You can save selected resources—or an entire TDV Server instance—to a TDV archive (CAR) file so that you can port the resources to another TDV instance or preserve a snapshot of TDV.

Archiving a resource is called exporting; deploying it to the same or another location is called importing. When you export a resource, a copy of the resource is archived into a CAR file and saved in a specified location, while the original repository configuration for the resource tree remains intact. Archived resources can be redeployed by importing this CAR file. This file is referred to as the export file or import file.

If you want to archive an entire TDV Server instance, it is best to first perform a full server backup. You can retain the resulting CAR file as backup, or use it to restore the TDV Server to a known state. See Using Studio for a Full Server Backup, for more information.

You can export and import resources using Studio or using TDV command-line utilities. See the TDV Administration Guide for information about using backup_export, backup_import, pkg_export, and pkg_import. With appropriate access rights, you can export a single resource, a group of resources, or the entire TDV configuration (except for local machine settings).

By default, importing adds CAR file resources to existing resources in identical container paths. Whenever both the resource path and name in the CAR file match the resource path and name on the target server, the CAR file version overwrites the target resource.