I am using Comunda with Helm Chart 8.1.3. Unfortunately, Zeebe data was deleted (/usr/local/zeebe/data) a few days ago and we don’t have a backup of it. I have a backup from Elasticsearch. I want to restore Zeebe data from Elastic data? Is this possible?
I understand your situation - losing Zeebe data can be concerning. Unfortunately, you cannot restore Zeebe data directly from an Elasticsearch backup.
Here’s why this isn’t possible:
The Architecture Issue
Zeebe and Elasticsearch serve different purposes in Camunda 8:
- Zeebe stores the authoritative process state and workflow data in its own data directory (
/usr/local/zeebe/data) - Elasticsearch only contains exported records for search and analytics purposes - it’s not the source of truth for process state
What This Means for Recovery
Since your /usr/local/zeebe/data directory was deleted, you can only recover if you have a Zeebe-specific backup created through Zeebe’s backup mechanism. The Elasticsearch backup alone cannot reconstruct the Zeebe runtime state.
Recovery Options
If you have a Zeebe backup:
- Follow the Zeebe restore procedure
- Ensure the data directory is empty before starting the restore
- Use Zeebe’s backup/restore API to recover the partition data
If you don’t have a Zeebe backup:
Unfortunately, the process state is unrecoverable. Elasticsearch backups are insufficient for this purpose.
Going Forward
For future deployments, ensure you implement proper backup procedures that include:
- Zeebe partition backups (triggered through Zeebe’s API)
- Coordinated backups across all Camunda 8 components
- Regular backup scheduling through Zeebe’s backup mechanism
As the documentation states: “Simply taking a disk-level snapshot of each Zeebe broker is not enough, as the brokers operate independently and data may not be aligned across them at the time of the snapshot.”
Do you have any Zeebe backups available that were created through Zeebe’s backup API?
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