I was trying to move my Appsmith instance from one machine to another while retaining the data. However, I faced issues despite trying various methods like docker exporting, creating images, and committing containers. The current machine's hardware was outdated and did not allow me to update the MongoDB to version 5, making it impossible to update Appsmith beyond version 1.8.15. After trying to follow the backup and restore instructions from the documentation, I faced issues with editing applications, and I received a 503 error. The team investigated the problem and fixed it by using mongodump and then using appsmithctl import_db instead of appsmithctl restore.
The user was trying to move an Appsmith instance running on an old machine to a new one while retaining the data. They tried several methods, including exporting Docker volumes, creating images, and committing the container, but none of them worked. They followed the backup and restore process described in the documentation, but they still had issues. Specifically, they could log in to Appsmith but received a 503 error when trying to edit an app.
After exchanging messages with Appsmith's support team and sharing server logs, the user had a call with them to debug the issue. The team found that the appsmithctl restore command didn't work, so they recommended using mongodump and appsmithctl import_db instead. The user followed these steps, and the issue was fixed.
Overall, the solution involves taking a mongodump of the old instance and then importing it using appsmithctl. This approach worked in the user's case where other methods failed.