Skip to content
Thirdlane

Backup and Restore

Backup and Restore protects your Thirdlane installation by capturing its configuration and data so you can recover from hardware failure, a bad change, or a failed upgrade. You can run a backup on demand before risky work, or schedule recurring backups so a recent copy always exists. Each backup can be downloaded, written to the server, or sent off-box to an FTP server, and you choose whether large content such as voicemail and call recordings is included.

For systems installed in virtual environment, we recommend using snapshots on a virtual server level so Backup/Restore section is no longer shown by default unless you specify backup_restore=1 in /etc/webmin/asterisk/instances.txt

Backup Now

This section allows you to perform an immediate backup.

The destination of the backup file can be selected as follows:

  • Download in browser. Backup file will be downloaded to the user’s computer.
  • File on server. If selected, provide the filename to use for the backup file to be created on the Thirdlane server (absolute path is required).
  • FTP server. If selected, provide a host name or IP address of the FTP server, the name of the file to be placed on the FTP server, and FTP login and password. The backup will be sent to the specified server using FTP protocol.
  • What to include. Allows specifying whether voicemail, recorded calls, and provisioning files will be included in the backup.

Scheduled Backup

This section allows you to specify frequency, content and target location for a scheduled PBX backup.

  • When to backup. Allows enabling or disabling scheduled backup.

The destination of the backup file can be selected as follows:

  • File on server. If selected you need to also provide the name to use for the backup file to be created on the Thirdlane server (absolute path is required).
  • FTP server. If selected you also need to provide a host name or IP address of the FTP server, the name of the file on the FTP server, and FTP login and password.
    The backup will be sent to the specified server using FTP protocol.
  • What to include. Allows specifying whether voicemail, recorded calls, and provisioning files will be included in the backup.

Best practices

  • Keep backups off the server. A backup stored only on the same machine is lost with that machine. Use the FTP destination (or download and archive) so a copy survives a total server failure.
  • Schedule recurring backups, don’t rely on remembering to run them manually. Pair a scheduled off-box backup with an occasional on-demand backup before major changes.
  • Always back up before updates and upgrades. Run one before System Update or Feature Upgrades so you can roll back.
  • Decide consciously about voicemail and recordings. Including them makes the backup complete but potentially very large and slow; excluding them keeps configuration backups small and fast. Many sites back up configuration frequently and bulky media less often.
  • On virtualized deployments, prefer VM snapshots for full-system recovery (this is why the section is hidden by default there), and use this backup for portable configuration/data copies.
  • Test a restore periodically. A backup you have never restored is an assumption, not a safety net.