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Database Backups

You can back up your databases managed by Appliku through the dashboard. Backups can be stored on the server or uploaded to S3-compatible storage.

How to Back Up a PostgreSQL Database​

  1. Open the Appliku dashboard
  2. Go to your application that has a database
  3. Click on the "Manage" link in the "Databases" card:

Manage databases link

  1. Pick your database
  2. Click on the "Add backup" link:

Add backup link

  1. Specify parameters for the backup:

Backup form - schedule

Backup form - S3 settings

Available schedule intervals range from every 30 minutes to daily. For S3 storage, you'll need to provide your S3 endpoint, bucket name, access key, and secret key.

Local Storage Retention​

When using Local Filesystem as the backup target, you can set Keep Last N Backups to automatically delete old backup files and keep only the most recent N copies. For example, setting it to 7 keeps the last 7 backup files and removes older ones.

Edit backup form with Keep Last N Backups field

Leave the field empty to keep all backups with no automatic deletion.

Retention is applied automatically every 6 hours by Appliku. Backup files for S3 targets are not affected — those are removed from the server immediately after upload.

  1. After submitting the form you will be taken back to the database page with your new backup task:

Backup task added

Backup Command Details​

The pg_dump command used to perform backups looks like this:

pg_dump --no-privileges --no-owner --no-acl <postgresql_url>

What these arguments do:

  • --no-privileges — Excludes permissions/privileges from the dump file
  • --no-owner — Excludes ownership information from the dump file
  • --no-acl — Excludes access control lists from the dump file

Backup to File​

To store a PostgreSQL backup into a compressed file:

pg_dump --no-privileges --no-owner --no-acl <postgresql_url> | gzip > filename.tar.gz

Backup from Docker Container​

Since PostgreSQL runs in a Docker container, the full command looks like this:

docker run --rm -v /home/app/_backups/{backup_id}:/backup postgres:15 sh -c \
  "pg_dump --no-privileges --no-owner --no-acl <postgres_url> | gzip > /backup/<export_filename>"

What each part does:

  • docker run --rm — Starts a temporary container that is removed after it exits
  • -v /home/app/_backups/{backup_id}:/backup — Mounts the backup directory from the host into the container
  • postgres:15 — Uses the official PostgreSQL 15 Docker image
  • The shell command runs pg_dump, pipes through gzip, and saves to the mounted backup directory

Restore from Backup​

To restore a PostgreSQL database from a backup file:

  1. Download the backup file
  2. Uncompress it:
gunzip 23-database-starttest1-2023-04-18_21-51-01.gz
  1. Import to the database using psql:
psql <new_postgresql_url> < 23-database-starttest1-2023-04-18_21-51-01