10 Database
RStudio Connect supports multiple database options. Currently, the supported databases are SQLite and PostgreSQL.
Customize the Database.Provider property with a database scheme appropriate
for your organization. See Section A.9 for
details
Here is a partial configuration which chooses to use SQLite
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[Database]
Provider = sqlite10.1 SQLite
SQLite is the default database provider.
RStudio Connect will use SQLite database if the
Database.Provider setting has a value of sqlite or if
Provider is not present in the configuration file.
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[Database]
Provider = sqliteYou can also specify the directory to store the SQLite file on your file
system. This can be done by specifying SQLite.Dir in the
configuration file.
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[SQLite]
Dir = /mnt/connect/sqliteIf this field is not specified, it will default to {Server.DataDir}/db. This
location must exist on local storage.
If the location for Server.DataDir is not local storage but
a networked location over NFS, configure the SQLite.Dir
setting so it still resides on some local volume.
10.1.1 SQLite Backups
RStudio Connect can be configured to periodically back up its database while running.
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[SQLite]
Backup = true
BackupFrequency = 24h
BackupRetentionLimit = 7The above config will execute an online backup every 24 hours. RStudio Connect will retain up to 7 of those backups. If an eigth backup is created, the oldest of the previous backups will be deleted. This provides a grace period for an administrator implementing a data retention policy, such as a practice of copying backups to tape periodically.
Backups are stored in the same directory as the main database file: /var/lib/rstudio-connect/db by default. Backups
are lexically sortable, because they are timestamped with the UNIX epoch time padded to 11 digits. For example, if
the server’s database file is /var/lib/rstudio-connect/db/connect.db, a backup of that database could be
/var/lib/rstudio-connect/db/connect.db.01508526538.
The same process is applied to the instrumentation database file. It will be backed up based on the same settings as for the main database file.
Automatic SQLite backups are not a complete backup solution for RStudio Connect. You should also make regular
backups of the Server.DataDir directory. This is especially important because the Server.DataDir directory is
expected to be kept in sync with the database.
Restoring a SQLite backup is straightforward:
- Ensure that the backup is valid with the command
sqlite3 <backup file name> "PRAGMA integrity_check;" - Stop the RStudio Connect service
- Copy the current database file as well as its
.walfile, if any. (If you wish to analyze them or send a copy to RStudio Support) - Replace the current database file with the backup
- If they exist, delete any
.waland.shmfiles associated with the previous database. Failure to do this could lead to further downtime and possible data corruption. - Start the RStudio Connect service
Note also that RStudio Connect has no way of restoring applications deployed or changes made since the last backup. Restoring the backup file will cause these changes to be lost permanently.
10.2 PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL is an available database provider which is more powerful and performant than SQLite.
You must provide your own Postgres server which will likely be a separate box from your RStudio Connect server (but not required). We currently support any 9.x, 10.x or 11.x version greater than or equal to 9.4. Your Postgres server does not have to be dedicated to RStudio Connect, but it must have its own dedicated database.
Use your Postgres server instead of the default SQLite database by configuring
Database.Provider as postgres and setting
Postgres.URL to the fully qualified Postgres URL of your
server.
The user credentials supplied in the Database.Provider URL must be able to
create and alter database tables, in addition to read/write permissions in the
database referenced as the path of the URL. A blank database with the given
name MUST already exist.
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[Database]
Provider = postgres
[Postgres]
URL = "postgres://username:password@db.seed.co/connect"10.2.1 SSL
RStudio Connect assumes by default that SSL is enabled on the Postgres server.
If SSL is not enabled on your Postgres database, add ?sslmode=disable to the
Postgres.URL.
Here is an example configuration using a Postgres database with SSL connections:
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[Database]
Provider = postgres
[Postgres]
URL = "postgres://username:password@db.seed.co/connect"Here is an example configuration using a Postgres database without SSL connections:
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[Database]
Provider = postgres
[Postgres]
URL = "postgres://username:password@db.seed.co/connect?sslmode=disable"10.2.2 Schemas
If you need to, you can tell Connect to restrict itself to keeping its tables
within a specific schema. You control this by giving PostgreSQL a search path
as part of the URL by adding options=-csearch_path=<schema-name> to the URL.
If it’s the only item you’re adding, separate it from the rest of the URL with
? (just like the sslmode item above). Otherwise, separate it from other
items with ‘&’.
Here is an example configuration that specifies a schema to use, with SSL:
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[Database]
Provider = postgres
[Postgres]
URL = "postgres://username:password@db.seed.co/connect?options=-csearch_path=connect_schema"Here is an example configuration that specifies a schema to use, with SSL disabled:
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[Database]
Provider = postgres
[Postgres]
URL = "postgres://username:password@db.seed.co/connect?sslmode=disable&options=-csearch_path=connect_schema"RStudio Connect will refuse to start when given a schema that does not already exist. The schema must be owned by the connecting user or by a group that contains the connecting user.
10.2.3 Historical Database
Historical events generated by RStudio Connect can be written to a separate PostgreSQL database. See the section 19 for details.
By default, historical events will be written to the same database.
Use Postgres.InstrumentationURL to use a separate database.
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[Postgres]
URL = "postgres://username:password@db.seed.co/connect"
InstrumentationURL = "postgres://username:password@db.seed.co/connect_instrumentation"10.2.4 Passwords
The PostgreSQL connection URL may contain a password. You can encrypt this password to avoid credential leakage. See the appendix section A.1.3 for details.
The placeholder {$} should be used instead of the password in the
URL and a new settings should be added to the configuration file.
For example:
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[Postgres]
URL = "postgres://username:{$}@db.seed.co/connect"
Password = <base64 encrypted password value>The same applies to a separate historical database:
; /etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg
[Postgres]
URL = "postgres://username:{$}@db.seed.co/connect"
Password = <base64 encrypted password value>
InstrumentationURL = "postgres://username:{$}@db.seed.co/connect_instrumentation"
InstrumentationPassword = <base64 encrypted password value>10.3 Changing Database Provider
Connect includes a migrate command for migrating data from one database
to another.
The migration utility is installed at
/opt/rstudio-connect/bin/migrate. It uses the configuration defined in
/etc/rstudio-connect/rstudio-connect.gcfg unless you specify an alternate
configuration file with the --config flag.
The migrate utility must be run as root.
The migrate utility can only be run when Connect is stopped. See Section
5.1 for information on stopping and restarting Connect.
Note: Migration from PostgreSQL to SQLite is not supported at this time.
Note: Migration of instrumentation event data is not supported at this time.
If you are also migrating your RStudio Connect installation to a new server, see 4.9.
10.3.1 Database Migration Checklist
Use this checklist to guide your migration process:
10.3.2 Configuration Requirements
When migrating data, the configuration file must contain valid configuration
sections for both SQLite and Postgres. The migration utility will connect
to the SQLite and PostgreSQL databases specified in the configuration.
10.4 Authentication Provider
The migration between authentication providers is detailed in section 11.1.
10.5 Configuration Migration
New version of RStudio Connect will automatically generate a migration file whenever a new setting needs to be added to the configuration of an existing installation. The migration file will be kept separated from the main configuration file. It is recommended that migrated settings be moved to the main configuration file at your earliest convenience.
See the configuration appendix A for details about the process and other information on this migration.