> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://clickhouse.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Back Up and Restore ClickHouse (Manual)

Perform manual backups and restores of ClickHouse data using SQL commands and S3 storage. For full syntax details, see the [upstream ClickHouse backup documentation](https://clickhouse.com/docs/operations/backup).

For API-driven backup operations, see [Manage Backups via API](/docs/cloud/clickhouse-private/how-to/manage-backups-via-api).

## Prerequisites

* An S3 bucket in the same region as your cluster
* The IAM role tied to the Kubernetes service account must have read, write, and list access to the bucket

## S3 Path Format

All backup commands use the following S3 path:

```
https://s3.$REGION.amazonaws.com/$S3_BUCKET/$CLUSTER_S3_PREFIX/$BACKUP_ID
```

| Variable             | Description                                                                                                               |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `$REGION`            | S3 region (e.g., `us-west-2`)                                                                                             |
| `$S3_BUCKET`         | Name of the S3 bucket for backups                                                                                         |
| `$CLUSTER_S3_PREFIX` | S3 key prefix for the cluster, found in the `clickhousecluster` resource under `spec.s3.keyPrefix` (e.g., `ch-s3-{uuid}`) |
| `$BACKUP_ID`         | A unique identifier (UUID) for this backup                                                                                |

## Perform a Full Backup

From one of the server pods, run:

```sql theme={null}
BACKUP TABLE system.users, TABLE system.roles, TABLE system.settings_profiles, TABLE system.row_policies, TABLE system.quotas, TABLE system.functions, ALL EXCEPT DATABASES INFORMATION_SCHEMA,information_schema, system TO S3('https://s3.$REGION.amazonaws.com/$S3_BUCKET/$CLUSTER_S3_PREFIX/$BACKUP_ID') SETTINGS id='$BACKUP_ID' ASYNC;
```

The backup runs asynchronously. Check progress via the [`system.backups`](https://clickhouse.com/docs/operations/system-tables/backups) table:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT * FROM system.backups WHERE id = '$BACKUP_ID';
```

## Incremental Backups

See [Take an incremental backup](https://clickhouse.com/docs/operations/backup#take-an-incremental-backup) in the upstream docs.

## Restore from a Backup

Run on the cluster you want to restore into:

```sql theme={null}
RESTORE ALL FROM S3('https://s3.$REGION.amazonaws.com/$S3_BUCKET/$CLUSTER_S3_PREFIX/$BACKUP_ID') SETTINGS id='$RESTORE_ID', allow_different_database_def=true;
```

`$RESTORE_ID` is any unique identifier you assign to the restore operation.