Backup and Restore Guide for OpenClaw Rating & Review Service

1. Introduction – Why a Backup Strategy Is Non‑Negotiable

OpenClaw powers rating and review collections for countless SaaS products, marketplaces, and community portals. A single loss of that data can erase months of user feedback, damage brand trust, and stall product development. This guide walks UBOS users—developers, sysadmins, and product managers—through a complete backup and restore lifecycle for both self‑hosted and UBOS‑managed deployments.

2. Why Backup Matters

• Data loss risks: hardware failure, accidental deletions, ransomware, or mis‑configured migrations can wipe rating tables in seconds.
• Business continuity: Restoring reviews quickly keeps your public rating widgets functional, preserving SEO equity and user confidence.
• Compliance & audit: Many regulations (GDPR, CCPA) require you to retain user‑generated content for a defined period.
• Cost avoidance: Re‑collecting reviews is far more expensive than maintaining a reliable backup.

3. Preparing for Backup

3.1 Prerequisites

1. Access to the OpenClaw admin panel or UBOS CLI with admin privileges.
2. Enough disk space for the export file (CSV or JSON, typically 5‑10 MB per 10 k reviews).
3. Encryption tool (OpenSSL, GPG) installed on the host machine.
4. Secure storage destination – cloud bucket, encrypted NAS, or an offline vault.

3.2 Permissions

Ensure the account you use has the following permissions:

• Read access to the ratings and reviews tables.
• Write access to the backup storage location (e.g., S3 bucket policy).
• Execution rights for the ubos CLI if you are on a managed deployment.

4. Exporting Data (Self‑Hosted)

Follow these steps to pull a clean export from a self‑hosted OpenClaw instance.

4.1 Access the OpenClaw Admin Panel

1. Navigate to https://your‑domain.com/openclaw/admin and log in with an admin account.
2. From the left navigation, select Data Export.

4.2 Using the Export Tool

1. Choose the export format:
   • CSV – easy to open in spreadsheets.
   • JSON – ideal for programmatic restores.
2. Select the date range you wish to back up (e.g., last 30 days, all time).
3. Click Generate Export. The system creates a file named openclaw-backup-YYYYMMDD.zip.

4.3 Export Format Details

The ZIP archive contains:

5. Exporting Data (UBOS‑Managed)

UBOS streamlines the backup process with CLI commands and dashboard widgets.

5.1 Using UBOS CLI

1. Open a terminal and authenticate with your UBOS account:

   ubos login --api-key YOUR_API_KEY

2. Run the export command for the OpenClaw service:

   ubos export openclaw --format json --output ~/backups/openclaw-$(date +%F).zip

3. The CLI returns a JSON payload with the file path and a SHA‑256 checksum.

5.2 Automated Export Options

UBOS also offers scheduled exports via the Workflow automation studio. Create a daily job that runs the same CLI command and pushes the resulting ZIP to an S3 bucket or Azure Blob storage.

For a visual approach, the UBOS solutions for SMBs dashboard includes a “Backup Scheduler” widget where you can set frequency, retention, and destination with a few clicks.

6. Securing the Backup

Backup security is as important as the backup itself. Follow these three pillars:

6.1 Encryption

1. Generate a strong symmetric key (256‑bit):

   openssl rand -base64 32 > backup.key

2. Encrypt the ZIP file:

   openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -in openclaw-backup-20231101.zip -out openclaw-backup-20231101.enc -pass file:./backup.key

3. Store backup.key in a separate secret manager (e.g., AWS Secrets Manager).

6.2 Secure Storage Locations

• Cloud bucket with IAM policies: Use a dedicated bucket with read‑only access for the restore service and write‑only for the backup job.
• On‑premise encrypted NAS: Mount the NAS via NFS and enforce TLS for data in transit.
• Offline vault: For compliance, keep a copy on an encrypted USB drive stored in a fire‑proof safe.

6.3 Retention Policy

Adopt a “Grandfather‑Father‑Son” model:

• Daily backups kept for 7 days.
• Weekly backups kept for 4 weeks.
• Monthly backups kept for 12 months.

Automate deletion using lifecycle rules in your cloud bucket or a cron job on your server.

7. Restoring Data (Self‑Hosted)

7.1 Import Process

1. Decrypt the backup if encrypted:

   openssl enc -d -aes-256-cbc -in openclaw-backup-20231101.enc -out openclaw-backup-20231101.zip -pass file:./backup.key

2. Upload the ZIP to the OpenClaw admin panel via Data Import.
3. Select the file, choose the format (CSV/JSON), and click Start Import.
4. The system validates checksums against metadata.json. Errors are displayed in a log view.

7.2 Verifying Integrity

After import, run a quick sanity check:

• Count rows: SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ratings;
• Compare with the metadata.json record count.
• Spot‑check a few recent reviews in the UI to ensure text is intact.

8. Restoring Data (UBOS‑Managed)

8.1 UBOS Restore Workflow

1. Navigate to the Enterprise AI platform by UBOS dashboard and select the OpenClaw service.
2. Click Restore and upload the encrypted backup file.
3. Provide the secret key reference (UBOS will fetch it from the integrated secret manager).
4. UBOS automatically decrypts, validates, and runs the import routine in a sandboxed container.
5. When the job finishes, a green banner confirms success; any warnings appear in the Restore Log tab.

8.2 Rollback Considerations

If the restore introduces unexpected data (e.g., duplicate IDs), you can roll back to the previous snapshot:

1. Open the Snapshots page in the UBOS dashboard.
2. Select the snapshot taken immediately before the restore.
3. Click Rollback. UBOS will spin up a new container with the old state and switch traffic after health checks.

9. Best Practices & Tips

• Schedule regular backups: Use the UBOS partner program automation templates to run nightly exports.
• Monitor and alert: Set up a webhook in the Web app editor on UBOS that notifies Slack or email if a backup job fails.
• Test restores quarterly: A backup is only as good as its restore; run a dry‑run on a staging environment.
• Version your schema: Include a schema_version field in metadata.json so future migrations can adapt.
• Leverage AI for anomaly detection: The AI SEO Analyzer can scan backup logs for unusual spikes in review volume that may indicate spam attacks.

10. Conclusion – Your Path to Resilient Review Data

By following the step‑by‑step procedures outlined above, you can safeguard every rating and review collected by OpenClaw, whether you run the service on your own servers or let UBOS handle the heavy lifting. Regular, encrypted backups, clear retention policies, and tested restore workflows turn a potential disaster into a routine maintenance task.

Ready to get started? Explore the OpenClaw hosting options on UBOS and choose the deployment model that matches your organization’s risk tolerance and growth plans.