# Full backup of a single node

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [July 22, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088 "2015-07-22T14:50:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DigiAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DigiAngel](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DigiAngel)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/1 "2015-07-22T14:50:24Z")

</div>

Topic says it...I have a single node running...I just want to do a full backup to a file before I do an upgrade. I've been poking around the list here, but haven't seen what I'm looking for...I did see the Knapsack plugin, but not sure if that's what I need, and elasticsearch-dump has WAY to many dependencies for node. Any other options? Thank you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/2 "2015-07-22T14:54:09Z")

</div>

Have you considered the [snapshot/restore feature](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/modules-snapshots.html)?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DigiAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DigiAngel](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DigiAngel)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/3 "2015-07-22T14:55:46Z")

</div>

I have been looking at that....just not sure exactly how to go about doing it (which explains my other post this morning 🙂 ) Thanks Magnus.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DigiAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DigiAngel](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DigiAngel)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/4 "2015-07-23T19:47:30Z")

</div>

Well I tried this, and I'm not having any luck. I've added:

```
path.repo: ["/media/backup/es"]

```

to /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml. I then run this:

```
curl -XPUT 'http://localhost:9200/_snapshot/my_backup' -d '{
    "type": "fs",
    "settings": {
        "location": "/media/backup/es/my_backup",
        "compress": true
    }
}'

```

here's what I get:

```
{"error":"RepositoryException[[my_backup] failed to create repository]; nested: CreationException[Guice creation errors:\n\n1) Error injecting constructor, org.elasticsearch.common.blobstore.BlobStoreException: Failed to create directory at [/media/backup/es/my_backup]\n at org.elasticsearch.repositories.fs.FsRepository.<init>(Unknown Source)\n while locating org.elasticsearch.repositories.fs.FsRepository\n while locating org.elasticsearch.repositories.Repository\n\n1 error]; nested: BlobStoreException[Failed to create directory at [/media/backup/es/my_backup]]; ","status":500}

```

and from my elasticsearch.log:

```
2015-07-23 19:29:20,335][WARN][repositories] [Dionysus] failed to create repository [my_backup]
org.elasticsearch.repositories.RepositoryException: [my_backup] failed to create repository
        at org.elasticsearch.repositories.RepositoriesService.createRepositoryHolder(RepositoriesService.java:414)
        at org.elasticsearch.repositories.RepositoriesService.registerRepository(RepositoriesService.java:371)
        at org.elasticsearch.repositories.RepositoriesService.access$100(RepositoriesService.java:55)
        at org.elasticsearch.repositories.RepositoriesService$1.execute(RepositoriesService.java:110)
        at org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.InternalClusterService$UpdateTask.run(InternalClusterService.java:374)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.PrioritizedEsThreadPoolExecutor$TieBreakingPrioritizedRunnable.runAndClean(PrioritizedEsThreadPoolExecutor.java:188)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.PrioritizedEsThreadPoolExecutor$TieBreakingPrioritizedRunnable.run(PrioritizedEsThreadPoolExecutor.java:158)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.elasticsearch.common.inject.CreationException: Guice creation errors:

1) Error injecting constructor, org.elasticsearch.common.blobstore.BlobStoreException: Failed to create directory at [/media/backup/es/my_backup]
  at org.elasticsearch.repositories.fs.FsRepository.<init>(Unknown Source)
  while locating org.elasticsearch.repositories.fs.FsRepository
  while locating org.elasticsearch.repositories.Repository

1 error
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.internal.Errors.throwCreationExceptionIfErrorsExist(Errors.java:344)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.InjectorBuilder.injectDynamically(InjectorBuilder.java:178)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.InjectorBuilder.build(InjectorBuilder.java:110)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.InjectorImpl.createChildInjector(InjectorImpl.java:131)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.ModulesBuilder.createChildInjector(ModulesBuilder.java:69)
        at org.elasticsearch.repositories.RepositoriesService.createRepositoryHolder(RepositoriesService.java:407)
        ... 9 more
Caused by: org.elasticsearch.common.blobstore.BlobStoreException: Failed to create directory at [/media/backup/es/my_backup]
        at org.elasticsearch.common.blobstore.fs.FsBlobStore.<init>(FsBlobStore.java:49)
        at org.elasticsearch.repositories.fs.FsRepository.<init>(FsRepository.java:88)
        at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:62)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
        at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:422)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.DefaultConstructionProxyFactory$1.newInstance(DefaultConstructionProxyFactory.java:54)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.ConstructorInjector.construct(ConstructorInjector.java:86)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.ConstructorBindingImpl$Factory.get(ConstructorBindingImpl.java:98)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.FactoryProxy.get(FactoryProxy.java:52)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.ProviderToInternalFactoryAdapter$1.call(ProviderToInternalFactoryAdapter.java:45)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.InjectorImpl.callInContext(InjectorImpl.java:837)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.ProviderToInternalFactoryAdapter.get(ProviderToInternalFactoryAdapter.java:42)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Scopes$1$1.get(Scopes.java:57)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.InternalFactoryToProviderAdapter.get(InternalFactoryToProviderAdapter.java:45)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.InjectorBuilder$1.call(InjectorBuilder.java:200)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.InjectorBuilder$1.call(InjectorBuilder.java:193)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.InjectorImpl.callInContext(InjectorImpl.java:830)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.InjectorBuilder.loadEagerSingletons(InjectorBuilder.java:193)
        at org.elasticsearch.common.inject.InjectorBuilder.injectDynamically(InjectorBuilder.java:175)

