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Disaster Recovery Planning

2019 User Group Conference

Agenda

• Backup Plan On-Premises Hosted Server

• Backup Plan on District Location

• Disaster Recovery Options

• Test the Skyward Backup File

On-Premises Hosted Server

Is there a backup process for the database? Yes!

Online Backup task are setup in Windows Task Scheduler.

On-Premises Hosted Server

What is the process that runs the backup?

Windows –dbscan.bat batch file

Most current dbscan.bat file is located at FTP\Hardware\Public\scripts\Windows folder

On-Premises Hosted Server

How often does the backup process run?

Default is that the full backup runs at 10PM nightly.

On-Premises Hosted Server

Where do the files get backed up?

Default to the \skyward\backup folder

Backup location set in DBSCAN.bat

if "%PROPATH%" == "" set PROPATH=D:\Skyward

set BackupDir=%PROPATH%\backup

On-Premises Hosted Server

What else is in the ?:\skyward\backup folder?

• copy %DLC%\properties\*.properties %BackupDir%• copy %DLC%\startup.pf %BackupDir%• copy %CustRptDir%\*.* %BackupDir%\custreports\• copy %ConfigDir%\*.* %BackupDir%\config\

• The OpenEdge parameters from the \dlc\properties folder.• The OpenEdge startup.pf file• The \Custreports folder for custom Crystal Reports• The \config folder where setup files and Monolith CAS folder is located.

On-Premises Hosted Server

Can I rebuild a server with the contents of the backup folder?

Yes, Customers could do it themselves.

You will also need the \Install files. They can be downloaded from: https://support.skyward.com/Page.ashx/ITServices/TechnicalInformation/SkyInstallDocs

At a minimum you will need the contents of the \backup folder.

On-Premises Hosted Server

How do I know if the backup file is corrupt?

The probkup utility checks the integrity and validity of all database blocks and copies them to a physical backup file.

If the database backup is corrupt, the job will error, and an email message will be sent to the Database Admin.

On-Premises Hosted Server

Can I restore the database to a certain point-in-time if the disaster was caused by user error or hardware issues? Yes!

Databases can be restored to a certain point in time IF after imaging has been setup and is running on the database.

The restore will be the entire database to that certain point-in-time.

On-Premises Hosted Database Server

What is the contents of the archive folder?

An archive file is created when the after image files increment to the next after image file.

The archive files should be part of the disaster recovery plan and be stored on a remote server.

District LocationIs the backup folder safe on the Database Server?

It is as safe as any other folder on the server. It may be less safe if you are running PaC clients and the server’s \skyward folder is the program folder where the mapped drive is defined.

Skyward recommends having a separate file share server for the SMS 2.0 programs for the PaC Client processing. An SMS 2.0 server is identified to be a database, web or report server. The Program server should not be setup on any of the SMS 2.0 servers.

District LocationWhere should I copy the backup file to?You should copy the backup folder to a “remote” location on your network.

The backup folder should be copied to a different store media. Too often, the “district” location is another server on the SAME SAN. When something happens and the SAN corrupts, we loose both the Skyward server contents and the \backup folder contents.

Should I copy the contents of the archive folder also?Yes, ai_copy_to_remote.bat file uses robocopy to copy the entire contents of the \archive folder.

The task should be run every 15 minutes on a 24x7 basis.

District Location

Should I copy the entire backup folder or not?Yes, dbscan.bat file uses robocopy to copy the entire contents of the \backup folder.

District Location

Are there any other backup options available?Some customers use a backup software like Unitrends or Veeam to create a backup of the SMS 2.0 server.

Even though many backup software packages have open file options, integrity of the database cannot be guaranteed when backing up the live database in the \data folders.

District Location

Off-Site Disaster Recovery

What can I do to guarantee that I am not caught without a recovery if needed?You may be caught without a secondary resource to run SMS 2.0 if a fire, natural disaster, or server crash occurs.

Some customers subscribe to the DR solution offered by ISCorp or ArcServe.

ISCorp PaC DR: Contact your Skyward Account Rep

Arcserve Cloud Direct: Contact markk@skyward.com

What would an offline server do for you?

SMS 2.0 Offline On-Premises Hosted Server

An offline server could be used as a backup server to the SMS 2.0 Production server.

Can I use this server for anything other than a ‘storage’ device?

SMS 2.0 Offline On-Premises Hosted Server

• You could use it as the Program Server for PaC Business clients.

• You could use it as a server where you have a Training database setup for either Student or Business.

• You could use this server to restore your backup files to verify that the nightly backup process is ‘really’ successful.

Test the SMS 2.0 Database Backup File

Could I recover the database from the backup file so I know my backup file is good?

Yes.

Please place a call in the IT Services queue so we can get you setup to run the restore process yourself.

SKYWARD

IT Services

Thank you for attending!