Backup and Restore

Your OneAlert installation includes a Backup and Restore utility.

Which task do you need to perform?

Tip: You can run a backup from a command line or include it in a script that runs automatically.

Important: The database schema for Revolution is not public and Intrado does not support direct access to the database by customers. The only supported method is through the use of the Published APIs. See OneAlert API

Make sure you back up OneAlert while it is in a working state.

Redundancy: ClosedIt is recommended that you power down your secondary VMs before this procedure. This will ensure that synchronization between the servers remains in tact. See Managing your redundancy environment.

  1. Log in to the OneAlert server. (For a redundancy environment, log into any of your servers)
  2. From the Start menu, search for backup, and select Backup and Restore.
  3. Within the Backup and Restore utility:
    1. Select Backup.
    2. Specify the location of the backup file. Select Browse to select the folder and provide a name for the resulting ZIP file.
    3. Review the summary screen: This is a read-only screen that simply provides info on what is being backed up.
    4. Select Next then select Run.
      • Should an error occur, the backup stops and presents an error message that you must acknowledge before the backup can attempt to proceed.
      • This process will back up: Any custom WAV files, registry settings, and any SQL users.

You can run a backup from a command line or include it in a script that runs automatically. When running from a command prompt, it must be run as an administrator. If you are running a script, be sure to include the appropriate permission attribute.

  1. Navigate to c:/Program Files (x86)/Syn-Apps/BackupAndRestore

  2. Open a Command Prompt window.
  3. Drag BackupRestoreCLI.exe to the Command Prompt window and hit Enter.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • .zip is automatically added to the file name if you don’t include it.
  • -v still writes to the log file.
  • The utility checks for a valid file name and path.
  • -o creates a copy of the existing file name and appends it with an incremental number so you still have older versions of your backup.
  • If an error is encountered during the backup process, the error message is written to the log and the backup process quits. We recommend checking the log file after scheduled backups for error messages.

Did you Back up your environment?

Note: If you want to move your installation of Revolution to a new server you may need to contact Support so they can update your license with new information about your server. See Updating your Licensing.

These are the basic steps:

  1. Move these files from the old server to the new one.
    • the environment you backed up on the old server to the new server
    • the license key from the old server to the new server
  2. Install OneAlert on the new server using the same license file and SQL passwords that you used for the original install.
  3. Restore the OneAlert environment and custom files on the new server.
  4. Re-run the OneAlert installer to upgrade the restored OneAlert database.
  5. Update your DHCP server option 72 and your call manager with the new OneAlert server IP address.
  6. Log into the old OneAlert server and stop OneAlert services.
  7. Log into the new OneAlert server and restart OneAlert services.
  8. Create a test notification and send it to make sure everything is working properly.

Refer to the Help topic for your PBX system if you need assistance updating these settings.

Note: Customers running in a redundancy environment, please see the Redundancy Environment Notes below.

Tip: You can run a restore from a command line if you prefer.

  1. Log in to the new OneAlert server.
  2. From the Start menu, search for backup, and select BackupUI.
  3. Choose Restore and click through the Wizard prompts.
    • The restore process automatically shuts down OneAlert services and the restarts them when the restore is finished.
    • All media is restored.
    • SQL users are restored.
  4. (Optional; good practice) Reboot the server again.
  1. Restore the environment to the primary server first. OneAlert will failover to the secondary server during this process because OneAlert must restart after restoring the environment.
  2. After the restart, it takes a few minutes for OneAlert to recognize that it's running in a redundancy environment. Be patient and let the sync happen between the secondary and primary server.
  3. Once the two are in sync, on the primary server, go to the Status > System Status page. Under Redundancy Server > Advanced Settings select deprovision.
  4. Once deprovisioning is complete, reinstall OneAlert on the secondary server. See Build your secondary server.
  1. Update your DHCP server option 72 with the new OneAlert server IP address and reboot all your IP devices so they can re-register with OneAlert.
  2. Update your call manager with the new OneAlert server IP address.
    • CUCM – Update the Authentication URL.
    • Mitel – Update Trunk, Authorized Server, and SIP Server Host.
    • Avaya – Update 46xxsettings.txt and/or 96xxsettings.txt configuration files.

You can restore a broken OneAlert, provided the last backup occurred when OneAlert was in a working state.

  • The backup environment can have missing tables and data. However, it cannot be entirely missing, except in the scenario when you are moving OneAlert to a new server.
  • Restore can handle missing registry keys.
  • Restore can handle missing modules.
  • Restore must be performed on the OneAlert server.

These are the basic steps:

  1. Back up the SQL database, if you can. If you can't back up the database, you'll restore from the most recent backup you have.
  2. Uninstall OneAlert using the standard Windows uninstall.
  3. Install a fresh version of OneAlert with the same license files and SQL passwords that you used for the original install.
  4. Reboot the server.
  5. Delete the old SQL database and restore it from the most recent backup.
  6. Restart the OneAlert services or reboot the server.

Tip: You can run a restore from a command line if you prefer.

  1. Log in to the OneAlert server.
  2. From the Start menu, search for backup, and select BackupUI.
  3. Choose Restore and click through the Wizard prompts.
    • The restore process automatically shuts down OneAlert services and the restarts them when the restore is finished.
    • All media is restored.
    • SQL users are restored.
  4. Create a test notification and send it to make sure everything is working properly.
  1. Restore the backup environment to the primary server first. OneAlert will failover to the secondary server during this process because OneAlert must restart after restoring the environment.
  2. After the restart, it takes a few minutes for OneAlert to recognize that it's running in a redundancy environment. Be patient and let the sync happen between the secondary and primary server.
  3. Once the two are in sync, on the primary server, go to the Status > System Status page. Under Redundancy Server > Advanced Settings and click deprovision.
  4. Once deprovisioning is complete, reinstall OneAlert on the secondary server. See Build your secondary server

You can run the restore utility from a command line. When running from a command prompt, it must be run as an administrator. If you're running a script, be sure to include the appropriate permission attribute.

  1. Go to c:/Program Files (x86)/Syn-Apps/BackupAndRestore

  2. Open a command line window.
  3. Drag BackupRestoreCLI.exe to the command window.
  4. When the restore process is finished, configure OneAlert.
  5. Create a test notification and send it to make sure everything is working properly.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • You must include .zip with the file name.
  • -v still writes to the log file.
  • -o creates a copy of the existing file name and appends it with an incremental number so you still have older versions of your backup.
  • The restore process automatically shuts down OneAlert services and the restarts them when the restore is finished.

If for some reason the services did not automatically restart, manually restart them using the standard Windows Services utility.

If the OneAlert restore utility cannot successfully stop the services, it may be because the server is bogged down, for whatever reason, and the stop service request from the restore utility timed out before the Windows Services utility finished updating.

  • Check the Windows Services utility to see if the services are still running.
  • If they are, manually stop them, then start the OneAlert restore utility again.

If you're unable to successfully run the Backup & Restore utility, follow the steps in the Manual Backup and Restore topic.

Once log.txt reaches 10MG, it is renamed to append an incremental number (for example, log1.txt) and the Backup and Restore Utility starts a new log.txt.