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Creating & Managing Backups

Backups are the core of FireBackup. This guide covers how to create manual backups, view backup history, verify integrity, and manage your backup data.

Backup Types​

FireBackup supports three types of backups:

Full Backup​

A complete snapshot of your Firestore database at a point in time.

  • Use case: First backup, periodic complete snapshots
  • Size: Largest (entire database)
  • Speed: Slowest (exports all data)
  • Recovery: Can restore independently

Incremental Backup​

Only backs up data changed since the last backup.

  • Use case: Frequent backups, reducing storage costs
  • Size: Smaller (only changes)
  • Speed: Faster (less data to process)
  • Recovery: Requires base backup + all increments

PITR Snapshot​

Point-in-Time Recovery snapshots capture changes continuously.

  • Use case: Compliance, granular recovery
  • Size: Varies by change volume
  • Speed: Continuous capture
  • Recovery: Restore to any point in time

See Point-in-Time Recovery for detailed PITR documentation.

Creating a Manual Backup​

From the Dashboard​

  1. Navigate to Backups in the sidebar
  2. Click New Backup
  3. Select the project to backup
  4. Configure backup options
  5. Click Start Backup

From Project Page​

  1. Navigate to the project
  2. Click Backup Now in the quick actions
  3. Confirm backup settings
  4. Click Start Backup

Backup Options​

OptionDescriptionDefault
Backup TypeFull or IncrementalFull
CollectionsWhich collections to includeAll
Include AuthBackup Firebase Auth usersNo
Storage DestinationWhere to store the backupDefault
CompressionCompression algorithmBrotli
EncryptionEnable AES-256-GCM encryptionYes

Collection Selection​

You can backup:

  • All Collections - Complete database backup
  • Specific Collections - Select individual collections
  • Exclude Collections - Backup all except specified
Large Collections

For collections with millions of documents, consider splitting backups across multiple schedules to avoid timeout issues.

Monitoring Backup Progress​

Real-Time Status​

When a backup starts, you'll see real-time progress:

  • Status: Pending → Running → Compressing → Encrypting → Uploading → Completed
  • Progress: Percentage complete with estimated time remaining
  • Documents: Count of documents processed
  • Size: Current backup size

Status Indicators​

StatusDescription
PendingBackup is queued
RunningExporting data from Firestore
CompressingApplying compression
EncryptingApplying AES-256-GCM encryption
UploadingTransferring to storage destination
CompletedBackup finished successfully
FailedBackup encountered an error

Viewing Backup History​

Backups List​

The backups page shows all backups across your organization:

ColumnDescription
ProjectFirebase project name
TypeFull, Incremental, or PITR
StatusCurrent status
SizeCompressed size
DocumentsNumber of documents
CollectionsNumber of collections
DurationTime to complete
CreatedWhen backup started

Filtering and Sorting​

Use the filter controls to find specific backups:

  • Project: Filter by project
  • Type: Full, Incremental, or PITR
  • Status: Completed, Failed, or In Progress
  • Date Range: Custom time period

Backup Details​

Click on any backup to view its details:

Overview Tab​

  • Backup ID: Unique identifier
  • Project: Source Firebase project
  • Type: Backup type
  • Status: Current status with timestamp
  • Size: Original and compressed size
  • Compression Ratio: Space savings
  • Encryption: Encryption status
  • Storage: Where the backup is stored
  • Path: Storage path/key

Contents Tab​

View what's included in the backup:

  • Collections: List of backed up collections
  • Document Counts: Per-collection document counts
  • Subcollections: Nested collections included

Metadata Tab​

Technical metadata about the backup:

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "format": "firebackup",
  "compression": "brotli",
  "encryption": "aes-256-gcm",
  "checksum": "sha256:abc123...",
  "createdAt": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "completedAt": "2024-01-15T10:35:00Z"
}

Backup Verification​

Verify backup integrity to ensure data can be restored:

Automatic Verification​

FireBackup automatically verifies:

  • Checksum validation - SHA-256 hash verification
  • Encryption integrity - Decryption test
  • Compression integrity - Decompression test

Manual Verification​

To manually verify a backup:

  1. Navigate to the backup details
  2. Click Verify Integrity
  3. FireBackup will:
    • Download the backup header
    • Verify checksums
    • Test decryption
    • Validate structure

Verification Results​

ResultDescription
VerifiedBackup is intact and restorable
WarningMinor issues (e.g., metadata mismatch)
FailedBackup is corrupted or unreadable

Backup Preview​

Preview backup contents without restoring:

  1. Navigate to the backup details
  2. Click Preview
  3. Browse collections and documents
  4. View document data (read-only)
Preview Limitations

Preview loads a sample of documents. For large collections, not all documents are shown.

Comparing Backups (Diff)​

Compare two backups to see what changed:

  1. Select two backups from the same project
  2. Click Compare
  3. View the diff:
    • Added documents
    • Modified documents
    • Deleted documents

Diff Output​

+ users/user123 (added)
~ users/user456 (modified)
  - email: old@example.com
  + email: new@example.com
- users/user789 (deleted)

Deleting Backups​

Single Backup Deletion​

  1. Navigate to the backup details
  2. Click Delete
  3. Confirm deletion
  4. Backup is removed from storage

Bulk Deletion​

  1. Select multiple backups using checkboxes
  2. Click Delete Selected
  3. Confirm deletion
Permanent Deletion

Deleted backups cannot be recovered. Ensure you have other backups before deleting.

Retention Policies​

Configure automatic deletion based on retention policies:

  • Time-based: Delete backups older than X days
  • Count-based: Keep only the last X backups
  • Size-based: Delete when total size exceeds X GB

See Storage for retention configuration.

Backup Encryption​

Encryption at Rest​

All backups are encrypted using AES-256-GCM:

  • Algorithm: AES-256-GCM (AEAD)
  • Key Derivation: PBKDF2 with SHA-256
  • IV: Unique per backup

Encryption Key Management​

Your encryption key is derived from:

  1. Organization encryption key - Set during setup
  2. Backup-specific salt - Unique per backup
Key Security

Your encryption key is never transmitted to our servers. If you lose your key, encrypted backups cannot be recovered.

Changing Encryption Keys​

To rotate encryption keys:

  1. Go to Settings > Security
  2. Click Rotate Encryption Key
  3. Existing backups remain encrypted with old key
  4. New backups use the new key

Backup Compression​

Supported Algorithms​

AlgorithmCompressionSpeedUse Case
BrotliExcellentMediumDefault, best ratio
GzipGoodFastCompatibility
NoneNoneFastestTesting only

Compression Comparison​

Typical compression ratios for Firestore data:

AlgorithmRatioExample
Brotli85-90%100MB → 10-15MB
Gzip80-85%100MB → 15-20MB

Troubleshooting​

"Backup Failed" Error​

Common causes:

  • OAuth token expired
  • IAM permissions revoked
  • Storage destination unavailable
  • Network timeout

Solution:

  1. Check project connection status
  2. Verify storage destination is accessible
  3. Review error message in backup details
  4. Retry the backup

"Verification Failed" Error​

Common causes:

  • Backup file corrupted in storage
  • Storage provider issues
  • Encryption key mismatch

Solution:

  1. Check storage provider status
  2. Verify encryption key is correct
  3. Try downloading and re-uploading

Slow Backup Performance​

Optimization tips:

  1. Exclude large, non-critical collections
  2. Use incremental backups after initial full backup
  3. Choose closer storage region
  4. Schedule during off-peak hours

Next Steps​