Administrator's Guide

9 Backing up and restoring
This chapter describes controller backup and restore actions using cURL commands. For the REST
APIs related to backup and restore, go to /restore and /backup in the RSdoc facility on the
controller. (Using a Google Chrome browser window on the controller, enter https://
system_ip_address:8443/api .)
NOTE: You cannot use RSdoc to download or upload files.
NOTE: Only one backup, restore, upload, or download operation can be active at any time on
a given controller or controller team. Parallel operations are not supported.
9.1 Backing up a controller
A controller backup takes a snapshot of the controller state, and includes the following in a single
file:
• Controller databases
• License compliance history and metrics log data
• In a teaming environment, the teaming configuration
• User repository folder (for user-installed applications)
• Controller configuration folder
• Application data for applications that have implemented backup/restore functionality.
NOTE: Applications using Cassandra in a teamed mode cannot use the backup and restore
services in the SDN Controller. In this case, off-the-shelf solutions are recommended, such as rsync
or Amanda.
Examples of cURL commands in this guide use the --noproxy option, which is appropriate where
execution of cURL commands do not need a proxy to access controllers. If your network is set up
such that a proxy is needed to access controllers, use the --proxy option. For details on cURL
proxy options, visit http://curl.haxx.se/docs/manpage.html.
9.1.1 Backup operation
A controller backup includes the controller configuration and databases in one *.zip file.
• Backups run in the background, and, except for locking the Cassandra database to prevent
writes, do not interrupt system operation.
• Whether operating in a team or operating in standalone mode, each controller is backed-up
as a single system.
• When the controller is deployed in a VM, standard VM backup/restore tools (such as Snapshot
or Clone) can be used.
• When the controller is deployed on bare metal, standard Linux server-based backup/restore
tools (such as rsync, LVM snapshot, and Amanda/Zmanda) can be used.
• To complete a teamed backup, no controller can be in a failed state. (A controller team must
have three controllers.)
• On any controller or controller team, only one operation can run at any given time (backup,
restore, upload, or download). Also, starting a new backup while another backup is being
downloaded creates an error condition and halts the new backup.
• Only authenticated users are allowed to create and restore backups. In some cases the domain
name is also required.
92 Backing up and restoring