How to manually backup and restore the ADSelfService Plus database in the same application instance

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In this article

Objective

This article provides detailed step-by-step instructions on how to manually backup and restore the ADSelfService Plus database within the same application instance. This process is essential for:

  • Creating secure copies of the database for disaster recovery
  • Restoring data after accidental deletion or corruption
  • Maintaining periodic backups for compliance purposes

Prerequisite

  • Administrator privileges on the ADSelfService Plus server.
  • Before restoring the database, you must stop the ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus service. Failure to do so can result in a corrupted database.

Steps to backup and restore the database

Part 1: Backup the database

Follow these steps to create a manual backup of your application's database.

  1. On the server hosting ADSelfService Plus, open Command Prompt as an administrator.
  2. Navigate to the \bin directory within the ADSelfService Plus installation folder using the cd command. The default path is C:\Program Files\ManageEngine\ADSelfService Plus\bin.
  3. Execute the backup script: 
    backupDB.bat
  4. The script will run and create a Backup folder inside the main installation directory (e.g., C:\Program Files\ManageEngine\ADSelfService Plus\Backup). Inside this folder, you will find the database backup stored as a compressed .ezip file (e.g., OfflineBackup_20250813160300.ezip).

Part 2: Manually restore the database

Follow these steps to restore the database from a previously created backup file.

Note:

This action will overwrite your current database with the data from the backup file.

  1. Stop the ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus service. You can do this via the services.msc console.
  2. Open Command Prompt as an administrator.
  3. Navigate to the \bin directory using the cd command. The default path is C:\Program Files\ManageEngine\ADSelfService Plus\bin.
  4. Execute the restoreDB.bat script using the following command format. You must provide the full path to the backup file. 
    restoreDB.bat "C:\Program Files\ManageEngine\ADSelfServicePlus\Backup\your_backup_filename.ezip" -p <password>

    Example: restoreDB.bat "C:\Program
    Files\ManageEngine\ADSelfServicePlus\Backup\OfflineBackup_20250813160300.ezip" -p <YourBackupPassword>

    The password required for the restore command (-p <password>) depends on how your environment was configured when the backup was made.

    Default password: If no custom password was set, the password is the reverse string of the backup filename excluding the .ezip extension. For a file named OfflineBackup_20250813160300, the password would be 00306131805202_pukcaBenilffO.

    Admin-configured password: If a password was configured in the admin portal, you must use that password. This setting is located under Admin > Product Settings > Security and Privacy > Privacy Settings in the Encrypt database backup files field.

    What if I forgot the password? If you have forgotten the admin-configured password, you can find it in the customer-config.xml file located in the <Installation_Dir>\conf folder. Please contact the ADSelfService Plus support team to decrypt the file and retrieve the password. Without the password or access to this file, the backup is unusable.

  5. Once the restoration is complete, start the ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus service and log in to the portal to verify that the data has been restored correctly.