Data Backup and Restoration

Iotellect is used for mission-critical applications, so it's very important to ensure data integrity and fast recovery from failures.

Iotellect Server has been designed to assure easy backups of both database and server configuration. It's strongly recommended to perform system backups on a regular basis.

If the server and its database are running on a virtual machine(s), the easiest and most reliable backup method is making full VM snapshots.

VM-level backups are highly recommended over other backup methods.

A step-by-step Iotellect installation backup may include the following:

• Server installation folder backup. Periodic backup is highly recommended when Iotellect Server installation is not mirrored by a failover server.

• Server configuration file backup. Recommended if the full server installation folder backup is not performed.

• Statistics backup. Recommended if the full server installation folder backup is not performed.

• Embedded database backup. Recommended if the full server installation folder backup is not performed.

• External database backup. Highly recommended if the external database is not mirrored, see database failover for details.

If the server is going to be upgraded, the following backup operations are obligatory before the upgrade: Server Installation Folder Backup External Database Backup

Iotellect Server installation process does not perform any modifications to the operating system's configuration files or the Windows registry. No files are stored outside of the main installation directory. Iotellect Server itself also stores all files created during normal system operation within the same directory.

Thereby creation of a full system backup of Iotellect Server installation is as easy as making a full copy of the server installation directory (e.g. %program files%/Iotellect under Microsoft Windows) and archiving it. In the case of major problems (such as disk drive failure or database corruption by an erroneous script ), previously archived installation can be restored by simple extraction of the most recent backup archive to the same machine where it was running before the failure, or even to another server. No additional actions are required, the server may be started immediately when the extraction process finishes.

Server installation folder backup will already include: Server Configuration File Backup (make sure that the default configuration file is used, see notes below) Statistics Backup (make sure that the default statistics location is used, see notes below) Embedded Database Backup (make sure that the default embedded database folder is used, see notes below) However, a backup copy of the server installation folder will not include an external database backup.

It may be necessary to obtain a new license file if backup is restored to another server. See License Issues for more information.

Large Iotellect Server installations with hundreds of managed devices usually store data on an external database server, such as Apache Cassandra, MySQL, or Oracle. Such installations require an external database backup to be performed in addition to the Server Installation Folder Backup in order to get a full copy of Iotellect Server installation.

The server stores all data in several tables located within one database (see Database and Database Settings sections for figuring out what database is used to store server data). This database should be backed up during server backup. The method of backing up the database depends on the Database Management Engine used by a certain Iotellect Server installation and it's outside the scope of this article.

This section provides instructions on backing up specific Iotellect Server components.

The server configuration file contains basic Iotellect Server settings, such as the name of installation and database access settings. To backup the server configuration file, make a copy of the server.xml file located in the Iotellect Server installation folder and store this copy in a safe place.

The server may use configuration file which name is specified as a command line parameter. Make sure that you're backing up the proper file.

The statistical channels store data in the /statistics subfolder of the Iotellect Server installation folder. This folder should be backed up to preserve statistical archives.

Location of the statistics storage folder can be changed in the global server configuration. Make sure that you're backing up the proper folder.

The embedded relational database engine that is included in all Iotellect Server bundles stores database data in the /db subdirectory of the server installation.

To backup the whole embedded database, do the following:

• 1. Stop the server.

• 2. Copy the /db subdirectory of the Iotellect Server installation directory to a backup location.

Compressing contents of the /db folder will decrease backup size 5-10 times.

Location of the embedded database can be changed in the global server configuration. Make sure that you're backing up the proper folder.

If an Iotellect Server is using a PostgreSQL database, it's possible to backup its database using the following technique:

• To backup the whole database to a file, run the following command:

pg_dump -U USER -W PASSWORD DATABASE > database.sql

where USER and PASSWORD are your PostgreSQL auth credentials and DATABASE is the name of the database used by Iotellect Server.

• To restore the whole database from a file, run the following command:

psql -U USER -W PASSWORD DATABASE < database.sql

If an Iotellect Server is using a MySQL database, it's possible to backup its database using the following technique:

• To backup the whole database to a file, run the following command:

mysqldump -u USER -p PASSWORD --skip-lock-tables DATABASE > database.sql

where USER and PASSWORD are your MySQL auth credentials and DATABASE is the name of the database used by Iotellect Server.

• To avoid backing up most non-critical events, you can restrict your backup to just a few essential tables:

mysqldump -u USER -p PASSWORD --skip-lock-tables DATABASE ag_properties ag_events ag_data ag_alert > database.sql

• To compress the resulting database.sql file and store it on a remote safe backup server by copying it via FTP:

mysqldump -u USER -p PASSWORD --skip-lock-tables DATABASE ag_properties ag_events ag_data ag_alert | /home/ LINUX_USER /db_pipe.sh

Here is the text of db_pipe.sh script:

sfx=`/bin/date +%Y-%m-%d` /bin/gzip -c > /home/LINUX USER/db_backup.${sfx}.sql.gz /usr/bin/lftp -e "put /home/LINUX USER/db_backup.${sfx}.sql.gz; bye" -u BACKUP_SERVER_USER,BACKUP_SERVER_PASSWORD BACKUP_SERVER_ADDRESS /bin/rm -rf /home/LINUX_USER/db_backup.${sfx}.sql.gz

• To execute the above backup upon a schedule, add the following line to Linux/Unix cron configuration:

0 0 * * * mysqldump -u USER -p PASSWORD --skip-lock-tables DATABASE ag_properties ag_events ag_data ag_alert | /home/LINUX_USER/db_pipe.sh

The above configuration will perform a backup every midnight.

• Download and install WinRar archiver.

• Download and install the cURL utility.

• Prepare a backup.bat command file with the following content:

"%Iotellect%\mysql\bin\mysqldump" –uUSER –pPASSWORD --skip-lock-tables DATABASE ag_properties ag_events ag_data ag_alerts > c:\backup\MySQL.sql rar.exe a sqlBackup d:\backup\MySQL.sql del /q d:\backup\MySQL.sql curl.exe -T d:\backup\sqlBackup.rar -u FTP_USER:FTP_PASSWORD ftp://BACKUP_SERVER exit

• Schedule the launching of this command file using Windows Task Scheduler

winscp.exe /console /script=D:\BackUp\transfer.txt

Contents of transfer.txt:

open sftp://SSH_USER:SSH_PASSWORD@BACKUP_SERVER cd /home/SSH_USER option transfer binary put d:\backup\sqlBackup.rar close exit

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