Create a manual backup

ThoughtSpot enables you to manually create a backup to restore a cluster to a prior state, a differently configured appliance, or move the backup from an appliance to a virtual cluster or vice versa. For restoring a cluster from a backup, contact ThoughtSpot.

You create a manual backup from an existing snapshot. So, you must identify an existing snapshot to use or take a new snapshot first. The time required to take a backup depends on the data size. Taking a backup does not take long, and happens in the background while the cluster is running.

Using tscli

To manually create a backup using the tscli:

Create a manual snapshot or find a snapshot you want to use. To find a snapshot you want to back up use the following command:

 $ tscli snapshot ls

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Name          : pre330
 Reason        : pre3.3.0
 Hdfs snapshot : pre330
 Start         : Wed May 4 18:07:32 2016
 End           : Wed May 4 18:08:23 2016
 Size(Full)    : 13.24 GB
 Size(LW)      : 4.96 GB
 Size(Dataless): 39.76 MB
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 ...

Make sure you have enough room on the target disk.

In addition to the size of the snapshot, you must have 10 to 12 GB of disk space. This is because the process requires space for temporary files. You can use the df command to check disk size.
```
 $ df -h
```
Create the backup, designating the type of backup, the snapshot name, and a directory:

Choose the mode of backup you want to create, either full, lightweight, or dataless. The destination directory is created for you; do not specify an existing directory. The BASE value is the name
```
 $ tscli backup create [-h]
     [--mode {full|light|dataless}]
     [--type {full}]
     [--base snapshot_name>]
     [--storage_type {local|nas}][--remote]
      <name> <directory>
```
Here is a sample tscli backup create command:
```
 $ tscli backup create --mode dataless <my_snapshot> <directory_path>
```