Dashboard Backup

InfluxDB is configured to use a infinite retention policy (see influxdb.sql). It uses continuous queries to downsample Powerwall data and preserve disk space. However, this does not safeguard the data from accidental deletion or corruption. It is recommend that you set up a backup plan to snapshot the data for disaster recovery.

Transfer to a New Computer

If you want to create a backup of your Powerwall Dashboard and move it to a new computer. You can follow these steps:

# Step 1 - Stop Dashboard on old computer
./compose-dash.sh stop

# Step 2- Create a backup
sudo tar -zvcf ../Powerwall-Dashboard.tgz *
cd ..

# Step 3 - Copy the Powerwall-Dashboard.tgz to the new computer

# Stop 4 - Clone Project on new computer
git clone https://github.com/jasonacox/Powerwall-Dashboard.git
cd Powerwall-Dashboard

# Step 5 - Restore backup
sudo tar --no-same-owner -zxvf ../Powerwall-Dashboard.tgz

# Step 6 - Setup
./setup.sh

Backup Plans

Backup the Powerwall-Dashboard folder. In that folder are two important folders:

• influxdb - This is the folder for the database that stores the metrics.
• grafana - This is the folder for the dashboard which holds your setup and customization.

The backup script creates a consistent snapshot of:

1. InfluxDB — uses influxd backup -portable to create a proper online snapshot (not a copy of live data files), plus an export of the live continuous queries
2. Grafana — uses sqlite3 .backup for a consistent copy of grafana.db (falls back to direct copy if sqlite3 is not installed on the host: sudo apt install sqlite3), plus provisioning files
3. Configuration files — all .env, .conf, and .yml files needed to restore your setup
4. Weather service — weather/weather411.conf (if present)
5. Tesla cloud tokens — the .auth/ directory (if present), so cloud-mode installs migrate without re-authenticating

Security note: backup archives contain credentials (.env files, Tesla tokens). The script creates them with mode 600 — keep them protected, especially if you copy them off-machine.

The following shows an example of how to set up automated backups (see backup.sh):

1. Copy backup.sh.sample to backup.sh (cp backup.sh.sample backup.sh)
2. Make the script executable with chmod +x backup.sh (the script auto-detects the dashboard location by finding compose-dash.sh)
3. Add to crontab for daily backups: 0 2 * * * /home/user/Powerwall-Dashboard/backups/backup.sh

The influxdb container must be running when the backup runs — the snapshot is taken online with no downtime.

Large datasets: both backup.sh and restore.sh stage data in a temporary directory (mktemp -d, usually under /tmp). If your InfluxDB history is large (multi-GB) and /tmp is a RAM-backed tmpfs, staging there can exhaust memory. Both scripts check available space first — backup aborts and restore warns — and you can point staging at a disk with more room: sudo TMPDIR=/path/with/space ./backup.sh

Backup Script Example

The full script is in backup.sh.sample. To set up automated daily backups:

1. cp backup.sh.sample backup.sh && chmod +x backup.sh
2. Add to crontab: 0 2 * * * /home/user/Powerwall-Dashboard/backups/backup.sh

The script auto-detects the dashboard location from its own path (must live in Powerwall-Dashboard/backups/). It creates an InfluxDB snapshot, backs up Grafana, captures config files, weather/Alexa settings, and Tesla cloud tokens, then prunes archives older than 5 days. Archives are mode 600 (they contain credentials).

Restore Backup

Naturally, whatever backup plan you decide to do, make sure you test it. Copy the backup to another VM or box, install Powerwall-Dashboard and restore the backup to see if it all comes back up without any data loss.

Using the restore script (recommended)

A companion restore.sh.sample is provided to automate the restore process. It handles permissions, pre-restore safety copies, and the correct InfluxDB restore sequence.

1. Copy restore.sh.sample to restore.sh (cp restore.sh.sample restore.sh)
2. Make the script executable with chmod +x restore.sh
3. Run as root:

    # Restore from the most recent backup archive
    sudo ./restore.sh
   
    # Or specify a specific archive
    sudo ./restore.sh /path/to/Powerwall-Dashboard.2026-01-15.tar.xz
   

The restore script will:

