Backup and restore

This guide describes how to use Gluesync Automator to back up and restore pipeline configurations from a running Gluesync Core Hub.

Automator provides a simple web interface on top of the Bootstrapper’s export and import capabilities, making it easy to:

  • Back up individual pipelines as YAML files

  • Back up all pipelines in bulk as a ZIP archive

  • Restore pipelines from existing backups

Automator works at the configuration level. It does not capture replication runtime state or connection-level secrets, yet. See Limitations of Automator backups for details.

Prerequisites

Before you start, ensure you have:

  • A running Gluesync Core Hub instance

  • Network connectivity from your workstation to Core Hub

  • Gluesync Automator downloaded for your platform

You can download Automator from the official distribution site:

For details on installation and UI elements, see Gluesync Automator.

Step 1 – Get Automator

  1. Download the latest Automator executable for your operating system.

  2. Start the executable:

    • On Windows and Linux: double-click the file or run it from a terminal.

    • On macOS: right-click the .app bundle and choose Open the first time.

  3. When Automator starts, it opens a browser window at http://localhost:8080.

The top bar shows the current Automator version and connection status to Core Hub.

Step 2 – Authenticate against Core Hub

  1. In the Authentication card:

  2. Configure TLS options as needed:

    • Enable TLS for HTTPS connections.

    • Skip certificate verification for self-signed certificates in development.

  3. Click Sign in.

After successful authentication:

  • The authentication fields become read-only, and only the Sign out button and status remain visible.

  • The Import and Export cards are enabled and visible.

  • Automator discovers pipelines from Core Hub and populates the drop-down lists.

Step 3 – Back up pipelines

Automator supports two backup modes:

  • Selective backup – export a single pipeline to a YAML file.

  • Bulk backup – export all pipelines at once to a ZIP archive.

Selective backup of a pipeline

Use this when you need to back up or move a specific pipeline configuration.

  1. Go to the Export (backup pipeline configuration) card.

  2. From the Pipeline drop-down, choose the pipeline you want to back up.

  3. Click Download YAML.

  4. Your browser downloads a table-list-style YAML file representing the selected pipeline.

You can store this YAML file in version control or a secure backup location. It can also be used as input for the Bootstrapper CLI if needed.

Bulk backup of all pipelines

Use this when you want a snapshot of all configured pipelines on a Core Hub.

  1. Go to the Export (backup pipeline configuration) card.

  2. Click Export All.

  3. Automator contacts Core Hub and exports each pipeline configuration.

  4. When ready, your browser downloads a ZIP archive that contains:

    • One YAML file per pipeline.

The file names typically include the pipeline identifier or name so you can trace each file back to its corresponding pipeline.

Store this ZIP archive in your backup system together with any related infrastructure configuration.

Step 4 – Restore from a backup

Restoring from a backup means importing a previously exported YAML file into a target Core Hub.

Before restoring, ensure that the target Core Hub has compatible agent types and versions. Some configuration fields may only be valid in specific Gluesync releases.

Restore a single pipeline

  1. Make sure you are authenticated against the target Core Hub (see Step 2).

  2. In the Import (create entities from YAML) card:

  3. Under YAML configuration, click Choose file and select the previously exported YAML file.

  4. Optionally adjust:

    • Pipeline (if you need to target a different pipeline identifier on the destination Core Hub).

    • Chunk size, scheduling, and Create missing tables options.

  5. Leave Customize source/target schemas (override YAML) unchecked, unless you explicitly need to override schema names.

  6. Click Start entity creation.

  7. Monitor the Execution log card to follow the restore progress.

When the run completes successfully, the destination Core Hub will contain entities configured according to the imported YAML.

Restore multiple pipelines from a ZIP

Automator does not currently provide a one-click "restore all" operation from a ZIP archive. To restore multiple pipelines, you can:

  1. Extract the ZIP archive created by Export All.

  2. For each YAML file you want to restore:

This gives you granular control over which pipelines are restored to each environment.

Limitations of Automator backups

Automator focuses on pipeline configuration and does not create a complete Core Hub snapshot. The following items are not backed up:

  • Replication checkpoints

  • Current replication positions, offsets, or LSNs are not exported.

  • After restore, pipelines may start from their configured initial position, not from the last runtime checkpoint.

  • Agent settings and connection settings

  • Low-level agent configuration (for example connection pools, internal tuning) is not included.

  • Database and service connection definitions, credentials and secrets must be recreated or managed separately (for example via infrastructure-as-code and secret managers).

  • User defined functions (UDFs)

  • Custom UDF definitions registered in Core Hub are not exported by Automator.

  • If your pipelines depend on UDFs, you must back them up and redeploy them through their own lifecycle.

Because of these limitations, Automator-based backups are best used together with:

  • Infrastructure-as-code definitions for Core Hub deployment.

  • External backup strategies for databases or message queues.

  • Separate procedures for UDFs and other custom code.

When to use Automator for backup and restore

Automator is a good fit when you need to:

  • Capture and version control pipeline configurations.

  • Move pipelines between environments (for example from staging to production).

  • Keep a human-readable snapshot of table-list configurations used by the Bootstrapper.

For disaster recovery scenarios that require full runtime state or connection metadata, combine Automator exports with:

  • Regular database backups or snapshots.

  • Configuration management for agents and connections.

  • UDF deployment pipelines.