Technical Desk - Backing up Commence data

We all know backing up your data is important. Computer hardware and networks are not perfect and from time to time, hardware failures may mean you need to restore your data from a backup location or tape. Using Commence Agents its easy to come up with a backup strategy that suits your needs.

Commence databases can be conveniently backed up into a <data>.xfr file. This file contains the contents of the complete database - which can then easily be archived onto tape. In fact, this is the only supported way to back up your Commence data - simply copying the raw Commence files from your hard disk to a tape may not work reliably and is not supported.

Your backup .xfr file also includes the synchronisation point for the database. This means that in the event of a disaster (i.e. disk crash) you can restore the back up of a particular client, and it will "catch up" to the rest of the workgroup through the usual Commence synchronisation.

There are many strategies you can set up, but for this example assume

• we want to be able to roll back to any day of the week
• we want a daily back up of each individual database for added security.

In the event of a disaster it is unlikely that more than one Commence database (client or server) would be affected, but having a backup from each day gives the opportunity to roll back up to 1 week. As added security, every client also has a back up made daily.

Server Agents

Use the following procedure to setup the first agent  on the server, which SHOULD NOT be shared:

1. Select Customize Database and press the Agent tab.

2. Select the Add button

3. For the Agent Name:, enter "Monday Backup".

4. Select the T button.

a. For the Trigger Type:, select Timer.

b. For the Timer Frequency:, select Weekly.

c. For the Time:, select a time that Commence is running, but you are not using your PC, such as 11:00pm if you leave your PC on.

d. For the Day:, select Monday.

e. Select the OK button.

5. Select the A button.

a. For the Action Type:, select Backup.

b. For the File:, enter the path of the location you want the backup file to and then the filename. For example, c:\commence\backmon.xfr.

c. Select the OK button.

6. Select the Save button.

This agent will now back up the server every Monday. Repeat the procedure for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (these should also not be shared).

Client Agent

Now create the backup agent for all the clients. This agent is going to be shared, so will be identical on all clients (and the server - it gets backed up twice each day).

Repeat the above procedure, ensuring that the agent is shared this time. Remember that all clients are going to back up to the same file name, so use something like c:\temp\commence.xfr. Remember that all clients will back up to this location, so make sure it is not a shared LAN directory, and ensure the directory exists on each client machine.

Finally ensure that under Customise > Preferences > Other, you have "Automatically answer questions" checked. Periodically monitor the files and the message log to ensure the backup files are being created correctly.

In general, you only need to backup to tape  the Monday - Friday backups from the server. The workgroup can be recreated from these files.

Using this simple strategy, backup has been automated, and your investment in CRM data is protected.