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Backup and Restore Clients ​

The backup and restore clients are part of the ybtools package. Some of the parameters and options are the same as those used by other tools (such as the logging and connectivity options). See Client Tools and Drivers.

These tools connect to the database via JDBC as Java client applications. After you have downloaded and installed the ybtools, you can run the ybbackup, ybrestore, and ybbackupctl commands:

  • ybbackup: for running full, cumulative, and incremental backups
  • ybrestore: for running full and incremental restores
  • ybbackupctl: for listing, copying, deleting, and purging backups

Note: You must run ybbackup and ybrestore commands as a database superuser. Regular users cannot run these commands. The ybbackupctl command does not require a database connection, so superuser access is not required.

Getting Online Help ​

Use one of the following options to return online help text for ybbackup, ybrestore, or ybbackupctl:

  • -?
  • --help
  • --help-advanced

The following example returns help for the ybbackup command:

myuser@myybd:~/usr/bin$ ./ybbackup -?
Yellowbrick Backup and Restore version 6.1.3-20221102160444
Backup one database and associated metadata on a Yellowbrick appliance to the specified bundle

Common Options:
  -?,  --help
     Display this help message
  --version
     Shows the version number
...

Setting Up a Database Connection ​

To run backup and restore operations, you have to start a database session on the server where the target database resides. This session requires connection information that you can provide either as ybbackup or ybrestore options on the command line or as current values for environment variables.

Note: These connection parameters are not required for ybbackupctl commands. These commands do not require a database connection.

Command-Line OptionsEnvironment VariableDescriptionExample
-h or --hostYBHOSTDestination server host name. Default: localhost
-h test.ybsystem.io



export YBHOST=test.ybsystem.io


-p or --portYBPORTDestination server port number. Default: 5432
--port 5433



export YBPORT=5433


-U or --usernameYBUSERDatabase login username. No default.
-U bobr



export YBUSER=bobr


Note: You must run ybbackup and ybrestore commands as a database superuser. Regular users cannot run these commands. You can run the ybbackupctl command as any database user because this command does not require a connection to a database.

-W or --passwordYBPASSWORDInteractive prompt for the database user's password. No default.
--password



export YBPASSWORD=********