Configuration backups

For more “lightweight” backup and restore operations, the scrut_conf_dump.sh and scrut_conf_restore.sh scripts (both located in /home/plixer/scrutinizer/database/utils) can be used to target only the application/configuration data of a Plixer Scrutinizer instance, including:

• User-added maps

• Dashboards

• IP groups

• Saved reports

• 3rd-party integration settings

Configuration backups do not include any collected flow data.

Note

In distributed environments, the primary reporter regularly syncs application/configuration data to remote collectors. Only the configuration backup of the primary reporter is needed to perform a restore for the cluster.

scrut_conf_dump.sh and scrut_conf_restore.sh use Postgres’s pg_dump and pg_restore utils and respect the same set of environment variables:

Variable	Description	Default
DUMP	Location of the backup file	./conf.dump
PGHOST	IP address or hostname of the PostgreSQL database	localhost
PGUSER	Role/user used to connect to PGHOST	plixer
PGDATABASE	The database to access at PGHOST	plixer

Backing up configuration data

To create a backup of a Plixer Scrutinizer server’s current configuration data, follow these steps:

1. Stop the httpd and plixer_flow_collector services:

   sudo /bin/systemctl stop httpd
   sudo /bin/systemctl stop plixer_flow_collector
   

2. Run the backup script.

   To save the backup file to the default location:

   ~/scrutinizer/database/utils/scrut_conf_dump.sh
   

   To use a custom location/filename:

   mkdir /tmp/CONF_BACKUP_DIR
   touch /tmp/CONF_BACKUP_DIR/CONF_BACKUP.dump
   DUMP=/tmp/CONF_BACKUP_DIR/CONF_BACKUP.dump ~/scrutinizer/database/utils/scrut_conf_dump.sh
   

3. Restart the stopped services:

   sudo /bin/systemctl start httpd
   sudo /bin/systemctl start plixer_flow_collector
   

Restoring configuration data

To restore configuration data to a Plixer Scrutinizer server from a backup file, follow these steps:

1. Stop the httpd and plixer_flow_collector services:

   sudo /bin/systemctl stop httpd
   sudo /bin/systemctl stop plixer_flow_collector
   

2. Run the restore script.

   To restore from the default backup location/file:

   ~/scrutinizer/database/utils/scrut_conf_dump.sh
   

   To restore from a specified location/file:

   PGHOST=SCRUTINIZER_IP
   DUMP=/tmp/CONF_BACKUP_DIR/CONF_BACKUP.dump ~/scrutinizer/database/utils/scrut_conf_restore.sh
   

3. Restart the stopped services:

   sudo /bin/systemctl start httpd
   sudo /bin/systemctl start plixer_flow_collector
   

4. Resync the access table:

   psql -c "SELECT setval(pg_get_serial_sequence('plixer.access', 'access_id'), COALESCE(max(access_id) + 1, 1), false) FROM plixer.access;"
   

Note

scrut_conf_restore.sh should only be used for restoring configuration data for the same Plixer Scrutinizer server/appliance. To apply a configuration backup to a different server, follow the steps for backup migrations in the migration guides.

Additional notes

• pg_restore errors typically only cause the restore to fail for the table associated with the error. Other tables should still be restored successfully.

• Errors associated with duplicate keys usually indicate a conflict between existing rows in the table and the rows being restored.

  pg_restore: [archiver (db)] Error from TOC entry 51348; 0 17943 TABLE DATA exporters plixer
  pg_restore: [archiver (db)] COPY failed for table "exporters": ERROR:  duplicate key value violates unique constraint "exporters_pkey"
  DETAIL:  Key (exporter_id)=(\x0a4d4d0a) already exists.
  

  The conflicting keys should be removed from the table before attempting to restore again.

• If you are swapping IP addresses, the database keys should be rotated using scrut_util --pgcerts --verbose, because the backed up keys will be associated with the old address.