Profiles Backup
- Last Updated: September 16, 2026
- 4 minute read
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Profiles in Flowmon Monitoring Center can be backed up to external storage configured in Configuration Center. Refer to External Data Storage. The system runs backups every day at a configurable time and copies all data from the previous day to external storage.
Multiple Flowmon devices can back up data to the same external storage. The system marks each backup with the HWID of the source Flowmon device. If a backup fails, the data stays in the queue, and Flowmon retries it the next day together with new data. You can configure the maximum queue length in days.
The profile backup feature is designed for scenarios such as compliance and data archiving. Backup storage is not limited by size or capped by license, and it can keep data for an undefined period. Backup storage is considered cold storage, so access has performance limitations. Restore operations are expected only for specific cases, such as legal investigations, not for daily operations. During restore, use the shortest possible time interval that satisfies your purpose. Restore duration depends on data size, potentially terabytes, and on external storage performance.
You can restore backed-up data for a selected profile, source Flowmon device, and time interval.
The system restores data as a history profile with a user-defined name and group.
Backup Restore Settings
To enable this feature, you must configure external storage in Configuration Center. Then click Backup settings to open the dialog box.
In this dialog box, configure the Remote directory on external storage. The system stores backups in this directory. Each tenant must configure profile backups and set a directory for that tenant's profile backups.
The Number of retries option defines how long the system keeps failed backup jobs in the queue. If a failed job exceeds this limit, the system removes it and does not retry it. Failed jobs can back up profile history only if the corresponding date is still within the profile retention period.
You can also set Backup time.
You can enable or disable backup for each profile using Enable backup and Disable backup in the extended actions menu (⋮). When backup is enabled, profile summaries show the current backup status. The last backup time is shown as a tooltip.
You can restore profiles from the dialog box opened by Restore from backup. The Available backup profiles section shows profiles that you can restore. Loading the profile list can take a moment.
In the HWID drop-down menu, select the backed-up Flowmon device. The list then shows only profiles from that device.
At the bottom, the Restore queue shows the current restore status, including failed restores with a retry option. Click Restore to restore a profile. The Restore settings dialog box opens.
In this dialog box, define the new profile name and target group. The restored profile uses the specified name and group. Then specify the time interval for the restored data.
The restored flow data for the profile matches the selected interval. In some cases, additional graph data may appear before the selected interval because of limitations in the backup and restore process. The amount of additional graph data is negligible.
Backup Restore Metadata
Flowmon automatically maintains backup metadata files (metafiles) that speed up the loading of available backups during restore operations. For Flowmon 13 backups, the system creates metafiles during backup operations and refreshes them periodically to reflect changes in backup storage. For Flowmon 12 backups, the system creates and refreshes metafiles every Monday.
The list of Flowmon 12 backups remains empty until the metafiles are available. Metafiles are generated every Monday.
Backward Compatibility
Flowmon 13 supports restoring backups created by previous Flowmon versions. Backup files remain in their original format, while graph data is regenerated during restore.
Flowmon 12 and Flowmon 13 backups can be stored in the same backup location. Using the same location is a prerequisite for restoring Flowmon 12 backups. Otherwise, the system cannot detect them. After restore, Flowmon regenerates historical graphs with 30-second granularity from the restored flow data, regardless of the profile's original granularity.