Back up a data directory

Copy the local operator data directory to a destination that does not already exist. Use the copy when you need an offline archive before upgrade, restore, or host replacement.

peren backup copies PEREN_DATA_DIR (or ./data when that variable is unset). It is not a live consistent snapshot of a running process. Stop or quiesce writers when you need a consistent copy.

Data backup

Prerequisites

a validated fleet config path;
an existing data directory under PEREN_DATA_DIR or ./data;
a destination path that does not exist yet.

Procedure

Required flags:

config path (positional);
--output — destination directory; must not exist.

peren backup peren.toml --output ./backup-2026-03-01

Representative output:

backed up ./data to ./backup-2026-03-01 files=12

Verification

Confirm the destination directory exists and that the printed files= count is greater than zero when the source held files. A later restore against this path is the prove-it check for a usable archive.

Failure

Result	Cause	Next action
backup source does not exist	data directory absent	create or set `PEREN_DATA_DIR`, then retry
backup destination already exists	`--output` path is present	choose a new path or remove the empty destination outside Peren