diff --git a/lib/jira.js b/lib/jira.js
index 190e2661..577b79e9 100644
--- a/lib/jira.js
+++ b/lib/jira.js
@@ -2139,4 +2139,90 @@ var JiraApi = exports.JiraApi = function(protocol, host, port, username, passwor
         });
     };
 
+    /**
+     * Creates a new backup of JIRA and returns its URI
+     * User needs to be in the administrator group to run backups and access webdav
+     *
+     * @param callback
+     */
+    this.runBackup = function(callback) {
+
+        //build today's backup file URI
+        var today = new Date().toISOString().replace(/T.+/, '').replace(/-/g,'');
+        var todayBackupUri = this.makeUri('webdav/backupmanager/JIRA-backup-'+today+'.zip', '', '');
+        var runBackupUri = this.makeUri('/runbackup', 'rest/obm/', '1.0');
+
+        //prepare a HEAD request to check if today's backup exists
+        var optionsTodayBackup = {
+          uri: todayBackupUri,
+          method: 'HEAD',
+          encoding: null,
+          json:false
+        };
+
+        this.doRequest(optionsTodayBackup, function(error, response) {
+          if (error) {
+              callback(error, reponse);
+              return;
+          }
+
+          if (response.statusCode === 404) {
+            //today's backup does not exists - we need to run the backup
+             options = {
+                rejectUnauthorized: this.strictSSL,
+                uri: runBackupUri,
+                method: 'POST',
+                followAllRedirects: true,
+                json:true,
+                body: {
+                  cbAttachments: true
+                }
+              };
+
+              this.doRequest(options, function(error, response) {
+
+                if (error) {
+                    callback(error, response);
+                    return;
+                }
+
+                if (response.statusCode === 404) {
+                  callback('Invalid URL: '+options.uri, response);
+                  return;
+                }
+
+                if (response.statusCode !== 200) {
+                  //if another backup has been made less than 48h ago in JIRA cloud
+                  //a 500 is returned here with an explicit body message
+                  callback(response.statusCode + ': Unable to run backup.', response);
+                  return;
+                } else {
+                  //check that the backup does exist now
+                  this.doRequest(optionsTodayBackup, function(error, response) {
+                    if (error, reponse) {
+                        callback(error);
+                        return;
+                    }
+
+                    if (response.statusCode === 200) {
+                      callback(null, todayBackupUri);
+                      return;
+                    } else {
+                      callback('Unable to download file: '+todayBackupUri, reponse);
+                      return;
+                    }
+                }.bind(this));
+              }
+          });
+        } else {
+          if (response.statusCode === 200) {
+            return callback(null, todayBackupUri);
+          } else {
+            callback(options.statusCode+' error received', response);
+            return;
+          }
+        }
+      }.bind(this));
+    }
+
 }).call(JiraApi.prototype);