Back up PMM Server Docker container¶

Regular backups of your PMM Server are essential for protecting your monitoring configuration and historical data.

Backup overview¶

Summary

Stop and rename the pmm-server container.
Take a local copy of the pmm-server container’s /srv directory.
Copy the data directory (/srv`) to your host
Resume normal operations

Backing up Grafana plugins¶

Grafana plugins have been moved to the /srv directory since PMM 2.23.0. So if you are upgrading PMM from a version before 2.23.0 and have installed additional plugins, you’ll need to reinstall them after the upgrade.

To check used Grafana plugins:

docker exec -t pmm-server ls -l /var/lib/grafana/plugins

Back up procedure¶

To back up your PMM Server container:

Stop the running PMM Server container:
```
docker stop pmm-server
```
Rename the container to preserve it as a backup source:
```
docker rename pmm-server pmm-server-backup
```
Create a backup subdirectory (e.g., pmm-data-backup) and navigate to it:
```
mkdir pmm-data-backup && cd pmm-data-backup
```
Back up the data:
```
docker cp pmm-server-backup:/srv .
```
Verify the backup was created successfully:
```
ls -la srv/
```

Next steps after backup¶

After creating your backup, you have two options:

Resume normal operations if you were creating a routine backup, restart your original container.
Upgrade or restore the container if you were backing up before an upgrade or restoration.

Backup storage recommendations¶

Store backups in a location separate from the PMM Server host
Implement automated rotation of backups to manage disk space
Consider encrypting backups containing sensitive monitoring data
Test restores periodically to verify backup integrity