Wikibase/Maintaining

Maintaining a Wikibase instance
On this page you'll find some resources for gaining some insight into your Wikibase instance and to help keep it healthy and up to date.

Architecture overview
First it’s important to understand what you’ve got on your hands. Take a look at our Docker architecture overview.

And here’s an architecture table with a diagram:



Docker tooling
The best tool for managing your Docker install is the one you used to get it going in the first place: docker-compose. This manual can’t possibly replace a grounding in Docker, so check out Docker’s own command references for docker-compose and the docker engine.

That said, here are some starter commands that might come in handy.

Note: Container names created using  begin with the basename of the directory in which they were created with the first   invocation, separated by an underscore. The example container names below begin with  because, for example purposes, we created them with the   file sitting in a directory named.

Get a command shell on a container
You won’t need it for typical Wikibase activity, but for Docker beginners here’s one very useful command that connects to a running container:

docker exec -it &lt;container name&gt; bash

Copy a file to your local directory
docker cp wbdocker_wikibase_1:/var/www/html/LocalSettings.php LocalSettings.php This also works in the other direction, and the combination is useful for, say, grabbing your LocalSettings.php, editing it and putting it right back.

docker cp LocalSettings.php wbdocker_wikibase_1:/var/www/html/LocalSettings.php Read Adam Shorland’s excellent blog post for more detail on modifying files on containers.

Stop the Docker containers
This command stops the Docker containers, leaving the machines (and of course all data) intact:

As you might imagine, you can use  to start them again.

Delete the containers while preserving data
This command removes the containers but preserves all data in MySQL, MediaWiki and the query service in Docker volumes.

Delete everything
WARNING: this will remove ALL of the data you ever added to your Docker install, which includes MediaWiki, Wikibase, ElasticSearch and the MySQL database. There’s no coming back from this!

Logs
Each application in the Wikibase cluster has its own log output. Consult each service’s own documentation to learn how to read its logs.

In the directory where you placed your  file, run the   command and the name of the service (check the table above) to see its logs. For example:

user@host:~/docker$ docker-compose logs -f --tail=100 mysql mysql_1 | 2019-12-31 10:00:00+00:00 [Note] [Entrypoint]: Entrypoint script for MySQL Server started. mysql_1 | 2019-12-31 10:00:00+00:00 [Note] [Entrypoint]: Switching to dedicated user 'mysql' ...

Backup and restore
The data in your Wikibase instance is valuable. What would happen if your datacenter burnt down? How long would it take to rebuild? Regular backups and tested restores of data are vital.

Generally, there are two bodies of data you’ll need to back up: the MediaWiki/Wikibase filesystem and, more importantly, the MySQL database. First and foremost, we recommend reading the Wikibase Docker install doc to get the lay of the land.

Docker level
Since this is a Docker install, backup using Docker tools is recommended.

Docker-level backup is explained in some detail here. It involves backing up the Docker volumes and dumping out the database with mysqldump.

For a helpful overview of Docker data backup and restore, including the use of the  and   commands, read this excellent StackOverflow post. It’s been updated several times since its original posting in 2014 and constitutes a great tour and jumping-off point for the docker command-line reference linked above.

On-container level
Backup on the container level is not an easy proposition; we cover it here mainly to present a more complete picture of MediaWiki and Wikibase under the hood.

To that end, read the documentation on, bearing in mind that the work needs to be done from within the containers (cf. Docker tooling above) and the data extracted and placed somewhere safe outside of Docker.

Wiki tools
Wikibase is an extension of MediaWiki. Much of the functionality you’ll be working with is actually that of MediaWiki, so consult the and the. Of particular note:


 * User guide
 * User rights management
 * Wiki admin guide

Updating
Keeping software up to date is the only way to obtain new features, not to mention how important it is to apply bug and security fixes.

Updating Wikibase on Docker involves upgrading MediaWiki itself (see the MediaWiki update documentation) as well as tweaking the docker-compose file itself.

We recommend reading Adam Shorland’s blog post for a step-by-step guide to updating your Wikibase.