Database backups

Sometimes you might need to have a backup of your Cloud database. This can be accomplished directly on Umbraco Cloud.

Read more about Umbraco Cloud's Backup and data retention policy in the FAQ.

Limitations

When restoring a database backup on Umbraco Cloud, certain elements may cause issues:

• SQL Server logins - Custom SQL Server logins (for example, admin, sysuser, etc.) may conflict with existing logins when restoring the database in the hosting platform.

• Complex Database Objects - Custom complex database objects in SQL is an element with external dependencies or special server configurations, which may result in conflicts when restoring the database in our hosting platform.

Backup on Umbraco Cloud

On Umbraco Cloud, you can utilize our 35-day point-in-time recovery to create and download a bacpac file from your project.

Only Project Administrators have access to the Backups page on Umbraco Cloud.

To create a backup follow the steps below:

1. Open your Cloud project.

2. Go to Backups in the Settings menu.

   

   Backups on Cloud
3. Click Create Backup.

   

   Click Create Backup.
4. Enter a description for your backup.

5. Choose the Environment from which you want to create the backup.

6. Choose the Date and Time for the backup to be created.

Creating new Backup

1. Click Create Backup.

When you click on the Create Backup button, the system will start creating a backup file in the form of a bacpac file. Once the bacpac file is created, you can download it by clicking on the download icon. If you want to delete any backups, click the delete icon next to the backup.

Download or delete backup

Create Backup Errors

When a backup creation fails, you can click the triangle icon to view more details about the error.

Error Name	Description
CreateDatabaseBackupFailedUnableToFindResource	Metadata for new backup is missing.
CreateDatabaseBackupFailedUnableToFindOperation	Operation metadata for new backup is missing.
CreateDatabaseBackupFailedUnableToCreatePointInTimeRestore	Cannot create the temporary database used for point-in-time restore.
CreateDatabaseBackupFailedUnableToStartDatabaseRestore	Point-in-time restore on the temporary database failed.
CreateBackupJobContainerFailed	The job that creates and stores the backup file failed.
CreateBackupJobContainerUnknownError	An uncategorized error occurred during the job that creates and stores the backup file.
CreateBackupJobContainerTimeOut	Job for creating and storing the backup file took too long.

Upload Database

There might be times when you want to upload a database backup to Umbraco Cloud. You might need to restore your database to a certain point in time, or you might be migrating a project to Umbraco Cloud.

Follow the steps below to upload a .bacpac file to your Umbraco Cloud project:

1. Go to your Umbraco Cloud project.

2. Go to the "Configuration" tab in the side menu.

3. Click on "Backup".

4. Click "Upload backup" under "Database Uploads to Umbraco Cloud".

   

   Upload backup
5. Choose a .bacpac file to upload to your project.

6. Write a description of the database you are uploading.

7. Click "Upload .bacpac".

Once the Database has been uploaded, restoring the backup to your environment is possible.

Upload Database Errors

When an upload fails, you can click the triangle icon to view more details about the error.

Error Name	Description
ImportBackupAborted	User aborted the upload.
ImportBackupFailedUnknown	An unknown error occurred during the upload.
ImportBackupFailed	Upoload took too long.

Restore Database

When restoring a database backup on Umbraco Cloud, certain elements may cause issues. For more details, see the Limitations section .

Once you have uploaded a backup, you might want to restore it to one of your environments. To restore a backup to an environment follow the steps below.

1. Click on the small watch on the right side.

   

   Restore Database to environment
2. Choose which environment to replace the database with the backup.

   

   Choose which environment to restore the backup on
3. Optional: Create a Cloud Backup of the selected environment's database before restoring the backup.

4. Click "Restore backup"

Once you click "Restore backup" the database will be restored to your selected environment. Wait for it to finish and you will successfully have replaced your environment database with your backup.

Make sure to check your environment and see if everything works as expected and that the data from the backup is there.

Restoring a Cloud backup to a SQL Server Database

Use the following steps:

1. Connect to your SQL Server using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

2. Expand "Databases", right-click "Databases", then select "Import Data-tier Application...".

3. Proceed through the dialog, by browsing to the saved location of your bacpac file, and then setting the options appropriate to your configuration

4. Complete the import dialog and the database will be restored.

If a bacpac restore fails in SQL server, ensure the 'Contained Database Authentication' flag is set to true for resolution.

If it is not set the import will fail.

To Enable Contained Database Authentication, run the following SQL against your SQL server on the Master database.

sp_configure 'contained database authentication', 1;  
GO  
RECONFIGURE;  
GO  

For reference please see the Microsoft documentation on the topic.