Backing up your Power Pages (formerly Power Apps portals) is essential for safeguarding data, preserving configurations, and enabling smooth recovery during migration or unexpected failures. Since Power Pages sites are hosted on Microsoft Dataverse and tied to solutions, backups focus primarily on Dataverse data, solution components, and configurations. Here’s a step-by-step deep dive into how to manage portal backups effectively.
1. Understanding What Can Be Backed Up
Power Pages relies on multiple components stored in Dataverse, including:
- Website records (pages, links, templates, etc.)
- Customizations (themes, Liquid templates, etc.)
- Security roles and permissions
- Forms and lists
- Web files and media
- Associated data tables
Note: Static content (like images or web files) and configurations may not be fully covered by standard Dataverse backups unless explicitly included.
2. Manual Backup Options
A. Backing Up via Solutions
- Export the portal into a managed or unmanaged solution:
- Go to Power Apps > Solutions
- Select the portal-related components (pages, templates, forms, web roles, site settings, etc.)
- Export the solution and store it securely.
- Best suited for:
- Version control
- ALM scenarios
- Moving components across environments
B. Exporting Data using Excel
- For backup of table records:
- Go to Dataverse Tables
- Use Export to Excel feature
- Save exported
.xlsxfiles in a secure storage
This is useful for content-heavy portals or when configuration data (like content snippets) is frequently updated.
3. Automated Backup via Power Platform Admin Center
Power Platform environments are backed up automatically every 12 hours and retained for 7 days. Admins can:
- Restore an entire environment from a previous backup
- Useful during:
- Portal failure or accidental deletion
- Recovery from configuration errors
Steps to access:
- Go to Power Platform Admin Center
- Navigate to Environments
- Select the relevant environment
- Click on Backups
- Choose from available manual or system backups
- Click Restore
Caution: This restores the entire environment, not just the portal.
4. Create On-Demand Backups
Admins can create a manual backup of an environment at any time:
- Navigate to Admin Center > Environments > Backup > New backup
- Provide a name and optional description
This is ideal before:
- Major changes to portal design
- Deploying new themes or forms
- Installing new solutions
5. Using Power Platform CLI for Backup Automation
You can script backup-related operations using Power Platform CLI (pac). While it doesn’t directly back up entire portals, it supports solution export and migration.
Sample command:
pac solution export --path "MyPortalSolution.zip" --name "PortalSolutionName" --managed false
You can schedule this command using PowerShell or Azure DevOps pipelines for regular automated solution exports.
6. Backup of Web Files and Static Content
Since static content like images, CSS, JS, or PDFs stored as web files are in Dataverse, ensure:
- Web Files are included in the solution
- Or export them using the Dataverse export tool
Alternatively, manually download files via the Power Pages portal or create a Power Automate flow to sync web files to SharePoint or Blob storage.
7. Backing Up Site Configuration with Configuration Migration Tool
Use Microsoft’s Configuration Migration Tool (from the Power Platform Tools package) to:
- Export data from selected tables (like site settings, web pages, templates)
- Create a schema defining which records to include
- Useful for replicating portal setup
This tool provides granular control over exported data compared to solutions.
8. Backup and Restore in DevOps (Advanced)
Advanced users can integrate portal backup tasks with Azure DevOps pipelines:
- Use Power Platform Build Tools
- Automate tasks such as:
- Export solutions
- Backup static files
- Commit changes to source control (e.g., GitHub)
It enables enterprise-grade ALM and continuous delivery with full backup support.
9. Best Practices for Portal Backup
- Schedule regular solution exports as part of your DevOps lifecycle
- Always create a backup before major updates
- Use naming conventions and versioning (e.g.,
Portal_Prod_2025_04_15.zip) - Store backups in secure, version-controlled repositories (Azure Blob, Git, OneDrive for Business)
- Periodically test restore procedures to ensure backup integrity
10. Restoring a Portal
Depending on what was backed up:
- Solution file → Import via Power Apps > Solutions
- Dataverse records → Use Configuration Migration Tool or Excel import
- Full environment restore → Use Admin Center backup restore option
Ensure the portal binding and site settings are correct post-restore.
Summary
| Backup Method | What It Covers | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Solution Export | Pages, roles, settings, forms | Component-level recovery & deployment |
| Power Platform Backup (Admin Center) | Full environment | Disaster recovery |
| Excel Export | Table data (content snippets, links) | Data backup |
| Configuration Migration Tool | Table records with schema | Granular configuration backup |
| PowerShell/CLI | Scripted solution backups | Automation & DevOps |
| Manual Web File Downloads | Static content | Media asset protection |