If your environment uses configuration management automation that might interfere with this process, such as Chef or Puppet, you must disable them until you have completely reverted the storage backend.
Temporarily moving the data directory to a different location is less destructive than deleting it. We recommend moving the data directory instead of deleted it in cases where you unsuccessfully enable WAL. Do not use the old data directory (`/data-dir/raft.bak`) for recovery after restarting the server. We recommend eventually deleting the old directory.
The following example assumes the `data_dir` in the server's configuration is `/data-dir` and renames it to `/data-dir.wal.bak`.
```shell-session
$ mv /data-dir/raft /data-dir/raft.wal.bak
```
When switching backend, you must always remove _the entire raft directory_ not just the `raft.db` file or `wal` directory. This is because the log must always be consistent with the snapshots to avoid undefined behavior or data loss.
## Update target server's configuration
Modify the `backend` in the target server's configuration file:
```hcl
raft_logstore {
backend = "boltdb"
verification {
enabled = true
interval = "60s"
}
}
```
## Start target server
Start the target server. For example, if you are using `systemd`, run the following command:
```shell-session
$ systemctl start consul
```
Watch for the server to become a healthy voter again.
```shell-session
$ consul operator raft list-peers
```
### Clean up old data directories
If necessary, clean up any `raft.wal.bak` directories. Replace `/data-dir` with the value you specified in your configuration file.