```

I can verify that ES is up and working...in fact I've completely blown out /var/lib/elasticsearch/elasticsearch and started again

```
[19:44:48 dev:~$] curl 'http://localhost:9200'
{
  "status" : 200,
  "name" : "Suicide",
  "cluster_name" : "elasticsearch",
  "version" : {
    "number" : "1.7.0",
    "build_hash" : "929b9739cae115e73c346cb5f9a6f24ba735a743",
    "build_timestamp" : "2015-07-16T14:31:07Z",
    "build_snapshot" : false,
    "lucene_version" : "4.10.4"
  },
  "tagline" : "You Know, for Search"
}

```

Not sure where to go from here. Thank you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/5 "2015-07-23T21:16:09Z")

</div>

Does the user that ES runs as have permission to create /media/backup/es/my\_backup?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DigiAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DigiAngel](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DigiAngel)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/6 "2015-07-23T21:53:40Z")

</div>

Argh...I was sure I set that dir to 0777 😞 Thanks for the catch Magnus...here's what I have now:

```
21:47:53 :~$] ./testsnapshot
<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>Redirection</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY><H1>Redirect</H1></BODY>

[21:47:55 :~$] cat testsnapshot
curl -XPUT 'http://localhost:9200/_snapshot/my_backup' -d '{
    "type": "fs",
    "settings": {
        "location": "/media/backup/es/my_backup",
        "compress": true
    }
}'

[21:48:07 :~$] curl 'http://localhost:9200/_snapshot/_all'
{}

[21:47:58 :~$] curl 'http://localhost:9200/_snapshot/my_backup'
{"error":"RepositoryMissingException[[my_backup] missing]","status":404}

```

do I need to create /media/backup/es/my\_backup? Thank you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 9:41am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/7 "2015-07-24T09:41:23Z")

</div>

Why is your `PUT /_snapshot/my_backup` returning HTML and (seemingly) a redirection response? ES doesn't behave that way. Do you have a proxy configured or something?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DigiAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DigiAngel](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DigiAngel)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/8 "2015-07-24T17:07:13Z")

</div>

OMG if I get any dumber I'll have an accident 😳. Yea that was it...running my XPUT I now get:

```
{"acknowledged":true}

curl 'http://localhost:9200/_snapshot/_all'
{"my_backup":{"type":"fs","settings":{"compress":"true","location":"/media/backup/es/my_backup"}}}

```

And now when I run:

```
curl -XPUT http://localhost:9200/_snapshot/my_backup/snapshot_1?wait_for_completion=true

```

I get:

```
{"snapshot":{"snapshot":"snapshot_1","version_id":1070099,"version":"1.7.0","indices":[],"state":"SUCCESS","start_time":"2015-07-24T17:05:14.238Z","start_time_in_millis":1437757514238,"end_time":"2015-07-24T17:05:14.322Z","end_time_in_millis":1437757514322,"duration_in_millis":84,"failures":[],"shards":{"total":0,"failed":0,"successful":0}}}

```

Which I'll count as a win. This has been in my development setup...so I'm now going to try with my production side. I'll post my results here...thanks again Magnus.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DigiAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DigiAngel](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DigiAngel)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/9 "2015-07-24T18:31:27Z")

</div>

Well this was an interesting exercise. First off, my data directory is /var/lib/elasticsearch. So, here's what I did in my tests:

```
curl -XPUT 'http://localhost:9200/_snapshot/my_backup' -d '{
    "type": "fs",
    "settings": {
        "location": "/media/backup/es/my_backup",
        "compress": true
    }
}'

```

take snapshot

```
curl -XPUT http://localhost:9200/_snapshot/my_backup/snapshot_1?wait_for_completion=true

```

at this point I verified the snapshot, stopped the es service then deleted /var/lib/elasticsearch/elasticsearch

I then attempted to restore the snapshot with:

```
curl -XPOST http://localhost:9200/_snapshot/my_backup/snapshot_1/_restore

```

this gave me:

```
{"error":"RepositoryMissingException[[my_backup] missing]","status":404}

```

yet the dir shows:

```
[18:29:11 dev:/media/backup/es/my_backup$] ls
index indices metadata-snapshot_1 snapshot-snapshot_1

```

So....long story short, if this is a single node, like mine is, it appears that just archiving /var/lib/elasticsearch is what I will do...I only need to do this to make sure that when I do my upgrade from 1.4.\* to 1.7, I won't loose any data. Thanks again for all your help Magnus.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/10 "2015-07-24T18:48:35Z")

</div>

If you wipe /var/lib/elasticsearch you delete _all_ state kept by your ES node (and with just one node all of the cluster is _gone_). This includes the knowledge of your repository. You can restore a snapshot from your repository by re-adding it to your recreated cluster.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DigiAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DigiAngel](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DigiAngel)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/11 "2015-07-24T20:15:35Z")

</div>

Ah that's awesome Magnus...I'll use that for future reference...thanks so much 😄

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/full-backup-of-a-single-node/26088/12 "2017-07-05T23:59:10Z")

</div>