Usage

Moving to a New Server

A backup with all components holds everything needed to rebuild an Omeka S site on another server: the database, the files, and the themes and modules. Install a fresh Omeka S there, bring the archive across, and restore it.

Steps

  1. On the old server, create a backup with every component selected and download it. See Creating Backups. Note the Omeka S version, shown at the bottom of the admin pages.
  2. On the new server, install the same version of Omeka S, create config/database.ini and run the installer, then install the Backup module. See Installation.
  3. Bring the archive across. If it is smaller than the upload limit shown on Admin > Backup > Upload Backup, upload it there. See Uploading Backups. Otherwise copy it into the backup directory with FTP, SFTP or SSH and click Add to backups on the Backups page. See Adding Archives by FTP.
  4. Wait until its status is complete, then click Restore. Check the preview: it shows when the archive was made and, for archives made with Backup 1.4.0 or later, on which Omeka S version. Keep all components selected, type RESTORE and submit. See Restoring Backups.
  5. Log out and log in again with an account from the old server once the restore job has finished. The restore replaced the user table, so the account you created while installing the new server is gone, and your session now points at whichever old-server account has the same user number.

On a server with shell access you can do steps 3 and 4 from the command line instead:

php modules/Backup/bin/backup.php import omeka-backup-20261015-020000-3f9a1c7e5b2d8e04.zip
php modules/Backup/bin/backup.php restore 1

Before you restore

  • Use the same Omeka S version. The dump recreates the old server's tables exactly, including the version recorded in the setting table. When an archive comes from a newer Omeka S than the new server runs, the restore preview warns you: upgrade Omeka S on the new server first.
  • Leave room in the temporary directory. The restore unpacks the whole archive into the system temporary directory before changing anything, so it needs free space there for the uncompressed contents. The preview warns when there is not enough.
  • Keep the old server until the new one works. Adding an archive checks every file in it, so a damaged transfer is caught before you restore, but keep the original until you have checked the new site.

After the restore

  • Accounts and settings come from the old server. The dump includes the user, setting and site_setting tables, so anything configured on the new server before the restore is replaced.
  • The backup list is the old server's. The archive you restored from stays listed and can be restored again. Other records refer to archives on the old server: they show file missing and have no Download or Restore button. Delete them, or copy those archives across too and add them. ZIP files in the new server's backup directory that the restored list does not include appear under Archives in the backup directory.
  • Files, themes and modules land in this server's paths. Files go to the file store configured on the new server, themes and modules to OMEKA_PATH/themes and OMEKA_PATH/modules.
  • Server-specific settings stay as they are. config/database.ini, config/local.config.php and the web server configuration are not part of a backup. Copy over any settings from local.config.php that the site relies on, such as a file store path or thumbnailer settings.
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