How to Restore Netbird

Community Support Self-Hosted
1

Hi all,

I’ve running a Netbird with docker compose file.

I’ve made a backup of Netbird as describe in the Docs.

Now I copied everything to a second machine and changed the DNS to the new IP.

After changing the IP I go to the new machine and try to restore the Netbird application.

docker compose up 
docker compose stop
docker compose cp -a backup/dbs/management management:/var/lib/netbird/
docker compose start
docker compose up -d

But Netbird is unable to start.

Log:

zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="initialization started" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/init.go:75"
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify user" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/verify_user.go:39" username=zitadel
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify database" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/verify_database.go:39" database=zitadel
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify grant" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/verify_grant.go:34" database=zitadel user=zitadel
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify zitadel" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/verify_zitadel.go:78" database=zitadel
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify system" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/verify_zitadel.go:39"
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify encryption keys" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/verify_zitadel.go:44"
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify projections" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/verify_zitadel.go:49"
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify eventstore" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/verify_zitadel.go:54"
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify events tables" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/verify_zitadel.go:59"
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify system sequence" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/verify_zitadel.go:64"
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify unique constraints" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/initialise/verify_zitadel.go:69"
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="setup started" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/setup/setup.go:100"
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify migration" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/internal/migration/migration.go:43" name=14_events_push
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify migration" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/internal/migration/migration.go:43" name=01_tables
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify migration" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/internal/migration/migration.go:43" name=02_assets
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify migration" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/internal/migration/migration.go:43" name=28_add_search_table
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify migration" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/internal/migration/migration.go:43" name=31_add_aggregate_index_to_fields
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="verify migration" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/internal/migration/migration.go:43" name=03_default_instance
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=info msg="starting migration" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/internal/migration/migration.go:66" name=03_default_instance
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=error msg="migration failed" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/internal/migration/migration.go:68" error="ID=DOMAIN-dv3t5 Message=Errors.AuthNKey.ExpireBeforeNow" name=03_default_instance
zitadel-1     | time="2025-10-09T11:14:49Z" level=fatal msg="migration failed" caller="/home/runner/work/zitadel/zitadel/cmd/setup/setup.go:248" error="ID=DOMAIN-dv3t5 Message=Errors.AuthNKey.ExpireBeforeNow" name=03_default_instance

What is the correct way to backup Netbird and how to restore?

Kind regards,
Sören

2

I could be mistaken, but the management container needs to be disabled before you cp it.

3

Sorry you are right, it was a copy paste failure.
I’ve corrected it.

4

I’m having the same problem. It’s not starting after restore, and the logs still show the old ip. Did you also change something in the restored files?

5

Hello Cristi,
sorry for the late reply.
I didn’t changed anything.
I see in the logs the new IP but netbird didn’t start.

Kind regards
Sören

6

I’ve made only a copy paster failure here in the post. But this does not solved my problem!

7

What version what Netbird when you made the backup and what version are you trying to restore to?

8

Hi,
sorry for the delay.
Same versions.

I’ve switched to the new system with a new URL and joined all server to the new URL.

But I need a solution in kind of Problems.

What can I do to test?

Kind regards
Sören