Database backups

Node Operators troubleshooting
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I want to take backups of my sqlite databases. I don’t want to shut down the storage node to take the backups but I’m having trouble.

Below is the command I’m trying. The storagenode is running inside a docker container on a host os of linux. I also tried taking a dump. Both result in an output file of 4kb even though the source db is >1GB. What is the proper way to to do this?

I also tried using sqlite3 from within the container but it seems it’s only available via python 2.7 and is inaccessible as a binary via root.

sqlite3 /mnt/user/storj_a_db/piece_expiration.db ".backup '/mnt/user/Backups/storj_dbs_backups/piece_expiration.db'"
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Off-topic: but isn’t DB info primarily for showing monthly stats?

Like even if you lost it… it doesn’t affect payouts… and just means the dashboard info will be inaccurate until the start of the next month?

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Why do you want to make backups of those dbs?

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In case something happened to the databases. I have the DBs on a faster disk (NVME) while the actual data is on an array of protected disks. The only way I lose the data is if my house blows up, but the databases are on a cache drive that is unprotected from failure.

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On another thread, someone confirmed that the databases do not affect payout. That said, I believe the databases keep track of the file locations and what not to deliver the data upon request. The 16TB of storage I serve may be rendered useless if the databases got corrupted or lost, not 100% sure though, just my assumption.

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Wrong. All you need is your identity and data to be intact. So don’t worry about taking backups of dbs.

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No. They are primarily used as a cache (for filewalker and collector) and as a source of information for the dashboard. The only database which could have some impact on how long your node could store expired pieces is to lost a piece_expiration.db - it contains information about the expiration date of specific pieces and is used to speed up the process of their timely removal, however, they will be collected by a garbage collector if the DB is empty.

But in general, sure, you may use a sqlite3 binary to backup your data too. You may run it in a separate container, since the backup operation should not lock it.

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