Choose which backups to restore

[3246]

Restoring a server with lots of data can be a pain even with a big fibre connection. As a user, I'd like to be able to select which apps to restore and the order in which to restore them in so that I can prioritise.

For example, I have three Nextcloud apps with over 100GB each and would prefer to focus on one to make sure the service is restored and the server doesn't crap out under the load.

I may have some smaller apps that perform vital services, like VPN or DNS that I would have preferred to go first too.

Anyway, just my 2p. Thanks for reading

[d19dotca]

I’m definitely in favour of customizing the restore process too, such as whether email should be later or first (my email storage is approaching 40 GB now so it takes a while) depending on how critical it is for my user base and when I may be needing to do the restore. I think even just prioritizing email over apps or vice-versa would be a big improvement, but even able to customize the app order itself would be pretty cool too. Even if it was just a flag where we could set say the top 10 most important things, then let Cloudron sort out the rest of them would be helpful too.

[girish]

I like the idea. I guess when the restore starts, we can show a popup asking which apps should be restored and in what order.

What happens to apps that you have chosen not to restore though ? Do they just get uninstalled/nuked from the database ?

[d19dotca]

@girish said in Choose which backups to restore:

I like the idea. I guess when the restore starts, we can show a popup asking which apps should be restored and in what order.

What happens to apps that you have chosen not to restore though ? Do they just get uninstalled/nuked from the database ?

Speaking only for myself, I’m only wanting the ordering part. I can’t think of a situation where I’ve ever needed to not restore something during a server migration/restore, but hopefully OP can comment to that part. Just wanted to clarify what part of their suggestions I wanted to see most.

[robi]

Sounds like a backup list needs to be generated in the UI with the ability to sort it by size, name, and select a few for priority to go first.

[3246]

@girish I agree with @d19dotca, anything I don't want to migrate I would have removed beforehand

@robi I was thinking about just having all apps paused with a prompt to let me start restoring them instead of just starting automatically. Not sure how email would be tackled though as it's not a separate app.

[robi]

@3246 yes, kind of like a torrent file where you can select priority per file/dir and which ones to skip.

not sure a pause is needed, but more like a pre-start selection.

I'm sure @staff can enumerate mail and other core services as required items but with flexible priority/order.

Not only that, but while we're pondering that manual selection process with manual clicks, the essential bits can already be restored and ready for the next prioritized components.