Database backup and restore

OT-BASE Asset Center automatically produces database backups every twelve hours that are stored in the directory that you have defined for backups in the installation process (/var/ot-base/backup by default). You should make sure that these backups are automatically copied to an external medium in case your server (or virtual machine) crashes.

An OT-BASE backup file contains the asset database, the user database, and any additional metadata such as file attachments. Therefore, you can fully restore your data on a blank Asset Center.

The backup functions in the MAINTENANCE area

The system maintenance area lets you check what backup files have been created automatically. You see these listed in the "available backup files" area. If, for any reason, you want to create a current backup manually, you can do so by clicking on "backup now".

Selecting a specific backup file in the list and clicking on "download" will download the backup image to your local computer.

Since you can also upload a backup file from your local computer, this can act as a restore function, and is especially useful for testing purposes. Note that once you have uploaded a backup file, it will not be restored automatically but appear in the file listing of available backup files. To restore data from that file, select it in the list and click "restore".

The upload backup function assumes that you have write access rights on the backup folder, which is usually /var/ot-base/backup (but can be re-configured). If you run into the problem that you cannot upload backup files because of missing access rights, you may have to ask your administrator to make the backup folder write accessible by "other" users.

Setting up a test server

The capability to interactively restore backups from an external storage is particularly handy if you are using a test server besides your production system (recommended). You can update your test system with the latest data from the production system in minutes by using the following workflow:

1. On the production system, create a backup of the current database by clicking on "Backup now".
2. After the backup is completed (which might take a few minutes), locate and select the new backup file in the list of available backup files.
3. Click "Download", which will open a file selector that lets you pick a folder on your local computer. Do not change the name of the backup file. If for some reason you really want to change the file name, do so by appending any additional information to the filename, but in front of the extension ".data".
4. On your test system, click "Choose File" in the "Upload Backup File" area and select the desired backup file. Then click "Upload".
5. On the test system, locate and select the backup file that you have just uploaded and click "Restore". You will have the option to notify users that system shutdown is imminent before proceeding.

Restoring a backup after installing a product update

When you install a new version of OT-BASE Asset Center, the installation script (ot-base.install) will

1. Automatically perform a backup of the current database and associated user provided file attachments
2. Automatically restore that backup after installing the new software version is completed.