SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent User s Guide Revision 24 11/20/2012 Solatech, Inc.
Contents Introduction... 3 Installation... 3 Running the Backup Agent... 3 Using the Backup Agent... 3 Configuring the Backup... 3 Selecting what to backup... 4 Setup your notification settings... 4 Testing the Configuration... 5 Scheduling the Backup... 5 Windows XP... 5 Windows Vista/7... 6 Windows 8... 6 Windows Server 2003... 7 Windows Server 2008... 8 Backing up multiple companies... 8 Setup a custom configuration... 8 Using a custom configuration... 9 Saving multiple copies of a backup... 9 Setup a folder that will store the backup configuration files... 9 Setup three custom backup configurations... 9 Schedule the backups... 10 Reference... 10 Command line parameters... 10 SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent Solatech, Inc. Page 2 of 10
Introduction The SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent is a utility that allows you to perform automated, unattended backups of your Solatech Window Covering Software data. In addition to making it easier to get a SWCS server setup, you can use this tool for ongoing SWCS server management tasks such as security maintenance, backups and other database maintenance tasks. Installation The SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent is installed with the Solatech Window Covering Software and the SWCS 4.2 Server Manager. Running the Backup Agent The SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent can be run by clicking it s shortcut on the Start menu. This will display the configuration screen where you setup what to backup and where to store the backup. To perform a scheduled backup you must setup the Backup Agent to run on a schedule using Windows Task Scheduler. Details on how to do this can be found under the section Scheduling the Backup. To run the Backup Agent: Windows XP: Click Start, Programs, Solatech, Solatech Window Covering Software 4, Utilities, SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. Windows Vista/7: Click Start, All Programs, Solatech Window Covering Software 4, Utilities, SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. Windows 8: From the home screen, click or tap Solatech WCS 4.2 Installation Assistant. Using the Backup Agent Configuring the Backup In order for the automated backup to run you first need to configure the backup agent by telling it what SWCS 4.2 company database to backup, what additional files you want to backup, where to save the backup, etc. This is done by running the Backup Agent in configuration mode. To do this, just click on the SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent shortcut. To run the Backup Agent: Windows XP: Click Start, Programs, Solatech, Solatech Window Covering Software 4, Utilities, SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. Windows Vista/7: Click Start, All Programs, Solatech Window Covering Software 4, Utilities, SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent Solatech, Inc. Page 3 of 10
Windows 8: From the home screen, click or tap SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. There are two parts to configuring the Backup Agent, selecting what to backup and where to save it and then selecting how (or if) you want to be notified on what the Backup Agent is doing. Selecting what to backup 1. Switch to the General tab. 2. Click the Browse button to display the available SWCS 4.2 companies. Select the one you want to backup and click OK. 3. Under the section What do you want to backup, select one of the three options. a. The active company database only: As stated this will only backup the company database. It won t backup your custom or modified reports, labels or any product files. The company database stores your customers, quotes and orders. b. The active company database and all product files. This is the same as the first option except that it includes all of your product files. This type of backup will produce a larger backup file that the first. c. The active company database, product files, reports and all other data files. Selecting this option will back up all SWCS 4.2 data and will result in the largest backup file. Solatech recommended selecting this option. 4. Next you need to select where to save the backup file. Click the Save As button and select a location and name for the backup file. Solatech recommends saving the backup to an external hard drive or flash drive. Saving the backup on the same drive as the original data files will not help if the drive crashes. 5. Select Replace the existing file if you want to replace old backups with new backups. If you want to keep your old backups, select Keep the existing file. The Backup Agent will add a number to the end of the backup file name in order to make sure it s unique. Make sure you keep track of the files on the backup media as this could easily cause the backup media to become full. Setup your notification settings Since the Backup Agent is designed to run unattended it will be helpful to have it notify someone when it starts and more importantly when it has problems. 1. Switch to the Notification tab. 2. Check Send an e-mail when a backup is started to have a short e-mail sent when an automatic backup is started. This e-mail won t have a log file attached to it. 3. Check Send an e-mail when a backup is finished to have a short e-mail sent when an automatic backup is finished. 4. Check but only if there are problems to have the finished e-mail only get sent if the backup failed. 5. Check attach the backup log file to have the log file get attached to the sent e-mail. If you don t check this box then you ll have to review the log file by logging on to the computer. SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent Solatech, Inc. Page 4 of 10
