EFA System Backup and Restoration

You can manually backup and restore the EFA system, including the database and certificates. EFA also performs periodic, automatic backups.

Manual backup and restore

The backup process saves EFA data, including the database and certificates. The backup process creates a backup tar file, which you specify for the restore process.

The tar file is saved to one of the following locations.
  • Server: /var/log/efa/backup
  • TPVM: /apps/efa_logs/backup

For more information, see Back up and Restore the EFA System.

A backup generated on one EFA system can be restored on another system.

Periodic backups

EFA periodically backs up the system. The periodic backup process creates a backup tar file that is saved to the same location as the manual backup files. As the system is backed up, old backup tar files and supportsave files are deleted.

You can use the efa system backup-list command to see the backup files that are available to use in a restore operation. For example:
$ efa system backup-list
+----+-----------------------------------+---------+----------------+
| ID    | File                           | Version | Generated By   |
+----+-----------------------------------+---------+----------------+
| 1     | EFA-2020.08.20-20.26.46.tar    | 2.3.0-1 | User           |
+----+-----------------------------------+---------+----------------+
| 2     | EFA-2020.08.20-20.27.29.tar    | 2.3.0-GA| System         |
+----+-----------------------------------+---------+----------------+
--- Time Elapsed: 183.69386ms ---

You can use the efa system settings update command to determine the backup schedule and to change the maximum number of backup files to save. The default is 5 backup files and 5 supportsave files. For more information, see the Extreme Fabric Automation Command Reference, 2.3.0 .

You can use the efa system settings show command to view the current backup settings.

Backups during upgrades

The process of upgrading EFA also backs up the EFA system, so that you can easily recover data if the upgrade fails. For more information, see "Recover from an Upgrade Failure" in the Extreme Fabric Automation Deployment Guide, 2.3.0 .

Considerations for using a backup tar file

Do not restore the following backup tar files in an EFA 2.3.0 system. Restore them only in an EFA 2.2.0 system:
  • EFA 2.2.0 tar files generated by the efa backup and efa system backup commands
  • Tar files generated during an upgrade from EFA 2.2.0 to 2.3.0, with the following naming convention: efa-upgrade-2.2.0-ga.tar
Note

Note

If an upgrade from EFA 2.2.0 to 2.3.0 fails, a backup tar file is generated with a naming convention similar to postgres-efa-backup_20201008.tar.gz. You can use this backup file during the process of recovering from the failure. For more information, see "Recover from an Upgrade Failure" in the Extreme Fabric Automation Deployment Guide, 2.3.0 .

Logs

Logs related to backup, restore, and supportsave operations are saved to the following locations.
  • Server: /var/log/efa/system/
  • TPVM: /apps/efa_logs/system