Backing up, Restoring, and Archival

A disaster such as a server breakdown or downtime can occur at any point in time. This can result in the loss of data and configurations. It is important to define your backup strategy by understanding your system environment and planning the usage of the solution.

You can now maintain copies of your centralized configuration data and restore any copy to revert to old customized settings at any time. Master data and configuration including password and credentials are part of the vault. Vaults can be installed on either embedded database or Microsoft SQL Server. Video log files are stored on a flat file in a secured format.

This section describes the following:

All of the above-mentioned backups are recommended to be configured with an external backup solution or at least taken out of Sectona system and stored on another highly available storage system on a daily basis. Hence, in the case of Sectona system disaster, the respective backups can be retrieved and restored to rebuild the Sectona system again to the point of last known backup.

Backup and restoring embedded vault

Sectona Vault backup is the complete backup with all settings, configurations, and passwords within the vault. This backup is recommended to be taken scheduled on a daily basis at least once a day.

Procedure to backup embedded vault

Login to System and select Platform Configuration from the product navigator.
Under the System section select System Status.
Go to Backup in the sidebar. Click on Enable Backup.
In the Backup File Name section, fill in the Backup File Name Prefix as to what should be the prefix of the backup file to be created. The Backup File Name will be the file name of the backup created. The Local Backup Directory will be the location of the backup to be stored.
In the Backup Schedule section, The Recur Days will be the number of days you want to repeat your backup process after. The Backup at will specify the time at which the backup process will start running. You can add/remove multiple backup times by clicking on + icon to create multiple backup schedules.

You can take manual adhoc backup of the vault by clicking on the Backup Now button and in a few minutes the backup file will be created at the defined directory.
In the App Services, make sure the SystemBackupService is running to enable the system to execute backup in a scheduled manner as per the configuration defined.

Restoring embedded vault Backup

Backups can be resorted to using Sectona.Vault.StorageHost.Restore utility.
Browse through the folder where the vault is installed (For example, E:\Sectona\Sectona Vault Storage Host) and run Sectona.Vault.StorageHost.Restore.exe.
In Backup file section set the path of the vault backup file you want to restore(For example, E:\Sectona\Backup folder\SectonaVault_20200423215008.zip). It is recommended to choose the file to restore the vault to its most recent last known state.
In Access Key section enter the vault access key value (you can find the vault access key in the VaultStorage.cnfg file present in SectonaVaultStorage folder, for example, E:\Sectona\Sectona Vault Storage Host\SectonaVaultStorage\VaultStorage.cnfg). Open the file in notepad.exe and check for Access Key value.
Click on the Restore option and wait for a while until you receive the Restored successfully message.

Backup and restoring vault installed on Microsoft SQL Server

Please refer to Microsoft recommended guidelines for taking adhoc or scheduled backups of Microsoft SQL Server. Refer documentation of backup of MS SQL Server here.

Backup and restoring application file and encryption keys

Follow the below-recommended procedure to configure and restore backup:

To take 'Web Access' files backup, go to Sectona Application drive.
In 'Sectona' folder, zip 'PAM' Folder.
After zipping of the folder is completed, move 'SpectraPAM.zip' file to the Backup folder.
To restore 'Web Access' files, go to Sectona PAM Application drive.
Open Backup Folder and select the last known zip file backup
Unzip the folder and copy the 'PAM' folder.
Go to the Spectra PAM Application folder and replace the existing PAM folder with the copied folder. Ensure you overwrite all the files and folder with it.

Backup and restoring system configuration

Follow the below-recommended steps to configure and restore the backup:

Login to System and select Platform Configuration from the product navigator.
Under the System section select System Status.
Click on the Backup button.
In case you want to take the backup, select the Backup option and check the fields for which you need a backup.
Then click on the Backup button and a backup file will get downloaded.
In case you want to restore the data, select the Restore option.
To upload the backup file click on the Choose File button and then on the Upload File button.
Click on the Restore button and your backup will be restored.

Backup and restoring video log files

Follow the below-recommended steps to configure and restore the backup:

For video log file backup, it is recommended to configure the video log folder in an external backup solution for timely and incremental backup at least once daily.
For restoring the video log files, it is simple to restore the same. Retrieve the desired folder which is maintained in Year/Month/Day format from the external backup solution and copy it to the default location of the Sectona session log drive. Now login to PAM with an admin login to view and play the recording of the restored log under Session View tab.

Archiving video logs

Login to System and select Platform Configuration from the product navigator.
Under the System section select System Status.
Click on Backup.
Click on Enable Backup. In the Backup File Name section, fill in the Backup File Name Prefix as to what should be the prefix of the backup file to be created. The Backup File Name will be the file name of the backup created. The Local Backup Directory will be the location of the backup to be stored.
Click on Auto Archival to enable the configurations for archival.
In the Archival section, the Archive Older Than signifies that the number of days before the mentioned number should be considered for the backup archiving process. Example: If you mention 1 day in this field, the system will archive all the backups exactly one day before in the allocated archival drive.
In the Archival section, the Permanently Delete action will permanently delete the backup files which are older than the number of days mentioned in the Archive Older Than field.
In the Archival section, the Move To Another Location action will move the backup files from the path mentioned in the Storage Path to the path mentioned in the Move To Another Location field.
Click on Save.