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Disaster Recovery

Contents

 

Overview

In the rare event of something going wrong with DeviceExpert, it is important to have a backup of device configuration to recover from the disaster. DeviceExpert provides two utilities to achieve this:

 

    1. Backing up the device configuration files

    2. Backing up the entire database

 

Once you have the backup, it is easy to achieve a quick disaster recovery. In the DeviceExpert GUI, tools have been provided to export the configuration files & backing up the database. Besides, scripts have been provided to facilitate backup of configuration files or database when DeviceExpert server is not running.

Backing up Device Configuration Files

Storing Configuration on Secondary Storage Devices

 

If you need a copy of all the device configuration files in DeviceExpert database and want to store them somewhere, here is an option. Configuration files of all devices in the DeviceExpert database can be exported in text format and stored in a separate directory. Only administrators shall have the permission to do this operation. You can even store the configuration files in secondary storage devices such as Memory Cards.

 

The configuration files could be exported on demand at any point of time or it could be scheduled to be generated at periodic intervals - say daily, weekly or monthly.

 

To export configuration files immediately on demand,

 

    1. Go to "Admin" >> "Device Management" >> "Export Configuration"

    2. In the UI that opens up, click 'Export Configurations Now'

    3. The result of the execution of this operation will be displayed in the UI that opens up
    4. The exported configuration files will get stored under <DeviceExpert_Home>/config_backup directory

 

To schedule export of configuration files,

 

    1. Go to "Admin" >> "Device Management" >> "Export Configuration"

    2. In the UI that opens up, select the desired option - Daily, Weekly or Monthly. Also, choose the desired time/day/date accordingly

    3. You can even intimate the result of the export operation (whether success/failure) to desired recipients via email. Just enter the required email id in the text field

    4. Click 'Save'

    5. The schedule will get executed at the required time. You can view the result of the execution by clicking the link 'View Execution History' present at the top right hand corner

    6. The exported configuration files will get stored under <DeviceExpert_Home>/config_backup directory

 

Note: To disable the execution, select the 'Never' option.

Exporting Configuration files when DeviceExpert Server is not running

DeviceExpert provides a script, which will generate configuration files of each device in text format and store it under a separate directory.

 

To take backup of configuration files,

 

    1. Open a command prompt and navigate to <DeviceExpert_Home>/bin directory

    2. Execute configbackup.bat (in windows) OR sh configbackup.sh (in Linux)

    3. A new directory "config_backup" will be created under <DeviceExpert_Home> and the configuration files will be saved under this.

    4. The filename will be of the format: <ResourceName>_<FileType>.txt. For example, cat2900_Running.txt and cat2900_Startup.txt

 

You can take a backup of 'config_backup' directory through your own automated backup mechanism.

 

Backing up the Database

You can take a backup of the whole DeviceExpert Database and restore the contents in the event of a disaster. You can create schedules for DB backup to be taken in periodic intervals - say daily, weekly or monthly.

To schedule export of configuration files,

    1. Go to "Admin" >> "General Settings" >> "Database Backup"

    2. In the UI that opens up, select the desired option - Daily, Weekly or Monthly. Also, choose the desired time/day/date accordingly

    3. Specify the maximum number of backup files that are to be stored. That is, every time when backup scheduled is executed, database is backedup and contents are stored afresh. You can choose the maximum number of backup files to be kept

    4. You can even intimate the result of the backup operation (whether success/failure) to desired recipients via email. Just enter the required email id in the text field

    5. Click 'Save'. The schedule will get executed at the required time. You can view the result of the execution by clicking the link 'View Execution History' present at the top right hand corner

    6. By default, the backup files will get stored under <DeviceExpert_Home>/Backup directory. If you want, you can configure the destination directory

 

Note: To disable the execution, select the 'Never' option.

Taking Backup when DeviceExpert Server is not running

DeviceExpert provides a script, which will take backup of DeviceExpert DB and store it under a separate directory.

 

    1. Open a command prompt and navigate to <DeviceExpert_Home>/bin directory

    2. Execute backupDB.bat (in windows) OR sh backupDB.sh (in Linux)

    3. A new directory "Backup" will be created under <DeviceExpert_Home> and the contents of the DB are saved under this directory

    4. The filename of the DB backup contents will be of the format: <YY-MM-DD>-<TIME>.zip. For example, 060915-1508.zip  (That is, backup created at 15:08 hrs on 15 September 2006)

 

You can take a backup of 'Backup' directory through your own automated backup mechanism.

To restore the backedup contents,

Before restoring the backedup contents in DeviceExpert, make sure you reinitialize the database.

 

The restoration process takes the following steps:

 

    1. Open a command prompt and navigate to <DeviceExpert_Home>/bin directory

    2. Execute deviceexpert.bat/sh reinit 

    3. Once reinitializing the DB is completed, execute restoreDB.bat <DB Backup file name> (in windows) OR sh backupDB.sh <DB Backup file name> (in Linux)

 


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