# Runbook: Postgres Restore

**When to use:** Postgres corruption/data loss on rn-platform-01, or verifying a backup is
actually good (do this periodically even without an incident — an untested backup is a
hypothesis, not a backup).

```bash
# 1. Find the backup to restore
ls -la /srv/rootnode-data/backups/    # or wherever backup_offsite_target points, if local copies are gone

# 2. Create a FRESH target database — never restore over the live one directly
docker exec -it rootnode-platform-postgres-1 psql -U rootnode_platform -c \
  "CREATE DATABASE rootnode_platform_restore_test;"

# 3. Restore into it
source /etc/rootnode/backup.env   # for BACKUP_ENCRYPTION_PASSPHRASE
/opt/rootnode/backup/restore-postgres.sh \
  /srv/rootnode-data/backups/rootnode-platform-<timestamp>.sql.gz.gpg \
  "postgres://rootnode_platform:$PGPASS@localhost:5432/rootnode_platform_restore_test"
# type RESTORE when prompted

# 4. Verify
/opt/rootnode/backup/verify-restore.sh \
  "postgres://rootnode_platform:$PGPASS@localhost:5432/rootnode_platform_restore_test"

# 5a. If this was a drill: drop the test database
docker exec -it rootnode-platform-postgres-1 psql -U rootnode_platform -c \
  "DROP DATABASE rootnode_platform_restore_test;"

# 5b. If this was a REAL incident: stop the app stack, rename the broken DB, rename the
#     restored one into its place, restart.
systemctl stop rootnode-platform
docker exec -it rootnode-platform-postgres-1 psql -U rootnode_platform -c \
  "ALTER DATABASE rootnode_platform RENAME TO rootnode_platform_broken_$(date +%s);"
docker exec -it rootnode-platform-postgres-1 psql -U rootnode_platform -c \
  "ALTER DATABASE rootnode_platform_restore_test RENAME TO rootnode_platform;"
systemctl start rootnode-platform
```

Local, non-production dry run of this exact flow: `infra/backup/test-backup-restore.sh` (uses
disposable containers, safe to run anytime, no real data involved).

**Recovery point objective:** up to 24 hours of academic data (daily backup cadence) — see
`docs/BACKUP_DR.md` for the full RPO/RTO discussion and why that's the honest number, not an
aspirational one.