¶ Backup and restore
¶ Introduction
- This how-to describes the method for using OpenWrt file-level backup/restore.
- Follow Preserving packages to back up user-removed/installed packages.
- Follow Preserving configuration to determine whether to keep the settings.
- Follow Generic backup for block-level backup/restore.
- Extroot or additional overlay setups require extra measures.
¶ Goals
- Back up and restore OpenWrt configuration.
¶ Web interface instructions
¶ 1. Customize and verify
Customize your backup configuration.
- Navigate to LuCI -> System -> Backup / Flash Firmware -> Configuration.
- Add/remove files/directories and click Submit when done editing.
- Click Open list... button to view the list of files for backup.
Make sure the list contains all the files you want to save.
¶ 2. Back up
Back up OpenWrt configuration to local PC.
- Navigate to LuCI -> System -> Backup / Flash Firmware -> Actions: Backup.
- Click Generate archive button to download the archive.
¶ 3. Restore
Restore previously saved OpenWrt configuration from local PC.
- Navigate to LuCI -> System -> Backup / Flash Firmware -> Actions: Restore.
- Click Choose File button to select the archive.
- Click Upload archive... button to upload the archive.
¶ Command-line instructions
OpenWrt provides Sysupgrade utility for file-level backup/restore.
¶ 1. Customize and verify
Customize and verify your backup configuration.
# Add files/directories
cat << EOF >> /etc/sysupgrade.conf
/etc/sudoers
/etc/sudoers.d
EOF
# Edit backup configuration
vi /etc/sysupgrade.conf
# Verify backup configuration
sysupgrade -l
¶ 2. Back up
Back up OpenWrt configuration to local PC.
# Generate backup
umask go=
sysupgrade -b /tmp/backup-${HOSTNAME}-$(date +%F).tar.gz
ls /tmp/backup-*.tar.gz
# From the client, download backup
scp root@openwrt.lan:/tmp/backup-*.tar.gz .
# On recent clients, it may be necessary to use the -O flag for compatibility reasons
scp -O root@openwrt.lan:/tmp/backup-*.tar.gz .
¶ 3. Restore
Restore previously saved OpenWrt configuration from local PC. Reboot to apply changes.
# Upload backup
scp backup-*.tar.gz root@openwrt.lan:/tmp
# Restore backup
ls /tmp/backup-*.tar.gz
sysupgrade -r /tmp/backup-*.tar.gz
reboot
¶ Extras
¶ Configuration
Backup combines multiple sources and covers most configurations by default.
# Automatically detected modifications
opkg list-changed-conffiles
# System configurations supplied by individual packages
grep -r -e . /lib/upgrade/keep.d
# User configuration to edit if necessary
grep -e . /etc/sysupgrade.conf
# Obsolete settings no longer supported
uci show luci.flash_keep