There are two types of data to backup: application files (e.g. the files in /opt/otrs), and the data stored in the database.

To simplify backups, the script scripts/backup.pl is included with every OTRS installation. It can be run to backup all important data (see Script below).

linux:/opt/otrs# cd scripts/
linux:/opt/otrs/scripts# ./backup.pl --help
backup.pl - backup script
Copyright (C) 2001-2020 OTRS AG, https://otrs.com/
usage: backup.pl -d /data_backup_dir/ [-c gzip|bzip2] [-r 30] [-t fullbackup|nofullbackup|dbonly]
linux:/opt/otrs/scripts#

Script: Getting help about the OTRS backup mechanism.

Execute the command specified in the script below to create a backup:

linux:/opt/otrs/scripts# ./backup.pl -d /backup/
Backup /backup//2010-09-07_14-28/Config.tar.gz ... done
Backup /backup//2010-09-07_14-28/Application.tar.gz ... done
Dump MySQL rdbms ... done
Compress SQL-file... done
linux:/opt/otrs/scripts#

Script: Creating a backup.

All data was stored in the directory /backup/2010-09-07_14-28/ (see Script below). Additionally, the data was saved into a .tar.gz file.

linux:/opt/otrs/scripts# ls /backup/2010-09-07_14-28/
Application.tar.gz  Config.tar.gz  DatabaseBackup.sql.gz
linux:/opt/otrs/scripts#

Script: Checking the backup files.

To restore a backup, the saved application data has to be written back into the installation directory, e.g. /opt/otrs. Also the database has to be restored.

A script scripts/restore.pl (see Script below), which simplifies the restore process, is shipped with every OTRS installation. It supports MySQL and PostgreSQL.

linux:/opt/otrs/scripts# ./restore.pl --help
restore.pl - restore script
Copyright (C) 2001-2020 OTRS AG, https://otrs.com/
usage: restore.pl -b /data_backup/<TIME>/ -d /opt/otrs/
linux:/opt/otrs/scripts#

Script: Getting help about the restore mechanism.

Data that is stored, for example, in the directory /backup/2010-09-07_14-28/, can be restored with the command specified in the script below, assuming the OTRS installation is at /opt/otrs.

linux:/opt/otrs/scripts# ./restore.pl -b /backup/2010-09-07_14-28 -d /opt/otrs/
Restore /backup/2010-09-07_14-28//Config.tar.gz ...
Restore /backup/2010-09-07_14-28//Application.tar.gz ...
create MySQL
decompresses SQL-file ...
cat SQL-file into MySQL database
compress SQL-file...
linux:/opt/otrs/scripts#

Script: Restoring OTRS data.