Backups, and starting over on a new server

Every night, on the server

Timetap saves a copy of everything each night, on the server itself. IT > Backup & restore lists them: Download backup for a copy now, Restore from file… to put one back.

A backup holds everyone's hours and logins - keep the files private.

Off the server (do this)

A copy on the server doesn't help if the server dies. IT > Backup off the server copies an encrypted backup every night to a NAS on your network, or to Jottacloud:

1. Set passphrase… first: Timetap makes one for you (or type your own). Save it in a password manager - see The passphrase below.
2. Add a destination… and fill in where it goes. Timetap writes a small test file to check it can.
3. Back up now to check that everything works.

What is in each backup

Every backup is complete: the whole database - everyone's hours, projects, absences, people and logins, tags, rules and settings - plus the Timetap WiFi's name and password (so the readers find their network again), and the Timetap address's secret. To get everything back you only need one backup: the newest.

The program itself isn't in it; you install that again (it's free and downloads in a minute).

Which copies are kept

One copy for each of the last 30 days, then one a month for older ones. Each copy is opened again after it is made, to check that it can be restored - the card shows verified. Older copies are there in case something went wrong without anyone noticing (hours deleted by mistake two weeks ago, say).

The passphrase

The backups are encrypted with your passphrase (AES-256): without it, a copy is just noise - to the NAS, to Jottacloud, and to anyone who gets hold of the file. That is the point, and it is also the catch:

• Keep it in a password manager, or written down somewhere safe away from the server. Timetap shows it once, when it is set, and never again.
• The server keeps it too, so the nightly copies work - but if the server dies, so does that copy. You need your own copy to restore.
• Lost it? As long as the server works: set a new one (Change…) and Back up now - the new copies use the new passphrase. Copies made with the old one can't be opened without it.
• Changing it doesn't re-encrypt older copies: they still need the passphrase they were made with.

On Docker you can also back up the data folder itself (Unraid's appdata backup, Synology's Hyper Backup, a Proxmox backup). Those copies aren't encrypted - keep them somewhere private.

Starting over on a new server

1. Install Timetap on the new server, as the first time (the Pi guide, or Docker).
2. Log in with the new first login.
3. Put the backup back - the newest one holds everything - one of two ways:
4. IT > Backup & restore > Restore from file…: the backup file (a .tfbackup from your NAS or cloud), and its passphrase.
5. IT > Backup off the server > add the same destination as before > Restore, pick a backup, and its passphrase.
6. It shows what is in the backup (people, projects, the latest entry); type RESTORE to replace everything.

Everyone logs in as before. Readers: if a reader doesn't come back by itself, make a new setup card for it (readers).