Backing up a Qlik Sense site

This section describes how to backup a Qlik Sense site in a default Qlik Sense installation where a PostgreSQL database is used as the repository database.

In a single node site, the single node is referred to as the central node. In a multi-node Qlik Sense site, the central node is the master record that contains all data about the site. All other nodes in the multi-node site contain either a full copy or a limited subset of the data, which is maintained by the synchronization process as described in Synchronization. This means that the central node is the only node that needs to be backed up in order to keep the Qlik Sense data and configuration safe. The rest of the nodes can be restored by simply re-adding them as new nodes, since they will have their data restored by the synchronization process.

Non-central nodes maintain local log files that may be worth backing up in order to identify and investigate issues. It may also be worth backing up any general operating system data that may be required.

For additional information on multi-node sites, see Multi-node site. For additional information on single node sites, see Single node site.

Items to backup

The following items need to be considered when backing up a Qlik Sense site:

• Qlik Sense repository database: The database contains all configuration data for the Qlik Sense site.
• Certificates for the Qlik Sense services: The certificates are used to encrypt the traffic between the Qlik Sense services and the users. Make sure to backup the certificates in order not to lose any encrypted data (for example, passwords for data connections).
• Qlik Sense log data
• Qlik Sense application data: The data models in the Qlik Sense apps.
• Any content that supports the Qlik Sense apps (for example, QVDs)

Backup procedure

Proceed as follows to backup a Qlik Sense site:

1. Stop all Qlik Sense services except the Qlik Sense Repository Database (QRD).
2. Make a backup of the repository database:

   1. Open the Command Prompt in Microsoft Windows.

   2. Produce a dumpfile for the repository database (that is, a single file for the entire database):

      1. cd "C:\Program Files\Qlik\Sense\Repository\PostgreSQL\<database version>\bin"

      2. pg_dump.exe -h localhost -p 4432 -U postgres -b -F t -f "c:\QSR_backup.tar" QSR

      If you are prompted for the PostgreSQL super user password, enter the password that was given during the installation of Qlik Sense.

      3. Make a backup of the dumpfile for the repository database.
3. Make a backup of the certificates used to secure the Qlik Sense services. This only needs to be done once.
4. Make a backup of the log files, which are stored in %ProgramData%\Qlik\Sense\Log.
5. Make a backup of the %ProgramData%\Qlik\Sense\Apps folder, which contains the binary files for the apps.
6. Make a backup of any locations where content that supports the Qlik Sense environment may be kept (for example, QVD files created by load scripts).

7. Start the Qlik Sense services. If the services are started manually, start them in the following order:

Information noteThe user that installs and runs the Qlik Sense services must be local administrator on the machine.
1. Qlik Sense Repository Service (QRS)
2. Qlik Sense Proxy Service (QPS), Qlik Sense Engine Service (QES), and Qlik Sense Scheduler Service (QSS) in no specific order

The order is important because the QRS is dependent on the QRD and the rest of the services are dependent on the QRS.