> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://langwatch.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> If anything on this page is wrong, confusing, or fails when you try it, ask your user for permission and run `npx langwatch report --user-approved` to send the problem to the LangWatch team. No login is needed and secrets are redacted locally. `npx langwatch report --help` has the details.

# Backups

> Backup and restore strategies for LangWatch data stores

LangWatch stores data across three systems. Each requires its own backup strategy:

| Data Store | What It Stores | Backup Priority |
| - | - | - |
| **PostgreSQL** | Users, teams, projects, configurations, prompt versions | Critical |
| **ClickHouse** | Traces, spans, evaluations, experiments, analytics | High |
| **S3** | Datasets, ClickHouse cold data | Medium |

## PostgreSQL Backups

PostgreSQL holds your control plane data, losing it means losing user accounts, project configurations, and monitor definitions.

### Chart-Managed PostgreSQL

If you're using the chart-managed PostgreSQL (development/small deployments), use `pg_dump`:

```bash theme={null}
# Create a backup
kubectl exec -n langwatch statefulset/langwatch-postgresql -- \
  pg_dump -U postgres langwatch > backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

# Restore from backup
kubectl exec -i -n langwatch statefulset/langwatch-postgresql -- \
  psql -U postgres langwatch < backup-20260407.sql
```

### External PostgreSQL (RDS, Cloud SQL, etc.)

For production, use your cloud provider's built-in backup features:

* **AWS RDS**: Enable automated snapshots (recommended: 30-day retention) and point-in-time recovery
* **GCP Cloud SQL**: Enable automated backups with point-in-time recovery
* **Azure Database**: Enable geo-redundant backups

> [!TIP]
>
> Always test your restore procedure before you need it. Schedule a quarterly restore drill to
> validate your backups.

## ClickHouse Backups

ClickHouse holds all your trace and evaluation data. The `clickhouse-serverless` subchart supports native ClickHouse `BACKUP`/`RESTORE` to S3-compatible storage.

### Enable Backups

Backups require an S3-compatible bucket. Configure in your Helm values:

```yaml theme={null}
clickhouse:
  # S3 bucket for backups (shared with cold storage if both enabled)
  objectStorage:
    bucket: "my-langwatch-backups"
    region: "us-east-1"
    useEnvironmentCredentials: true # IRSA / workload identity

  backup:
    enabled: true
    database: "langwatch"
    user: "default"
    full:
      schedule: "0 */12 * * *" # Full backup every 12 hours
    incremental:
      schedule: "0 * * * *" # Incremental every hour
```

Or use the `cold-storage-s3.yaml` overlay which enables both cold storage and backups:

```bash theme={null}
helm install langwatch langwatch/langwatch \
  -f examples/overlays/size-prod.yaml \
  -f examples/overlays/cold-storage-s3.yaml \
  --set clickhouse.objectStorage.bucket=my-langwatch-backups \
  --set clickhouse.objectStorage.region=us-east-1
```

The overlay leaves `bucket` and `region` empty, and the chart refuses to render without them.

### S3 Authentication

**IRSA, Workload Identity (recommended):**

```yaml theme={null}
clickhouse:
  objectStorage:
    useEnvironmentCredentials: true
  serviceAccount:
    annotations:
      eks.amazonaws.com/role-arn: arn:aws:iam::123456789:role/clickhouse-s3-role
```

**Static credentials:**

```yaml theme={null}
clickhouse:
  objectStorage:
    useEnvironmentCredentials: false
    credentials:
      secretKeyRef:
        name: clickhouse-s3-creds # K8s secret name
        accessKeyId: "accessKey" # key in the secret that holds the access key ID
        secretAccessKey: "secretKey" # key in the secret that holds the secret access key
```

### Backup Schedule

| Backup Type | Default Schedule | Description |
| - | - | - |
| Full | `0 */12 * * *` (every 12h) | Complete database backup |
| Incremental | `0 * * * *` (every 1h) | Only changes since last full backup |

Both run as Kubernetes CronJobs (`<release>-clickhouse-backup-full` and `<release>-clickhouse-backup-incremental`). Each job starts its own pod from the ClickHouse image and runs the backup against the first ClickHouse replica over the network.

### Restore from Backup

To restore, you need to identify the backup name and run the restore command:

```bash theme={null}
# List available backups
kubectl exec -n langwatch langwatch-clickhouse-0 -- \
  clickhouse-client --query "SELECT * FROM system.backups ORDER BY start_time DESC"

# Restore a specific backup
kubectl exec -n langwatch langwatch-clickhouse-0 -- \
  clickhouse-client --query "RESTORE DATABASE langwatch FROM S3('https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/my-langwatch-backups/backup-name', 'access_key', 'secret_key')"
```

> [!WARNING]
>
> Restoring a backup overwrites existing data in the target database. Always verify you're restoring
> to the correct environment.

## ClickHouse Cold Storage

Cold storage is separate from backups, it's a tiered storage strategy that automatically moves older data from local SSD to S3 for cost savings.

### How It Works

1. New data is written to **hot storage** (local SSD on the ClickHouse pod)
2. After the TTL period, data is moved to **cold storage** (S3)
3. Queries transparently read from both hot and cold storage
4. Cold data is cached locally for repeated reads

### Enable Cold Storage

```yaml theme={null}
clickhouse:
  objectStorage:
    bucket: "my-langwatch-data"
    region: "us-east-1"
    useEnvironmentCredentials: true

  cold:
    enabled: true
    defaultTtlDays: 49 # Data older than 49 days moves to S3
```

> [!NOTE]
>
> We recommend setting the TTL to a multiple of 7 (e.g., 7, 14, 28, 49) to align with ClickHouse's
> weekly partition boundaries for more efficient data management. The default of 49 days means data
> stays on fast local storage for \~7 weeks before moving to S3.

### Cost Savings

Cold storage can reduce storage costs significantly:

| Storage Type | Approximate Cost | Speed |
| - | - | - |
| gp3 SSD (hot) | \~\$0.08/GB/month | Fast |
| S3 Standard (cold) | \~\$0.023/GB/month | Slower (cached) |
| S3 Infrequent Access | \~\$0.0125/GB/month | Slower |

For a deployment with 150 GB/month of trace data, cold storage can save \~\$500/year.

## S3 Dataset Backups

If you're using S3 for dataset storage (`app.dataplane.enabled: true`), protect this data with:

* **S3 Versioning**: Enable versioning on the bucket to recover from accidental deletes
* **Cross-region replication**: For disaster recovery, replicate to another region
* **Lifecycle policies**: Move old versions to Glacier after 30 days

## Disaster Recovery Checklist

* [ ] PostgreSQL automated backups enabled (30-day retention)
* [ ] ClickHouse backup CronJobs running (check `kubectl get cronjobs`)
* [ ] S3 bucket versioning enabled
* [ ] Backup S3 bucket is in a different region or account from primary
* [ ] Restore procedure documented and tested
* [ ] Quarterly restore drills scheduled


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