Configuration

Configuration is done in YAML format. You can pass the config file to use to the cli object (see Usage), or pass it as a global CLI option --config-file.

Global config options

base_dir

Type: string indicating filesystem path.

The base directory where backups are saved to. This should be an on-disk location, defaults to /var/backups/.

Within this directory, date-stamped backup directories will be created.

Old backups in this directory are rotated according to the retention_policy.

Note

As end user, you are responsible of setting up a mechanism to transfer backups to off-site storage.

logging

Type: object.

CTRL-Z uses stdlib logging to log all its actions. If e-mail notifications are set up, the contents of the log are mailed to indicated receivers.

logging.filename

name of the log file, will be created inside the date-stamped backup directory.

logging.level

Log level to control log verbosity. Defaults to INFO. Uses the available stdlib log levels.

retention_policy

Type: object

CTRL-Z rotates your backups for you to prevent you from running out of disk space on (production) machines.

retention_policy.day_of_week

Integer, 0-6, indicating which day counts as weekly backup. Defaults to 0, which is Monday.

retention_policy.days_to_keep

Number of daily backups to keep, including the backup-to-be-created. Defaults to 7.

retention_policy.weeks_to_keep

Same as days_to_keep, except in weeks.

report

Type: object

CTRL-Z can use Django’s e-mail machinery to send an e-mail report. Useful to have confirmation that the backup did indeed run/complete without issues.

report.enabled

Boolean, whether to send reports or not. Defaults to True.

report.to

List of e-mail address to send the report to. Defaults to root@localhost

database

Which databases need to be dumped/restored are introspected from settings.DATABASES. Database configuration here is related to CTRL-Z internals.

database.test_function

String, python path. After restoring, CTRL-Z tests if the DB restore was not a failure. By default, the check tests if the django_migrations table is not empty. This is not water-tight, and you can provide your own function as long as it can be imported.

The function signature is:

def my_restore_test(using: str='default') -> bool:
    """
    :param using: the alias of the database to check.
    """
    pass

files

Control how CTRL-Z runs backups of your (uploaded) files.

files.overwrite_existing_directory

Boolean, defaults to True. If the folder already exists in the backup location, replace it. Useful when running the backup multiple times a day.

files.directories

List of setting names to include in the backup. Defaults to ['MEDIA_ROOT'], which means that only settings.MEDIA_ROOT will be included.

pg_dump_binary

Which binary to use to dump the database. Defaults to /usr/bin/pg_dump.

pg_restore_binary

Which binary to use to dump the database. Defaults to /usr/bin/pg_restore.

createdb_binary

Which binary to use to create databases. Defaults to /usr/bin/createdb.

dropdb_binary

Which binary to use to drop databases. Defaults to /usr/bin/dropdb.