Odoo Backup Strategy

Overview

A complete Odoo backup must include both the PostgreSQL database and the filestore (attachments, images). This skill covers manual and automated backup procedures, offsite storage, and the correct restore sequence to bring a down Odoo instance back online.

When to Use This Skill

• Setting up a backup strategy for a production Odoo instance.
• Automating daily backups with shell scripts and cron.
• Restoring Odoo after a server failure or data corruption event.
• Diagnosing a failed backup or corrupt restore.

How It Works

1. Activate: Mention @odoo-backup-strategy and describe your server environment.
2. Generate: Receive a complete backup script tailored to your setup.
3. Restore: Get step-by-step restore instructions for any failure scenario.

Examples

Example 1: Manual Database + Filestore Backup

#!/bin/bash
# backup_odoo.sh

DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
DB_NAME="odoo"
DB_USER="odoo"
FILESTORE_PATH="/var/lib/odoo/.local/share/Odoo/filestore/$DB_NAME"
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/odoo"

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Step 1: Dump the database
pg_dump -U $DB_USER -Fc $DB_NAME > "$BACKUP_DIR/db_$DATE.dump"

# Step 2: Archive the filestore
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/filestore_$DATE.tar.gz" -C "$FILESTORE_PATH" .

echo "✅ Backup complete: db_$DATE.dump + filestore_$DATE.tar.gz"

Example 2: Automate with Cron (daily at 2 AM)

# Run: crontab -e
# Add this line:
0 2 * * * /opt/scripts/backup_odoo.sh >> /var/log/odoo_backup.log 2>&1

Example 3: Upload to S3 (after backup)

# Add to backup script after tar command:
aws s3 cp "$BACKUP_DIR/db_$DATE.dump"        s3://my-odoo-backups/db/
aws s3 cp "$BACKUP_DIR/filestore_$DATE.tar.gz" s3://my-odoo-backups/filestore/

# Optional: Delete local backups older than 7 days
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -type f -mtime +7 -delete

Example 4: Full Restore Procedure

# Step 1: Stop Odoo
docker compose stop odoo  # or: systemctl stop odoo

# Step 2: Recreate and restore the database
# (--clean alone fails if the DB doesn't exist; drop and recreate first)
dropdb -U odoo odoo 2>/dev/null || true
createdb -U odoo odoo
pg_restore -U odoo -d odoo db_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.dump

# Step 3: Restore the filestore
FILESTORE=/var/lib/odoo/.local/share/Odoo/filestore/odoo
rm -rf "$FILESTORE"/*
tar -xzf filestore_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.tar.gz -C "$FILESTORE"/

# Step 4: Restart Odoo
docker compose start odoo

# Step 5: Verify — open Odoo in the browser and check:
#   - Can you log in?
#   - Are recent records visible?
#   - Are file attachments loading?

Best Practices

• ✅ Do: Test restores monthly in a staging environment — a backup you've never restored is not a backup.
• ✅ Do: Follow the 3-2-1 rule: 3 copies, 2 different media types, 1 offsite copy (e.g., S3 or a remote server).
• ✅ Do: Back up immediately before every Odoo upgrade — this is your rollback point.
• ✅ Do: Verify backup integrity: pg_restore --list backup.dump should complete without errors.
• ❌ Don't: Back up only the database without the filestore — all attachments and images will be missing after a restore.
• ❌ Don't: Store backups on the same disk or same server as Odoo — a disk or server failure destroys both.
• ❌ Don't: Run pg_restore --clean against a non-existent database — always create the database first.

Limitations

• Does not cover Odoo.sh built-in backups — Odoo.sh has its own backup system accessible from the dashboard.
• This script assumes a single-database Odoo setup. Multi-database instances require looping over all databases.
• Filestore path may differ between installations (Docker volume vs. bare-metal). Always verify the path with odoo-bin shell before running a restore.
• Large filestores (100GB+) may require incremental backup tools like rsync or restic rather than full tar.gz archives.