Running backup and restore

You can schedule periodic backups (typically nightly) of the BigFix server and database files, to reduce the risk of losing productivity or data when a problem occurs by restoring the latest backup.

Consider, however, that when you run a disaster recovery, you restore a backup of an earlier working state of BigFix on the server computer or another computer. Depending on how old the backup is you can lose the latest changes or data.

Important: After restoring the data from the last backup, the BigFix server might restart at an earlier state with a disalignment between its mailbox and that of each relay. In this case the BigFix server needs to resynchronize with the relays that have continued to process requests, otherwise the relays might ignore the requests of the server. To realign the mailboxes, send some actions to the clients until the mailbox versions are the same.

Moreover, in a Windows environment, any configuration involving registry keys is neither saved nor restored. To recover these values, you must restore them after the recovery procedure successfully completes by running the appropriate configuration processes. For example, email server settings must be set up again on recovered Web Reports. Furthermore, clients are registered as new computers.

You can also restore a single BigFix DSA server when an unrecoverable failure occurs.

Note: Do not restore the failed DSA server entirely from backup. Due to the complexity of DSA replication we recommend that you install a new server with the same FQDN and follow these procedures: DSA Recovey on Windows and DSA Recovey on Linux.

If all DSA servers are lost, follow the BigFix server restore procedure, Server Recovery Procedure on Windows and Server Recovery Procedure on Linux.