Backup Asterisk Configs

Backs up all critical Asterisk data: configuration files, AstDB, voicemail messages, custom recordings, and TLS keys. Keeps N days of local backups with automatic rotation.

Usage

# Manual run
sudo ./backup-asterisk.sh

# Cron (daily at 2 AM)
# 0 2 * * * /usr/local/bin/backup-asterisk.sh >> /var/log/asterisk-backup.log 2>&1

Script

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

# Configuration
BACKUP_DIR="/var/backups/asterisk"
KEEP_DAYS=14
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)
BACKUP_NAME="asterisk-${DATE}"

# What to back up
CONF_DIR="/etc/asterisk"
SPOOL_DIR="/var/spool/asterisk"
SOUNDS_CUSTOM="/var/lib/asterisk/sounds/custom"
KEYS_DIR="/etc/asterisk/keys"
ASTDB="/var/lib/asterisk/astdb.sqlite3"

# Create backup directory
mkdir -p "${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}"

echo "[$(date)] Starting Asterisk backup: ${BACKUP_NAME}"

# 1. Configuration files
echo "  Backing up configs..."
tar czf "${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}/configs.tar.gz" -C / "${CONF_DIR#/}" 2>>"${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}/backup.log"

# 2. AstDB (SQLite database -- requires sqlite3)
echo "  Backing up AstDB..."
if [ -f "${ASTDB}" ]; then
    # Use sqlite3 .backup for a consistent snapshot (safe while Asterisk is running)
    if command -v sqlite3 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    sqlite3 "${ASTDB}" ".backup '${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}/astdb.sqlite3'"
else
    echo "  Warning: AstDB not found at ${ASTDB}"
fi

# 3. Voicemail spool
echo "  Backing up voicemail..."
if [ -d "${SPOOL_DIR}/voicemail" ]; then
    tar czf "${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}/voicemail.tar.gz" -C / "${SPOOL_DIR#/}/voicemail" 2>>"${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}/backup.log"
fi

# 4. Custom sound files
echo "  Backing up custom sounds..."
if [ -d "${SOUNDS_CUSTOM}" ]; then
    tar czf "${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}/sounds-custom.tar.gz" -C / "${SOUNDS_CUSTOM#/}" 2>>"${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}/backup.log"
fi

# 5. TLS keys/certificates
echo "  Backing up TLS keys..."
if [ -d "${KEYS_DIR}" ]; then
    tar czf "${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}/keys.tar.gz" -C / "${KEYS_DIR#/}" 2>>"${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}/backup.log"
fi

# Create a single archive of everything
echo "  Creating combined archive..."
tar czf "${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}.tar.gz" -C "${BACKUP_DIR}" "${BACKUP_NAME}"
rm -rf "${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}"

# Rotate old backups
echo "  Rotating backups older than ${KEEP_DAYS} days..."
find "${BACKUP_DIR}" -name "asterisk-*.tar.gz" -mtime +${KEEP_DAYS} -delete

FINAL_SIZE=$(du -sh "${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}.tar.gz" | cut -f1)
echo "[$(date)] Backup complete: ${BACKUP_NAME}.tar.gz (${FINAL_SIZE})"

How it works

1. AstDB backup: Uses sqlite3 .backup instead of copying the file. This creates a consistent snapshot even while Asterisk is running and holding locks on the database.
2. Tar with -C /: The -C / flag combined with stripping the leading / from paths ensures the archive preserves the full directory structure without absolute path warnings.
3. Rotation: find -mtime +N -delete removes archives older than N days. Adjust KEEP_DAYS based on your storage budget.
4. set -euo pipefail: Makes the script fail-fast on any error (-e), treat unset variables as errors (-u), and propagate pipeline failures (-o pipefail).

Tips

• Add remote sync at the end: rsync -az "${BACKUP_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}.tar.gz" user@remote:/backups/ or aws s3 cp for S3.
• To restore: extract the archive, then cp -a configs back and run asterisk -rx "core reload".
• For AstDB restore: stop Asterisk, replace astdb.sqlite3, restart Asterisk.
• Monitor backup success by checking the cron log or adding a heartbeat ping (e.g., healthchecks.io).