Config Backups
Capture Edge keeps a snapshot of its configuration every time that configuration changes. If a change turns out to be wrong, you can go back to any snapshot that is still on the device.
Edge2.3.1+ The CloudManager UI has a page for this: open http://localhost:5004 on the device and select
Configuration Backups in the menu. Everything below describes that page. If you cannot reach the UI, see
Restoring without the UI.
When a backup is taken
CloudManager takes a snapshot when it starts, and again every time it stores a new configuration — a save in the UI, a configuration pushed from the Capture portal, or an uploaded config file. It only writes one if the configuration differs from the last snapshot, so restarting without changing anything does not add a row.
The backup directory is capped at 25 MB in total. When a new snapshot pushes it over that, the oldest snapshots are deleted until it fits again. A long-lived device therefore keeps a window of recent configurations, not every configuration it has ever had.
The limit can be raised with the CAPTURE_CONFIG_BACKUP_SIZE_LIMIT environment variable, in MB.
The backup list
Each row is one snapshot:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Backed up | When the snapshot was taken, in UTC. Hover it to see how long ago that was. |
| Size | How much of the 25 MB budget this snapshot uses. |
| State | Current marks the snapshot the live configuration was written from. Same as current marks an older snapshot that happens to hold the same configuration anyway — which is what you get by changing something and changing it back. |
Use Taken from (UTC) and Taken until (UTC) above the list to narrow it to a period; Clear dates removes the filter. Refresh re-reads the list from the device.
Compare two configurations
Before restoring anything, check what would actually change.
- Pick what to compare against in Compare against. The default is the current configuration; you can also compare against any other snapshot.
- Select Compare on the row you are interested in.
A side-by-side diff opens with the snapshot on the left and the comparison target on the right.
"Compare against" is a searchable list rather than a plain dropdown, because a device can hold hundreds of snapshots. Type part of the timestamp to find one.
Download a configuration
Download saves that snapshot as Config_<timestamp>.json, exactly as it is stored on the device.
Download the configuration that is running now before you restore an older one. The restore does keep it as a backup of its own, but a copy on your own machine is not subject to the 25 MB limit.
Replicator and edge-bus passwords are stored encrypted, but local database, sync destination and connection credentials are in plain text. Treat a downloaded configuration the way you would treat a password file.
Restore a configuration
Select Restore on the snapshot you want, and confirm.
Restoring replaces the live configuration and restarts the Capture Edge services so they pick it up. Data collection stops for the duration of that restart. The configuration that was running becomes a backup of its own, so a restore can be undone by restoring that one.
The CloudManager UI has no login, and neither does the API behind it. Anyone who can reach port 5004 on this device can restore a configuration. The confirmation dialog prevents a misclick — it is not an access control. See Cloud connect requirements for the ports involved.
Current and Same as current rows offer no Restore action: applying them would change nothing and still restart every service.
A restore changes the configuration on the device only. If this gateway's configuration is managed from the Capture portal, the next configuration push from the cloud will overwrite it again. Fix the configuration in the portal as well, or the restore is temporary.
A configuration made for another gateway
A configuration names the gateway it was made for, in the logger tags of its connections. When the device is given one that names another gateway - restored here, saved in the UI, pushed from the Capture portal, or copied from a second device - Capture Edge stores it with this device's gateway ID and name, so nothing is collected, stored or synced under the other gateway. The Issues page then shows one or both of these Info issues:
| Issue | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| This configuration was made for another gateway. It gives the gateway ID as '…', but this device's ID is '…'. | The configuration carries a different gateway ID from this device's identity.guid. | Nothing, if the configuration was copied from another gateway. If this device used to have that ID, it has lost its identity: put its original identity.guid back and restart Capture Edge. Until then, its license is not valid on this device. |
| The configuration names this gateway '…', but its auth file names it '…'. | The configuration carries a different gateway name from the auth file. Capture Edge uses the name from the auth file. | Nothing, if the configuration was copied from another gateway or restored from an older backup. If the gateway was renamed in the Capture portal, download a new auth file there, upload it on the Authentication page and restart the Capture Edge services (see Authentication failures). |
Restoring without the UI
The snapshots are plain JSON files on disk, so they remain usable when CloudManager's UI cannot be reached:
- Windows:
C:\ProgramData\Capture\Config\Backups - Linux:
/etc/capture/Config/Backups
ProgramData is a hidden folder on Windows. Paste the path above into the Windows Explorer address bar to go
straight there.
The directory holds one Config_<unix-ms>.json per snapshot — the number is the
Unix timestamp in milliseconds of when it was taken, which is what
the Backed up column shows — plus Config_current.json, a copy of the configuration that is live now.
Editing a file in this folder does not change the running configuration. These are copies. To apply one, upload it through the CloudManager UI or the Capture portal.
If the Capture directory has been moved with the CAPTURE_DATA_DIR environment variable, the backups move
with it: they are always in Config/Backups below that directory.
Where else the snapshots turn up
The diagnostics package contains the whole backup directory under
CloudManager/ConfigBackups/, next to the configuration that was running when the package was generated. If
you are sending a problem to support, that one download carries the configuration history with it.