confluence will create a full backup every night and store it in your backups folder. If you don't delete old backups, you can end up with literally hundreds of backup files eating up disk space.
The Backup Manager provides automatic housekeeping options, disabled by default, which allow you to configure a "Worker" that will delete unwanted backup files at a regular interval.
Configuring the worker interval and tasks
By default, the worker is disabled and your backups will never be deleted.
To enable the worker, set an interval (eg. "every week") from the drop-down list. The worker will then delete old backups at regular intervals and the table will be updated to show when the worker last deleted backups and when it will next delete backups
.
The worker decides which backups to delete based on the tasks you set it...
Keep at least X of the most recent backups
This task, when enabled, instructs the worker to protect a specific number of the most recent backups from deletion.
For example, if you set the value to 5, then the worker will ensure that the 5 most recent backups are not deleted, regardless of the other task settings.
Delete any remaining backups older than X
This task, when enabled, instructs the worker to delete any backups older than a specified amount of time, eg. 8 weeks.
Delete oldest backup files until X remain in total
This task, when enabled, instructs the worker to limit the number of backup files in your backup folder. For example, if you want to only keep one week of backups set this to 7 which will keep the 7 most recent nightly backups.
Delete oldest backups while directory size exceeds X KB
This option allows you to set a quota on your backups folder. The worker will delete backups, starting with the oldest first, until the total disk space used by the backups is less than the specified size.
Saving changes
To save your changes, always remember to click the "Update" button. When you click this button the changes will be saved and skulls will appear next to the files in the backup list to indicate which backups would be deleted if the worker processed its tasks at the current time.
At any time, you can click "Run Now" to immediately make the worker process the tasks you have set it, however please note that this will save your settings first which may affect which backups are deleted.
Testing worker configuration
To familiarise yourself with the effects of the various combinations, we suggest setting the worker interval to 'never' and updating the settings. The skulls shown in the file listing at the bottom of the screen will indicate which files would be deleted, based on the current settings, when the worker processes the tasks.
The Backups List
The list of all current backup files in the backups folder is shown below the worker settings:
The files are listed in reverse chronological order, with the newest at the top.
Downloading a backup file
Click the filename of a file to download it.
Manually deleting backup files
Tick the box next to the files you wish to delete and click the "Delete Selected" button to delete them.
What are the skulls?
The skulls
indicate which backups will be deleted next time the housekeeping worker performs its scheduled tasks.
These files are automatically selected for deletion should you wish to manually delete them.
Hints and Tips
If backups are missing, learn about possible reasons why Backups aren't being created.
When transferring large archive files over the internet, learn about Dealing with Large Backup Archive Files.
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