--- title: Policy database backups description: The Policy Editor uses a policy database to store its Trust Framework, policies, commit history, and other data needed for proper operation. component: pingauthorize version: 11.0 page_id: pingauthorize:pingauthorize_server_administration_guide:paz_policy_db_backups canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingauthorize/11.0/pingauthorize_server_administration_guide/paz_policy_db_backups.html revdate: January 30, 2025 section_ids: configure-or-disable-policy-database-backups: Configure or disable policy database backups --- # Policy database backups The Policy Editor uses a policy database to store its Trust Framework, policies, commit history, and other data needed for proper operation. By default, the Policy Editor backs up the policy database to a compressed file once a day by making an HTTP request to an admin connector. The Policy Editor retains up to five policy database backups at a time. Older backups are automatically deleted after this limit is reached. To customize the handling of policy database backups, configure the admin port, backup schedule, and output location. | | | | - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | | If you are using a managed RDBMS, such as PostgreSQL, instead of the default H2 database, make sure you implement backup strategies in line with your organization's best practices. | ## Configure or disable policy database backups Do one of the following to change the backup configuration: * Set the relevant environment variables and restart the Policy Editor. * Run the Policy Editor `setup` tool with the relevant command-line options. The following table describes the relevant environment variables and command-line options. Learn more about using the environment variables in [Starting PingAuthorize Policy Editor](paz_start_pe.html). | Environment variable | Command-line option | Description | | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `PING_ADMIN_PORT` | `--adminPort ` | Specifies the admin port, where administrative task endpoints like periodic policy database backups are handled. | | `PING_BACKUP_SCHEDULE` | `--backupSchedule ` | Specifies a `cron` expression to indicate when to perform backups.The default is `0 0 0 * * ?`, which is midnight every day.Learn more in [Quartz 2.3.0 cron format](https://www.quartz-scheduler.org/documentation/quartz-2.3.0/tutorials/crontrigger.html#format). The PAP evaluates the expression against the system timezone. For PingAuthorize Docker images, the default timezone is UTC. | | `PING_H2_BACKUP_DIR` | N/A | Specifies the directory in which to place the policy H2 database backup files.The default is `SERVER_ROOT/policy-backup`. If you are using a Docker image, set this value to a directory on a volume that you mount when you start the Docker container. | | N/A | `--disablePeriodicBackups` | Turns off periodic policy database backups. | Learn more about using a backup in [Restoring a policy database from a backup](paz_restore_policy_db_backup.html).