Overview

Artifactory supports import and export of data at two levels:

  • Repository level: Artifactory can export and import data and metadata stored in a repository. This is useful when moving store data, including its metadata between repositories and for batch population of a repository.
  • System level:  Artifactory can export and import the whole Artifactory server: configuration, security information, stored data and metadata. The format used is identical to the System Backup format. This is useful when manually running backups and for migrating and restoring a complete Artifactory instance (as an alternative to using database level backup and restore).

Repositories Import and Export

Note: Importing repositories is supported for all users whereas exporting repositories is only available for non-SaaS users.

To access import and export of repositories, in the Administration module, select Artifactory | Import & Export | Repositories.

Export

When exporting, you need to specify the following parameters:

Target Local Repository
You can specify a single repository to export, or All Repositories
Export Path on Server
The export target directory on your server
Exclude Metadata
When set, repository metadata is excluded from the export. (Maven 2 metadata is unaffected by this setting)
Create .m2 Compatible Export
When set, includes Maven 2 repository metadata and checksum files as part of the export
Output Verbose Log

When set, lowers the log level to "debug" and redirects the output from the standard log to the import-export log.

You can monitor the log in the System Logs page.

Import

To disable the system import option, set the artifactory.system.import.enabled property in the artifactory.system.properties file to false.

To access import and export of your entire system, in the Administration module, select Import & Export | System


You can import repositories from a server-side folder, or by zipping a repository and uploading it to Artifactory.

When importing, you need to specify the following parameters:

Target Local Repository
You can specify a single repository to import, or All Repositories. The repository layout should be different depending on your selection. Please refer to Import Layout.
Server Path for Import
The import source directory on your server
Repository Zip File
Applicable when importing repo from zip file. Drop the repository zip file 
Exclude Metadata
When set, repository metadata are excluded from the import
Output Verbose Log

When set, lowers the log level to "debug" and redirects the output from the standard log to the import-export log.

You can monitor the log in the System Logs page.

To work with a Docker repository, it must have its metadata intact. Therefore, when importing to/exporting from a Docker repository make sure that Exclude Metadata is not checked.

You can take advantage of remote repositories you have already downloaded to your local environment, and import them directly into a local repository.

For example, you can take your local Maven repository (usually located under ~/.m2) and upload it into Artifactory so that all the artifacts you have already downloaded are now available on the server.


Import Layout

An imported repository needs to be formatted using a Maven 2 repository layout.

When importing a single repository, the file structure within the import folder (or zip file) should be as follows:

IMPORT_FOLDER/ZIP_FILE
|
|--LIB_DIR_1

When importing all repositories, the file structure within the import folder should be as follows:

IMPORT_FOLDER/ZIP_FILE
|
|--REPOSITORY_NAME_DIR_1
| |
| |--LIB_DIR_1

When importing all repositories, you need to ensure that the names of the directories representing the repositories in the archive match the names of the target repositories in Artifactory.


System Import and Export

Artifactory maintains all security entities (users, groups, permissions and access tokens) when doing a system import.

The System Import and Export feature is not available for Artifactory Cloud users. 

We do not recommend that you import and export between different versions of Artifactory.

It is very important that the import files on the server should be readable and owned by the same user running the Artifactory process.

Although we do not recommend it, when you import from a 6.x export into a 7.x installation, you need to replace the logback.xml in the export with a 7.x logback.xml otherwise logging will break during import.

To access import and export of your entire system, in the Administration module, select Artifactory | Import & Export | System.

 

Export Path on Server

The target directory for the exported files. You may browse your file system to select the directory


Exclude Content

Export: When set, repository binaries are excluded from the export.

Import: When set, binaries and metadata are excluded from the import. Only builds and configuration files are imported.

Exclude Metadata

When set, repository metadata are excluded from the import/export.
(Maven 2 metadata is unaffected by this setting)

For Docker repositories to work they must have their metadata intact. Therefore, if you have Docker repositories, make sure that Exclude Metadata is not checked when doing a system export or import.

Create .m2 Compatible Export
When set, includes Maven 2 repository metadata and checksum files as part of the export
Create a Zip Archive (Slow and CPU Intensive!)
When set, creates and exports to a Zip archive
Output Verbose Log

When set, lowers the log level to "debug" and redirects the output from the standard log to the import-export log.

You can monitor the log in the System Logs page.

The source/target of the import/export operations are folders (Zip archives are not recommended) on the Artifactory server itself.

You can use the built-in server-side browsing inside Artifactory to select server-side source/target folders:

Server side file browser

Importing or exporting a large amount of data may be time consuming. During the import/export operation you can browse away from the page and sample the System Logs to monitor progress.

System Import and Export for an HA Cluster

When performing a system export and subsequent import for an HA cluster, you need to follow the procedure below to ensure that the cluster is able to correctly synchronize its nodes.

When importing from a 6.x export into a 7.x installation, you will need to replace the logback.xml in the export with a 7.x logback.xml, otherwise logging will break during import.

Setting a Target Artifactory

  1. Perform a normal system export from the source cluster as described above.
  2. In the target cluster, keep only one node running, and perform a graceful shutdown to all the rest of the nodes.
  3. Perform normal system import to the target cluster (which now has only one node running) as described above.
  4. For Artifactory versions below 7.12.0, perform a graceful shutdown of the running node and then restart it.
  5. For each additional node:
    1. Delete the following folders:
      • $JFROG_HOME/artifactory/var/etc/access
      • $JFROG_HOME/artifactory/var/etc/security
      • $JFROG_HOME/artifactory/var/etc/artifactory/ui
      • $JFROG_HOME/artifactory/var/etc/artifactory/plugins

    2. Copy the $JFROG_HOME/artifactory/var/etc/security/master.key from the running node to the additional nodes.

      Copying the $JFROG_HOME/artifactory/var/etc/security/master.key is a critical step in the import process - for both single node and HA imports. The master.key is an AES secret key (128 or 256 bit) that is used by Artifactory for encrypting and decrypting the shared data in the database and is, therefore, required for the import process.

    3. Start up the additional nodes.

Once you have completed the import, we recommend verifying that your HA cluster is up and running by checking whether all the nodes and services are online. For more information on viewing service status, see Monitoring Service Statuses. 

After an import, the services of Distribution, Xray, Pipelines, and Insight should be restarted.