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Back up Information Governance Server database

You can back up your IGS database by running a script from a Clearswift Server Console terminal session.

The script will back up all user defined data including system settings and document fingerprints. This means that the process will provide a copy of all database data files.

Tell me about...

• What I need to consider before running the backup

  You need to consider where you want the backup to be placed. As the database has the potential to grow, you will need to ensure that suitable space is available. You can back up to:

  • A locally mounted partition with dedicated space for backups
  • A remote server with dedicated space for backups

  You should never back up to a IGS system partition, for example root, /var, /var/db, /tmp. Unpredictable results might occur.

  You will also need to decide on the best time to run the backup. The size of the database will dictate how long the process will take, but note that key services, including Gateway processing requests and usage of the Administration UI, will be unavailable while the backup is being performed. We recommend that you perform backups when there is low system activity.

• What I do with the backup files after the backup has completed

  The backup script places a copy of the database files in the target location without compression or any other action. It is up to the IGS administrator and your company policy to decide what happens to the backed up data. For example you could:

  • Archive
  • Burn to CD
  • Write to a cloud backup server

  Consider using one of the many dedicated tools available on Ubuntu for managing your backed up data.

• Backup automation

  Your IGS does not provide tools for automated backup. To provide automation to the process, consider creating a cron job, or use another tool to manage automation.

  When you back up to a remote server using SSH, you will need to provide remote server and remote server credentials. If you want to automate this process you should consider setting up password-less authorization between the IGS and the remote backup server.

How do I...

• Run the backup script?

  If you have direct command-line access to your IGS, you can follow the steps as described below to complete this task. If you only have remote access, you should enable an SSH session first. Show me how

  To enable an SSH session:

  1. From the Home page, click System > Security > SSH Access.

     SSH configuration options are displayed.

  2. Click Edit.
  3. Select the Enable SSH access check box, and type the IP or hostname of the SSH client you want to use to connect to your IGS.
  4. Click Save.

  5. From the SSH client, connect to your IGS.

  Leaving SSH access enabled for extended periods might represent a security risk. You should consider disabling SSH when not using it.

  1. From your server command line, log in using the admin account credentials. From the Clearswift Server Console, select Open Terminal Session.

     A terminal session window is displayed.

  2. To back up to a locally mounted partition, type the following from the command line:

     sudo igp-backupdatabase [-v] [-q] [-d DBDATADIR] -b DBBACKUPDIR [-l DBLASTBACKUPDIR] 

     To back up to a remote server via SSH, type the following from the command line:

     sudo igp-backupdatabase [-v] [-q] [-d DBDATADIR] -b DBBACKUPDIR [-l DBLASTBACKUPDIR] -u REMOTEUSER -s REMOTESERVER

     where:

     Switch	Description
     -v	Verbose. Provides detailed output status.
     -q	Quiet. Suppresses user confirmation prompts.
     -d DBDATADIR	Path of source database files to back up. You do not need to change this value.
     -b DBBACKUPDIR	Path to target parent database backup directory. This path is local to the server you are backing up to. Individual backups will be created in this directory in a sub-directory IG-database-backup-%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S.
     -u REMOTEUSER	User account used to connect and write the backup to the remote backup server.
     -s REMOTESERVER	Host name or IP address of the remote server where the backup will be written to.

     Type sudo igp-backupdatabase -h from the command line for command specific help.

See also...

• Install Information Governance Server updates
• Monitor Information Governance Server
• Restore Information Governance Server database

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