aliasvault/docs/installation/script/advanced/database.md

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default	Database Operations	Advanced	Install Script	4

Database Operations

This page explains how to import/export on the AliasVault server database via the ./install.sh script.

Database Export

In order to backup the AliasVault server database (which includes all encrypted user vaults as well), you can use the install.sh script. This streams a compressed export of the database to the file you redirect to, while the services keep running.

$ ./install.sh db-export > backup.sql.gz

Fallback: export directly with Docker

If ./install.sh db-export fails for any reason, you can also export the database directly with Docker, bypassing the install script entirely:

$ docker compose exec postgres pg_dump -U aliasvault aliasvault > backup.sql

To produce a compressed backup, pipe it through gzip:

$ docker compose exec postgres pg_dump -U aliasvault aliasvault | gzip > backup.sql.gz

Database Import

To restore a previously exported database, you can use the install.sh script. This script will stop the dependent services, drop the database, import the database from a file, and then restart the services.

$ ./install.sh db-import < backup.sql.gz

Fallback: import directly with Docker

If ./install.sh db-import hangs or fails, you can restore the database directly with Docker. This drops the existing database, recreates it, and imports the backup.

{: .warning } This will permanently delete the existing database before restoring. Make sure your backup file is valid first.

For a gzipped backup (backup.sql.gz):

$ docker compose stop api admin task-runner smtp && \
  docker compose exec postgres psql -U aliasvault postgres -c "DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS aliasvault;" && \
  docker compose exec postgres psql -U aliasvault postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE aliasvault OWNER aliasvault;" && \
  gunzip < backup.sql.gz | docker compose exec -T postgres psql -U aliasvault aliasvault && \
  docker compose restart api admin task-runner smtp reverse-proxy