Backing up the server

To back up the server, make a backup copy of the database and application data directory. Both frequent online backups and occasional offline backups are required.

About this task

Note the following points before performing the online or offline backup procedure.
Important:

Make sure that you take backups of the filesystem and the database at the same time, or as close as possible. The bigger the gap between backups, the bigger the data skew is likely to be. Using a backup of the server directory and the database taken from different times may cause the following problems when you restore the backups:

  • If you back up the file system before the database, then the database may know of the versions or step logs that were created after the file system was backed up. This may lead to problems attempting to deploy those versions or to view those step logs.
  • If you back up the database before the file system, then the file system may contain versions and step logs that the database is not aware of. Due to this, you may not get the correct available file system size.

Offline backups

Offline backups happen when the server is stopped, for example during a monthly maintenance window when you install operating system updates and other updates on the server and agent systems.

About this task

Offline backups must include both the database and the server file system, including the application data directory. Follow these steps to take an offline backup of the server:

Procedure

  1. Stop the server.
  2. Create a full backup of the database.
    For instructions on backing up the database, see the documentation for your database.
  3. Back up the application data folder to a secure backup location.
    The default application data folder is /opt/launch/server/appdata on Linux and C:\Program Files\launch\server\appdata on Windows. On high-availability systems, the application data folder is always on a shared network drive that each server can access.
  4. Back up the conf folder.
    The default location of this folder is /opt/launch/server/conf on Linux and C:\Program Files\launch\server\conf on Windows. On high-availability systems, back up this folder for each server.
  5. Start the server.

Online backups

Online backups happen frequently, and without stopping the server. For online backups, you need to back up only the database.

About this task

Online backups, typically include only the database and not the server file system and application data directory. Use the backup options for your database system.
Note: To make the online backups easier to restore, configure your database to create full regular restore points and to enable transaction logging. For example, the database might make full backups once a month and log transactions all the time. That way, you can restore the database at any time.

What to do next

To restore HCL Launch from a backup, see Restoring a backup.