Backup and restore

System administrators can create a secure backup that can be used to restore the Eclipse Amlen configuration and, optionally, store data. The backup data can be used to copy data from one server to another, or used to restore data to the same server.

You can back up and restore the Eclipse Amlen configuration and store data only by using REST Administration APIs.

The Eclipse Amlen data that is backed up includes users, passwords, certificates, message hubs, endpoints, queues, policies, queue manager connections, and destination mapping rules. It also includes server configuration information, such as high availability. Unless you back up the store, the data does not include any subscriptions or message data, such as messages that are on queues, or messages that are buffered for subscription. For more information about how to create a backup, see Creating a backup of the Eclipse Amlen messaging server.

The backup process produces a file that is named imaBackup.hhmmss-MMDDYYYY. You can also choose to back up the store data. If you back up the store data, the backup process produces an additional file that you name; ensure that the name that you specify for the store backup file is different than the imaBackup.hhmmss-MMDDYYYY file name. The store backup file is created on another machine as specified by you. The backup process creates an association between the Eclipse Amlen backup file and the store backup file; you cannot use a different Eclipse Amlen backup file with the store data backup file.

The Eclipse Amlen data can be restored in one of two ways:
  • You can restore all the Eclipse Amlen data and store, including the server configuration information.

    With this type of restore, you can restore the data and configuration of the server that was backed up. This restore might be used if the data was lost, or corrupted.

    For more information about how to restore data, including the server configuration information, see Restoring the Eclipse Amlen server from a backup in the same environment

  • You can restore the Eclipse Amlen data and store, excluding the server configuration information.

    With this type of restore, you can copy the data to a different server. This restore might be used for copying data from a test system to a production system.

In both types of restore operation, unless you are using a backed up version of the store, you must clean the store. Cleaning the store deletes all persistent data, including messages, subscriptions, and client states. If you are using a backed up version of the store, consider that:
  • All messages that were buffered in the store after the store was backed up are lost.
  • Retained messages that were sent after the store was backed up are lost.
  • Messages that were in store buffers when the store was backed up, and which were sent later and discarded from the store, are restored and resent when subscribers reconnect. They are not marked as duplicate messages for JMS and MQTT.
  • Retained messages that were replaced after the store was backed up are restored. The messages that replaced the retained messages are lost.

High availability environments

In a high availability (HA) environment, two servers are configured as an HA pair so that, if one of the servers (the primary) fails due to a planned or unplanned outage, the other server (the standby) can take over as the primary and messages can continue to be processed.

For information about recovering from an server failure in an HA environment, see the information about the different HA scenarios in High availability scenarios.

The facility to back up and restore the HA environment is useful for disaster recovery planning and for deploying new HA environments. For information about backing up and restoring in an HA environment, see Backup and restore in a high availability environment.