Gateway vs. Project Backups
There are two main backup types that can be made in Ignition: a Gateway backup and a Project backup.
Gateway Backup
The Gateway backup (.gwbk file) includes everything you find in the Ignition Gateway webpage. This means all of the projects, global resources, Ignition Tags, database connections, OPC and Device connections, authentication profiles, plus all the settings of the gateway. The only things that are not included in a Gateway backup is information stored in other programs, (i.e., the data in a database, PLC programs, etc.), your license, and any files you might have manually added to the install directory.
Restoring a Gateway Backup Restoring a Gateway backup is the easiest way to restore your system, but it will overwrite all of the existing settings including your projects. There is no merge option for a Gateway backup.
Project Backup
A Project backup (.proj file) is much smaller than a Gateway backup and only includes data from projects.
To be safe, when you backup your project, it's recommended to also backup your Tags, images, database connections, and anything else you might be using separately since these items are not included in the project backup.
Making a Backup from the Gateway Webpage
When making a Project backup from the Gateway, it includes all its resources such as windows, transaction groups, templates, reports, and project scripts. Notably missing from the project backup are any Global scoped resources, even if they are presented in the Designer such as Ignition Tags, SFCs, alarm pipelines, global script functions, and raster images (i.e., png, jpg, and jpeg files).
When you upload/restore a project backup in the Gateway Webpage, it will be merged into your existing Gateway. If there is a naming collision, you have the option of renaming the project or overwriting the project. Project backups can also be restored/imported in the Designer. This will even allow you to select which parts of the project backup you want to include and will merge them into the currently open project.
Making a Backup from the Designer
When making a Project backup from the Designer, you get to choose which project resources are added to the backup file. This does not include any Global resources. When restoring a Project backup in the Designer, you get to choose which project resources are restored into the currently open project from the backup file.