rqlite supports loading a node directly from two sources, either of which can be used to restore from an existing [node backup](https://github.com/rqlite/rqlite/blob/master/DOC/BACKUPS.md):
- SQLite dump file. This is another convenient manner to initialize a system from an existing SQLite database. But if your source database is large, it can be slow.
The following examples show a trivial database being generated by `sqlite3`, the SQLite file being backed up, converted to the corresponding list of SQL commands, and then loaded into a rqlite node listening on localhost using each form.
The behavior of the restore operation when data already exists on the cluster is undefined -- you should only restore to a cluster that has no data, or a brand-new cluster. Also, please **note that SQLite dump files normally contain a command to disable Foreign Key constraints**. If you are running with Foreign Key Constraints enabled, and wish to re-enable this, this is the one time you should explicitly re-enable those constraints via the following `curl` command: