Full Database Dump Files

A full backup, or database dump, is a complete record of the STA database schema and data contents at a point in time. The Backup Service creates a dump once a day at the time you have defined with the staservadm utility.

Dump File Names

Each dump file is assigned the following name:

datestamp_timestamp.stafullbackup.sql

where:

datestamp is the current date in yyyymmdd format.
timestamp is the current time, in hhmmss format.

For example, 20200114_180525.stafullback.sql would be a database dump file created on January 14, 2020 at 18:05:25.

Dump File Locations

Files for the most recent full backup (full database dump) are located in the /backup_directory/local directory on the STA server, where backup_directory is the database backup location specified during installation (see the STA Installation and Configuration Guide for details). The Backup Service automatically creates the local subdirectory if it does not exist already.

The Backup Service automatically removes the previous day's full backup files from this directory when it completes each day's full backup.

If you are not doing remote backups, this is the only backup retained by the Backup Service. You have only one day's full backup on the local STA server.
If you are doing remote backups, compressed copies of all full backup files are also located in the remote backup directory defined with the staservadm utility.

The Backup Service never deletes files from the external backup server, enabling you to maintain as many days worth of backups as your site's policies require. It is your responsibility to manage the files and the space on the external server. You can use your site's preferred backup and archiving policies and tools to manage the files.