1. Auto-detect the Powerwall-Dashboard directory by locating compose-dash.sh
2. Check staging disk space and warn before extracting a large archive into a location that can’t hold it (use sudo TMPDIR=/path/with/space ./restore.sh to relocate staging)
3. Stop all containers before touching data
4. Restore InfluxDB from the influxd backup -portable snapshot, moving existing data aside first (not deleted — you get a rollback path), then re-create continuous queries from the archive (with influxdb.sql as fallback)
5. Restore Grafana database and provisioning files with correct ownership
6. Restore configuration files, rewriting PWD_USER in compose.env to match this host’s actual user and primary group (same uid:gid convention as setup.sh). Project files managed by git (powerwall.yml, telegraf.conf, influxdb.conf, VERSION) are kept in the archive for reference but are NOT restored over the current checkout — this prevents an older backup from downgrading the stack or breaking future upgrades.
7. Restore weather411.conf and .auth tokens (when present in the archive — older archives without them restore fine)
8. Recreate the stack (compose-dash.sh up -d, so restored settings take effect) and print a list of pre-restore backup paths to clean up once confirmed

Manual restore from a backup script archive

The backup script creates an archive with this structure:

influxdb/          # InfluxDB portable snapshot + continuous_queries.txt
grafana/           # grafana.db (consistent copy) + provisions
config/            # configuration files (.env, .conf, .yml)
weather/           # weather411.conf (if present)
auth/              # .auth Tesla cloud tokens (if present)

To restore manually from a backup script archive:

1. Install a fresh instance of Powerwall-Dashboard per Setup instructions, then start it once so the influxdb container is running and the default powerwall database exists.
2. Stop telegraf and grafana only — keep influxdb running so docker exec works:

    docker compose stop telegraf grafana
   

3. Restore backup files

    # Set your dashboard location
    DASHBOARD="/home/user/Powerwall-Dashboard"
   
    # Extract the backup archive to a temporary location
    mkdir -p /tmp/pwd-restore
    sudo tar --no-same-owner -Jxvf "${DASHBOARD}/backups/Powerwall-Dashboard.xyz.tar.xz" -C /tmp/pwd-restore
   
    # Restore InfluxDB snapshot (files are in influxdb/ from the portable backup)
    mkdir -p "${DASHBOARD}/influxdb/backups"
    sudo cp -a /tmp/pwd-restore/influxdb/. "${DASHBOARD}/influxdb/backups/"
    # Drop the existing database — influxd restore refuses to restore into an
    # existing database (setup.sh creates an empty powerwall DB):
    docker exec influxdb influx -database powerwall -execute "DROP DATABASE powerwall"
    # Restore using -portable to match the backup format:
    docker exec influxdb influxd restore -portable /var/lib/influxdb/backups
    # Re-create continuous queries (influxd restore does not reliably restore CQs):
    grep '^CREATE CONTINUOUS QUERY' "${DASHBOARD}/influxdb/influxdb.sql" \
      | docker exec -i influxdb influx -database powerwall
   
    # Restore Grafana
    sudo cp -a /tmp/pwd-restore/grafana/grafana.db "${DASHBOARD}/grafana/"
    sudo cp -a /tmp/pwd-restore/grafana/provisions/. "${DASHBOARD}/grafana/provisions/" 2>/dev/null
   
    # Restore config files (exclude git-managed project files - restoring an
    # older powerwall.yml/telegraf.conf/VERSION would downgrade the stack and
    # cause git pull conflicts on future upgrades)
    for f in /tmp/pwd-restore/config/* /tmp/pwd-restore/config/.*.env; do
      case "$(basename "$f")" in
        powerwall.yml|telegraf.conf|influxdb.conf|VERSION|_config.yml) continue ;;
      esac
      [ -f "$f" ] && sudo cp -a "$f" "${DASHBOARD}/"
    done
   
    # Restore weather411 config and Tesla cloud tokens (newer archives)
    [ -f /tmp/pwd-restore/weather/weather411.conf ] && sudo cp -a /tmp/pwd-restore/weather/weather411.conf "${DASHBOARD}/weather/"
    [ -d /tmp/pwd-restore/auth ] && sudo mkdir -p "${DASHBOARD}/.auth" && sudo cp -a /tmp/pwd-restore/auth/. "${DASHBOARD}/.auth/"
   
    # Clean up
    sudo rm -rf /tmp/pwd-restore
   

4. Recreate containers so restored settings take effect (‘start’ alone would resume the old containers with stale configuration)

    ./compose-dash.sh up -d
   

Using a full directory backup (transfer method)

If you used the full tar method from the Transfer to a New Computer section above, simply extract over the fresh clone:

sudo tar --no-same-owner -zxvf ../Powerwall-Dashboard.tgz
./setup.sh