In order to use backup and restore functionality, you need to enable an NFS Server, the Backup Cluster, and the Restore Cluster. All three are defined below.

Terminology

NFS Server is a server that stores the backup data and is used to facilitate the restoration. This can be any machine.

The Backup Cluster is where the Automation Suite is installed. This refers to the cluster you set up during installation.

The Restore Cluster is the cluster where you would like to restore all the data from the Backup Cluster. This cluster becomes the new cluster where you run the Automation Suite after the restoration is complete.

The following steps show how to set all three up.

Environment prerequisites

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Important!

• This step will not enable a backup for any external datasource backup (SQL Server). You need to enable the external data source backup separately.
• We do not support cross-zone backup and restore.

• The NFS Server should be reachable from all cluster nodes (both backup and restore clusters).
• Before the cluster restore, make sure to disable the backup as described in Disabling the cluster backup
• Make sure to enable the following ports:

Step 1: Setting up the external NFS server

Requirements

The NFS Server should run outside the Backup Cluster and the Restore Cluster.

The NFS Server disk size should be greater than the data disk size of the primary server node.
See Hardware requirements for more details.

Step 1.1: Installing NFS libraries

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Important!

Ignore Step 1.1 if you already have an NFS server.

Install nfs-utils library on the node you plan to use as the NFS Server.

dnf install nfs-utils -y
systemctl start nfs-server.service
systemctl enable nfs-server.service

Step 1.2: Configuring the mount path

Configure the mount path that you want to expose from the NFS Server.

chown -R nobody: "/datadisk"
chmod -R 777 "/datadisk"
systemctl restart nfs-utils.service

Step 1.3: Disabling the firewall

Firewalld is a security library that manages networking and firewall rules.
See official Firewalld documentation for more details.

To disable Firewalld, run the following command.

systemctl stop firewalld
systemctl disable firewalld

Step 1.4: Allowing access of NFS mount path to all backup and restore nodes

All nodes must be able to access the NFS mount path. On the NFS Server, go to the /etc/exports file, and add an entry for the FQDN for each node (both server and agent) for both the Backup Cluster and the Restore Cluster.

Below is an example of how to add an entry, where the entry below specifies the FQDN of a machine and the corresponding permissions on that machine:

echo "/datadisk sfdev1868610-d053997f-node.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com(rw,sync,no_all_squash,root_squash)" >> /etc/exports

Then run the following command to export mount path:

exportfs -arv
  exportfs -s

Step 2: Enabling the cluster backup

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Important!

• Make sure you have followed the Environment prerequisites step.

• Make sure to back up the cluster_config.json file used for installation.

• This step will not enable the backup for any external datasource backup (such as the SQL Server). You need to enable external data source backup separately.

• It's not recommended to reduce the backup interval to less than 15 minutes.

Create a file and name it backup.json. Make sure to fill it out based on the field definitions below.

backup.json

{
  "backup": {
    "etcdBackupPath": "PLACEHOLDER",
    "nfs": {
      "endpoint": "PLACEHOLDER",
      "mountpath": "PLACEHOLDER"
    }
  },
  "backup_interval": "15"
}

• backup.etcdBackupPath — Path where backup data will be stored on NFS Server; E.g., Location of the nfsServer <mountpath>/backup/<etcdBackupPath>, Location of the backupServer /mnt/backup/backup/<etcdBackupPath>
• backup.nfs.endpoint — Endpoint of the NFS Server;
• backup.nfs.mountpath — Mount path of the NFS Server;
• backup_interval — The backup time interval in minutes.

Step 2.1: Enabling the backup on the primary node of the cluster

To enable the backup on the primary node of the cluster, run the following command:

./install-uipath.sh -i backup.json -o output.json -b --accept-license-agreement

Step 2.2: Enabling the backup on secondary nodes of the cluster

To enable the backup on secondary nodes of the cluster, run the following command:

./install-uipath.sh -i backup.json -o output.json -b -j server --accept-license-agreement

Step 2.3: Enabling the backup on agent nodes of the cluster

To enable the backup on agent nodes of the cluster, run the following command:

./install-uipath.sh -i backup.json -o output.json -b -j agent --accept-license-agreement

Step 3: Setting up the Restore Cluster

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Important!

• Make sure the backup is disabled before restoring the cluster. See Disabling the cluster backup.

• Make sure package wget, unzip, jq are availabe on all restore nodes.

• Make sure you have followed the Environment prerequisites step.

• All external datasource source should be the same (SQL Server).

• Restart the NFS Server before cluster restoration. Execute the following command on the NFS Server node: systemctl restart nfs-server.

Restore Cluster requirements

• The Restore Cluster should have the same fqdn as the Backup Cluster.
• The Restore Cluster should have the same number of server and agent nodes as that of Backup Cluster.
• The Restore Cluster should have the same server and agent nodes resources as the Backup Cluster, as shown below:
  • Hardware configuration for CPU
  • Hardware configuration for Memory
  • Hardware configuration for Disk Space
  • Node Hostname

Create a file and name it restore.json. Make sure to fill it out based on the following field definitions.

restore.json

{
  "fixed_rke_address": "PLACEHOLDER",
  "gpu_support": false,
  "fqdn": "PLACEHOLDER",
  "rke_token": "PLACEHOLDER",
  "restore": {
    "etcdRestorePath": "PLACEHOLDER",
    "nfs": {
      "endpoint": "PLACEHOLDER",
      "mountpath": "PLACEHOLDER"
    }
  },
  "infra": {
    "docker_registry": {
      "username": "PLACEHOLDER",
      "password": "PLACEHOLDER"
    }
  }
}

