Backup of Vertec data

Regular backup of your data is essential. All data collected in Vertec as well as adjustments to the Vertec configuration are saved in the Vertec database.

With the Cloud Suite, your data is automatically backed up. You can also manually initiate and download a backup at any time. This article is aimed at customers who operate Vertec on-premises.

The database is the central element that must be included in any backup. If you do not have your Vertec documents integrated in Vertec , you should also include the Vertec Document Tray in your backup system.

We recommend that you pay particular attention to 2 points:

1. The backup file should not be backed up on the same disk as the production database. In the event of a disaster (HD crash, etc.), the backup and the production database will be lost.
2. It is important to check the backup regularly to ensure that the data can be recovered from the backup. Your Vertec advisor will be happy to assist you with this.

If you Microsoft SQL Server  you can use the backup mechanisms provided with MS SQL Server. How to back up your data with Firebird is described below.

A Firebird database should never be backed up during operation, as client access cannot be excluded at the time of the backup and the backup file generated in this way would be unusable. The following options ensure a consistent Firebird backup:

• Backup with gbak as described below.
• Backup of the database file after stopping the Vertec Cloud Servers .

gbak is the backup program of Firebird, the database server that comes standard with Vertec. This program can be used to create an automatic backup of the Vertec database. In the following, such a backup process will be automated.

Create a batch file (text file with the extension .bat) and save it on the server, such as in the Vertec programs directory.

The file must contain the following row:

“C:\Program Files\Firebird 4.0\gbak.exe” -b “C:\Program Files\Vertec\DB\vertec.fdb” “C:\Program Files\Vertec\DB\Backup\vertec.fbk” -user SYSDBA -password DBPASSWORT

• The displayed command must be on a single row, each separated by a space. Line switching is not allowed.
• ”C:\Program Files\Firebird 4.0\bin\gbak.exe”: Path to the program gbak.exe. If you cannot write everything in one piece (as in “Firebird 4.0”), you must enclose the path in double quotation marks.
• -b: Backup command for gbak.exe.
• ”C:\Program Files\Vertec\DB\vertec.fdb”: Path to the database you want to back up.
• ”C:\Program Files\Vertec\DB\Backup\vertec.fbk”: Path to the backup file you want to create. If there is already a backup file with the same name, it will be overwritten. If you want to add the backup file with the current date, the destination path is as follows:”C:\Program Files\Vertec\DB\Backup\vertec-”%date%”.fbk. It may also be useful to create a folder with the current date as the destination path and put the created backup file in it. To do this, add the script as follows (attached, also without line breaks):

  mkdir “C:\Program Files\Vertec\DB\Backup\%date%” move “C:\Program Files\Vertec\DB\Backup\vertec.fbk”
   “C:\Program Files\Vertec\DB\Backup\”%date%”\vertec.fbk”

  Please make sure that the variable %date% contains a string without spaces. You can check this in the commandline interpreter (cmd) by typing echo %date%. If you get a string with spaces, change the date format in the system settings.

• -user SYSDBA: Enter the user name to log in to Firebird. By default, this is SYSDBA.
• -password DBPASSWORD: Enter the password for logging in to Firebird. This password was specified when installing Firebird during Vertec Setup. The password must be specified unencrypted here, so it is recommended to restrict access to the batch file accordingly.

Then use this file to set up a scheduled task. For how to do this, see Automate tasks in Vertec.

The resulting .fbk file can now be included in your normal backup routine. Please note that you only need to back up the .fbk file. You do not need to back up the .fdb file.

Creating a Vertec backup usually takes no longer than about 10 minutes, even for large databases. Coordinate this with other backup operations on your server.

Analogous to the backup, you can also perform a restore using gbak. A corresponding batch file looks like this:

“C:\Program Files\Firebird 4.0\gbak.exe” -c “C:\Program Files\Vertec\DB\Backup\vertec.fbk”
    “C:\Program Files\Vertec\DB\vertec.fdb” -user SYSDBA -password DBPASSWORD

(Legend see above)

In any case, we recommend that you copy the original database (vertec.fdb) to a safe location beforehand, so that no data is lost if something goes wrong during the restore.