Restore a Redis backup

Replace a running Redis instance's data with a backup RDB snapshot.

SimpleBackups stores Redis backups as compressed .rdb files. Restoring requires stopping Redis, replacing the data file, and restarting. If AOF (Append Only File) persistence is enabled, you must disable it before restoring to prevent Redis from replaying the log over your restored snapshot.

!This will replace all Redis data

Restoring a backup overwrites the current Redis dataset. Any data written to Redis after the backup was taken will be lost.

Download the backup file

1. Go to your backup page and open the Logs tab. Click the (i) icon next to the backup run you want to restore.

2. In the modal that appears, click Click to generate a signed download link and copy the resulting URL.

3. On your server, download and decompress the backup:

wget "PASTE_SIGNED_DOWNLOAD_LINK_HERE" -O - | gunzip -dc > redis-backup.rdb

Disable AOF if enabled

Check whether AOF is active:

redis-cli CONFIG GET appendonly

If the output shows yes, disable it before proceeding:

redis-cli CONFIG SET appendonly no

You can re-enable it after the restore is complete.

Find the Redis data directory and filename

Get the directory where Redis stores its data file:

redis-cli CONFIG GET dir

Get the current database filename:

redis-cli CONFIG GET dbfilename

Note both values — you will need them in the next step. In most installations, the directory is /var/lib/redis and the filename is dump.rdb.

Replace the data file and restart Redis

1. Stop Redis:

sudo service redis-server stop

2. Optionally back up the current data file before replacing it:

cp /var/lib/redis/dump.rdb ~/redis-backup-before-restore.rdb

3. Remove the existing data files from the Redis data directory:

rm /var/lib/redis/*.aof /var/lib/redis/*.rdb

4. Copy the restored backup into place, using the directory and filename you noted above:

sudo cp redis-backup.rdb /var/lib/redis/dump.rdb
sudo chown redis:redis /var/lib/redis/dump.rdb
sudo chmod 660 /var/lib/redis/dump.rdb

If your Redis runs as a different system user, replace redis:redis with <your-redis-user>:<your-redis-user>.

5. Start Redis:

sudo service redis-server start

Re-enable AOF (if applicable)

If you disabled AOF earlier and want to re-enable it:

redis-cli CONFIG SET appendonly yes
redis-cli CONFIG REWRITE