• fqdn — The load balancer fqdn for multi-node or the machine machine fqdn for single-node
• fixed_rke_address — The fqdn of the load balancer if one is configured, otherwise it is the fqdn of the first restore server node. Used to load balance node registration and kube API request. Refer to Fixed address and Configuring the load balancer for more info.
• gpu_support — Use true or false to enable or disable GPU support for the cluster (use if you have agent nodes with GPUs).
• rke_token — This is a pre-shared, cluster-specific secret. This should be the same as Backup Cluster and can be found in the cluster_config.json file. It is needed for all the nodes joining the cluster.
• restore.etcdRestorePath — Path where backup data is stored for the cluster in NFS Server. Configured at Backup with etcdBackupPath.
• restore.nfs.endpoint — Endpoint of NFS Server.
• restore.nfs.mountpath: Mount Path of NFS Server.
• infra.docker_registry.username — The username that you have set in the Backup Cluster. It can be found in the cluster_config.json file and is needed for the docker registry.
• infra.docker_registry.password — The password that you have set in the Backup Cluster. It can be found in the cluster_config.json file and is needed for the docker registry installation.

Online installation

Step 3.1: Restoring etcd on the primary node of the cluster

To restore etcd on the primary node of the cluster, run the following command:

./install-uipath.sh -i restore.json -o output.json -r --accept-license-agreement --install-type online

Step 3.2: Restoring etcd on secondary nodes of the cluster

To restore etcd on secondary nodes of the cluster, run the following command:

./install-uipath.sh -i restore.json -o output.json -r -j server --accept-license-agreement --install-type online

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Important!

Node role is mandatory for all secondary server nodes.

Step 3.3: Restoring etcd on agent nodes of the cluster

To restore etcd on agent nodes of the cluster, run the following command:

./install-uipath.sh -i restore.json -o output.json -r -j agent --accept-license-agreement --install-type online

Step 3.4: Running volume restore on primary node

Once the etcd restore is complete, run volume restore on the primary node using the following command:

./install-uipath.sh -i restore.json -o output.json -r --volume-restore --accept-license-agreement --install-type online

Step 3.5: Installing the Automation Suite cluster certificate on the restore primary node

sudo ./configureUiPathAS.sh tls-cert get --outpath /opt/
cp /opt/ca.crt /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/
update-ca-trust

Offline installation

Step 3.1: Restoring etcd on the primary node of the cluster

To restore etcd on primary node of the cluster, run the following command:

./install-uipath.sh -i restore.json -o output.json -r --offline-bundle "/uipath/sf-infra-bundle.tar.gz" --offline-tmp-folder /uipath --install-offline-prereqs --accept-license-agreement --install-type offline

Step 3.2: Restoring etcd on secondary nodes of the cluster

./install-uipath.sh -i restore.json -o output.json -r -j server --offline-bundle "/uipath/sf-infra-bundle.tar.gz" --offline-tmp-folder /uipath --install-offline-prereqs --accept-license-agreement --install-type offline

Step 3.3: Restoring etcd on agent nodes of the cluster

To restore etcd on agent nodes of the cluster, run the following command:

./install-uipath.sh -i restore.json -o output.json -r -j agent --offline-bundle "/uipath/sf-infra-bundle.tar.gz" --offline-tmp-folder /uipath --install-offline-prereqs --accept-license-agreement --install-type offline

Step 3.4: Running volume restore on primary node

Once the etcd restore is complete, run volume restore on the primary node using the following command:

./install-uipath.sh -i restore.json -o ./output.json -r --volume-restore --accept-license-agreement --install-type offline

Step 3.5: Installing the Automation Suite cluster certificate on the restore primary node

sudo ./configureUiPathAS.sh tls-cert get --outpath /opt/
cp /opt/ca.crt /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/
update-ca-trust

Disabling the cluster backup

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Important!

You can enable the cluster backup to save data at a specified time using the backup_interval parameter. Disabling the cluster backup will cause data loss that was created between the last scheduled run and the time you disabled the backup.

To disable the backup, run the following commands in this order:

1. Disable the backup on the primary node of the cluster.

./install-uipath.sh -i backup.json -o output.json -b --disable-backup --accept-license-agreement

2. Disable the backup on secondary nodes of the cluster.

./install-uipath.sh -i backup.json -o output.json -b -j server --disable-backup --accept-license-agreement

3. Disable the backup on agent nodes of the cluster.

./install-uipath.sh -i backup.json -o output.json -b -j agent --disable-backup --accept-license-agreement

Additional configurations

Updating the NFS server

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Important!

• Make sure the backup is disabled before updating the NFS server. See Disabling the cluster backup for details.

To update the NFS server, do the following:

1. Re-run the following steps:
   a. Step 1: Setting up the external NFS server
   b. Step 2: Setting up the backup cluster
   c. Step 3: Setting up the Restore Cluster

2. Update the NFS Server information, and then include the new nfs.endpoint in both the backup.json and restore.json files.

Adding a new node to cluster

To add a new node to the cluster, re-run the following steps:

1. Step 1: Setting up the external NFS server
2. Step 2: Setting up the backup cluster

Known Issues

Redis restore

Redis restore fails when the restore is run, so you need to run a few additional steps.

Follow the steps in the Troubleshooting section.

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Important!

Once Redis is restored, make sure to restart orchestratorpods.

Insights looker pod fails to start after restore

You can fix this issue by deleting the Looker pod from the Insights application in ArgoCD UI. The deployment will create a new pod that should start successfully.