Nextool Solutions

A backup that has never been tested is hope, not strategy. This guide covers automated backup, rotation and restore testing for GLPI.

What to back up

• Database: all GLPI data (tickets, assets, users, settings)
• Files: uploads, documents, plugins, logos and custom settings
• Configuration: GLPI and server configuration files (Apache/Nginx, PHP)

Automated backup script

#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/glpi/$(date +%Y-%m-%d)"
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Database
mysqldump -u glpi -pSENHA --single-transaction glpi | gzip > "$BACKUP_DIR/glpi_db.sql.gz"

# Files
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/glpi_files.tar.gz" /var/lib/glpi /etc/glpi

# Rotation: keep last 30 days
find /backup/glpi -maxdepth 1 -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} \;

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR"

Schedule with cron: 0 2 * * * /opt/scripts/backup-glpi.sh

Backup with Docker

# Database
docker exec glpi-db mysqldump -u glpi -pSENHA glpi | gzip > /backup/glpi_db.sql.gz

# Volumes
tar -czf /backup/glpi_volumes.tar.gz /opt/glpi/data /opt/glpi/config

Restore test

1. Bring up a test environment (Docker is ideal)
2. Restore the database: gunzip < glpi_db.sql.gz | mysql -u root glpi_test
3. Restore the files to the corresponding directories
4. Access the test GLPI and check: login, tickets, assets, plugins

Disaster Recovery

• RPO (Recovery Point Objective): how much data loss is acceptable? (defines backup frequency)
• RTO (Recovery Time Objective): how long to restore? (defines where and how to store backups)
• Keep an offsite copy (another server, cloud storage)
• Document the restore procedure step by step