Docs Reference

Backups and updates

What to back up, how to restore, and how to update the collector.

Back up

Everything Lantern keeps is in its data folder. Stop Lantern, copy the whole folder, and start it again.

Folder When
C:\ProgramData\Lantern Windows, installed with install-service.ps1
data\ next to netmap.exe Windows, run with Start Lantern.cmd
/var/lib/lantern Linux, installed with install.sh

The folder contains encrypted secrets and the keys to them (credentials.key, auth.key, monitoring.key), so store backups as carefully as the collector itself. Keep each customer's backup apart from every other customer's, and never copy keys between collectors.

Restore

Install Lantern, stop it, put the backed-up folder in place of the data folder, and start it. On Linux, make sure the files belong to the lantern user: sudo chown -R lantern:lantern /var/lib/lantern.

Update

  1. Download the new version and check its SHA-256.
  2. Windows: unzip it and run install-service.ps1 again with the same options. Linux: unpack it and run sudo ./install.sh again with the same options.
  3. Refresh the browser.

The installer replaces the program and keeps the data. People need to sign in again after an update, because sessions are kept in memory; the change history also starts again in this preview.