Realistic Data Backup method for Parse.com

Question

We are building an iOS app with Parse.com, but still can\'t figure out the right way to backup data efficiently.

As a premise, we have and will have a LOT of data store

Answer 1

For accidental deletes, writing a cloud function 'beforedelete' to backup the current row to another class would work.

For regular backups, manual export of changed records (use filter) will be useful. For recovery this requires you to write scripts / use import option (not so sure) in data browser. You could also write a cloud function replicate data on your backup server (haven't tried this yet).

However there are some limitations to cloud code that you should consider before venturing into it: https://parse.com/docs/cloud_code_guide#functions-resource

Answer 2

On December 2015 parse.com released a new dashboard with an improved export feature. Just select your app, click on "App Settings" -> "General" -> "Export app data". Parse generates a json-file for every class in your app and sends an email to you, if the export-progress is done.

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UPDATE:

Sad but true, parse.com is winding down: http://blog.parse.com/announcements/moving-on/

Answer 3

I had the same issue of backing up parse server data. As parse server is using mongodb that is why backing up data is not an issue I have just done a simple thing. downloaded the mongodb backup from the server. And then restored it using

mongorestore /path-to-mongodump (extracted files)

As parse has been turned to open source.Therefore we can adopt this technique.

Answer 4

Parse has never lost production data. While we don't currently offer automated backups, you can request one any time you like, and we're working on making all of this even nicer. Additionally, it's easier in most cases to import the JSON export file through the data browser rather than using the REST batch.

Answer 5

I can confirm that today, Parse did lost my data. Or at least it appeared to be so.

After several errors where detected on multiple apps (agreed by Parse Status twitter account), we could not retrieve data for an app, without any error.

It was because an entire column of one of our class (type pointer) disappeared and data was not present anymore in the dashboard.

We are using this pointer column to filter / retrieve data, so the returned queries and collections were empty.

So we decided to recreate the column manually. By chance, recreating the column, with the same name and type, solved the issue and the data was still there... I can't explain it but I really thought, and the app reacted as if, data were lost.

So an automated backup and restore option is mandatory, it is not an option.