---
title: Backups
description: How Dekka backs up PostgreSQL databases and volumes, where the backups are kept, and how to restore one.
section: Data
order: 6
---

Dekka takes one backup of every running PostgreSQL database each day and keeps it for seven days. You can also take a backup of a database or a volume yourself, which is kept for 30 days. Volumes are only backed up when you ask, and Redis and object storage aren't backed up.

> [!WARNING]
> During the pilot, backups are kept on the same server as the database or volume they copy. They protect you from a bad migration or an accidental delete, but losing that server would lose both.

## Change the schedule or how long backups are kept

Each database's `backups` setting holds a `schedule` of `daily` or `off`, and `retention_days` between 1 and 90. Change it with `PATCH /v1/resources/{id}`, which replaces the whole spec, so send every other setting as it is.

```bash tab="cURL"
curl -X PATCH https://api.dekka.cloud/v1/resources/$DATABASE_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DEKKA_API_KEY" \
  --json '{ "spec": { "version": "16", "memory_mib": 256, "storage_mib": 1024, "tcp_proxy": false,
            "backups": { "schedule": "daily", "retention_days": 14 } } }'
```

## Take a backup now

Select the database, open **Data** and choose **Back up now** under **Backups**. For a volume, choose **Back up now** in the **Volume** section of the service's settings. The list under each shows every backup with its size and when it expires.

```bash tab="cURL"
curl -X POST https://api.dekka.cloud/v1/resources/$DATABASE_ID/backups \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DEKKA_API_KEY"
```

For a volume, send the same request to `/v1/volumes/{id}/backups`. A backup moves from `pending` through `running` to `completed`, or to `failed` with an `error`, and only one backup of the same database or volume can run at a time. `GET` on the same paths lists backups, newest first, with their size, when they expire and where they're kept.

## Restore a backup

Choose **Restore** next to a backup, type the name Dekka asks for and choose **Restore and replace**. Restoring replaces the database's or volume's current data with the backup, and anything written since the backup was taken is lost, so Dekka asks for the database's name, or for the name of the service the volume belongs to, as confirmation. Connected services may see errors until the restore finishes.

```bash tab="cURL"
curl https://api.dekka.cloud/v1/backups/$BACKUP_ID/restore \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DEKKA_API_KEY" \
  --json '{ "confirm": "db" }'
```

Only a `completed` backup can be restored, and the request returns the restore operation so you can follow it.