RDB and AOF Backup and Restore

Beginner10 min

Protect your Redis data with point-in-time RDB snapshots and append-only file (AOF) persistence for disaster recovery.

Prerequisites

-Redis installed and running
-Write access to Redis data directory

Steps

Trigger an RDB snapshot

Force Redis to create a point-in-time dump file immediately.

$ redis-cli BGSAVE

BGSAVE forks a child process so the server stays responsive. Use LASTSAVE to check when it completed.

Check last save timestamp

Verify when the most recent RDB snapshot was completed.

$ redis-cli LASTSAVE

Locate the dump file

Find the path to the RDB dump file on disk.

$ redis-cli CONFIG GET dir && redis-cli CONFIG GET dbfilename

Enable AOF persistence

Turn on append-only file logging for near-realtime durability.

$ redis-cli CONFIG SET appendonly yes

Enabling AOF on a running server triggers a rewrite. Ensure you have sufficient disk space.

Copy backup files to safe storage

Copy the RDB and AOF files to an external backup location.

$ cp /var/lib/redis/dump.rdb /backups/redis/dump-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).rdb

Restore from an RDB backup

Stop Redis, replace the dump file, and restart to restore data.

$ sudo systemctl stop redis && cp /backups/redis/dump-latest.rdb /var/lib/redis/dump.rdb && sudo systemctl start redis

Restoring replaces ALL current data. Make a backup of the current dump before restoring.

Full Script

full-script.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Redis Backup Script
set -euo pipefail

BACKUP_DIR="/backups/redis"
TIMESTAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

echo "=== Triggering RDB snapshot ==="
redis-cli BGSAVE
sleep 2

echo ""
echo "=== Locating data files ==="
REDIS_DIR=$(redis-cli CONFIG GET dir | tail -1)
REDIS_DB=$(redis-cli CONFIG GET dbfilename | tail -1)

echo "Data directory: $REDIS_DIR"
echo "Dump file: $REDIS_DB"

echo ""
echo "=== Copying backup files ==="
if [ -f "$REDIS_DIR/$REDIS_DB" ]; then
  cp "$REDIS_DIR/$REDIS_DB" "$BACKUP_DIR/dump-$TIMESTAMP.rdb"
  echo "RDB backup: $BACKUP_DIR/dump-$TIMESTAMP.rdb"
fi

if [ -f "$REDIS_DIR/appendonly.aof" ]; then
  cp "$REDIS_DIR/appendonly.aof" "$BACKUP_DIR/appendonly-$TIMESTAMP.aof"
  echo "AOF backup: $BACKUP_DIR/appendonly-$TIMESTAMP.aof"
fi

echo ""
echo "=== Backup complete ==="
ls -lh "$BACKUP_DIR"/*$TIMESTAMP* 2>/dev/null

FAQ

Discussion

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#!/bin/bash # Redis Backup Script set -euo pipefail BACKUP_DIR="/backups/redis" TIMESTAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S) mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR" echo "=== Triggering RDB snapshot ===" redis-cli BGSAVE sleep 2 echo "" echo "=== Locating data files ===" REDIS_DIR=$(redis-cli CONFIG GET dir | tail -1) REDIS_DB=$(redis-cli CONFIG GET dbfilename | tail -1) echo "Data directory: $REDIS_DIR" echo "Dump file: $REDIS_DB" echo "" echo "=== Copying backup files ===" if [ -f "$REDIS_DIR/$REDIS_DB" ]; then cp "$REDIS_DIR/$REDIS_DB" "$BACKUP_DIR/dump-$TIMESTAMP.rdb" echo "RDB backup: $BACKUP_DIR/dump-$TIMESTAMP.rdb" fi if [ -f "$REDIS_DIR/appendonly.aof" ]; then cp "$REDIS_DIR/appendonly.aof" "$BACKUP_DIR/appendonly-$TIMESTAMP.aof" echo "AOF backup: $BACKUP_DIR/appendonly-$TIMESTAMP.aof" fi echo "" echo "=== Backup complete ===" ls -lh "$BACKUP_DIR"/*$TIMESTAMP* 2>/dev/null