6. The last step is to setup your e-mail settings. Click the E-mail Settings button and fill in the fields with your e-mail details. You ll need to consult with your e-mail provider on the settings as they are different for gmail, yahoo mail, etc. a. The Outgoing mail server, sender e-mail address, and recipient e-mail address are required. All other settings will depend on your e-mail provider. Testing the Configuration It s important to test the backup not only after you ve configured the settings, but also after you change the settings or just on a regular schedule, to make sure things are operating correctly. 1. Run the Backup Agent. 2. Click on the Advanced tab. 3. Click the Test the Backup button. The current settings will be used to perform a backup. If enabled, e-mail messages will also be sent during the test. 4. Review the results by opening the log using the link under the log Files section. Scheduling the Backup In order to make the backups automatic they need to be scheduled. This is controlled by the Windows Task Scheduler. Note: The schedule must be setup on the same computer on which the Solatech Window Covering Software or the SWCS 4.2 Server Manager is installed. Windows XP 1. Click Start, Control Panel. 2. If not in classic view, click the link to switch to Classic View. 3. Double-click Scheduled Tasks. 4. Double-click Add Scheduled Task. 5. When the Scheduled Task Wizard appears, click Next. 6. Click Browse. 7. Navigate to the folder \Program Files\Solatech\WCS 4 (or Program Files (x86)\solatech\wcs 4 on 64-bit systems). 8. Select the file swcs42ba.exe and click Open. 9. Enter the name SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. 10. Select the time frame for when the backup should run. Solatech suggests backing up daily. 11. Click Next. 12. Enter the time when you want the task to run. 13. Click Next. 14. Enter the user name and password for the account under which the Backup Agent will operate. The account must have the full access to the SWCS application and files in order for the backup to work. 15. Click Next. 16. Check the box Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish. SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent Solatech, Inc. Page 5 of 10
17. Click Finish. 18. When the properties window opens, add the following to the end of the Run command: /RUN For example: C:\Program Files\Solatech\WCS 4\swcs42ba.exe /RUN 19. Click the Set Password button and enter the password for your Windows logon. 20. Click OK. Windows Vista/7 1. Click Start, Control Panel. 2. Change the view to Large icons. 3. Click Administrative Tasks. 4. Double-click Task Scheduler. 5. On the right sidebar, click Create Basic Task. 6. Enter the name SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. 7. Click Next. 8. Select the time frame for when the backup should run. Solatech suggests backing up daily. 9. Click Next. 10. Enter the time when you want the task to run. 11. Click Next. 12. Select Start a program. 13. Click Next. 14. Click Browse. 15. Navigate to the folder \Program Files\Solatech\WCS 4 (or Program Files (x86)\solatech\wcs 4 on 64-bit systems). 16. Select the file swcs42ba.exe and click Open. 17. In the Add arguments field, type /RUN. 18. Click Next. 19. Check the box Open the Properties dialog for this task when I click Finish. 20. Click Finish. 21. When the Properties dialog opens, select Run whether user is logged on or not. 22. Click OK. If you are prompted to enter the password for your user logon, enter it now. If you don t then the backup task will not run. Windows 8 1. Switch to the Desktop. 2. Click Settings, Control Panel. 3. Change the view to Large icons. 4. Click Administrative Tasks. 5. Click Task Scheduler. 6. On the right sidebar, click Create Basic Task. 7. Enter the name SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. 8. Click Next. SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent Solatech, Inc. Page 6 of 10
9. Select the time frame for when the backup should run. Solatech suggests backing up daily. 10. Click Next. 11. Enter the time when you want the task to run. 12. Click Next. 13. Select Start a program. 14. Click Next. 15. Click Browse. 16. Navigate to the folder \Program Files\Solatech\WCS 4 (or Program Files (x86)\solatech\wcs 4 on 64-bit systems). 17. Select the file swcs42ba.exe and click Open. 18. In the Add arguments field, type /RUN. 19. Click Next. 20. Check the box Open the Properties dialog for this task when I click Finish. 21. Click Finish. 22. When the Properties dialog opens, select Run whether user is logged on or not. 23. Click OK. If you are prompted to enter the password for your user logon, enter it now. If you don t then the backup task will not run. Windows Server 2003 1. Click Start, Control Panel. 2. Double-click Scheduled Tasks. 3. Double-click Add Scheduled Task. 4. When the Scheduled Task Wizard appears, click Next. 5. Click Browse. 6. Navigate to the folder \Program Files\Solatech\WCS 4 (or Program Files (x86)\solatech\wcs 4 on 64-bit systems). 7. Select the file swcs42ba.exe and click Open. 8. Enter the name SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. 9. Select the time frame for when the backup should run. Solatech suggests backing up daily. 10. Click Next. 11. Enter the time when you want the task to run. 12. Click Next. 13. Enter the user name and password for the account under which the Backup Agent will operate. The account must have the full access to the SWCS application and files in order for the backup to work. 14. Click Next. 15. Check the box Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish. 16. Click Finish. 17. When the properties window opens, add the following to the end of the Run command: /RUN For example: C:\Program Files\Solatech\WCS 4\swcs42ba.exe /RUN 18. Click the Set Password button and enter the password for your Windows logon. SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent Solatech, Inc. Page 7 of 10
19. Click OK. Windows Server 2008 1. Click Start, Control Panel. 2. If not in classic view, click the link to switch to Classic View. 3. Double-click Administrative Tasks. 4. Double-click Task Scheduler. 5. On the right sidebar, click Create Basic Task. 6. Enter the name SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. 7. Click Next. 8. Select the time frame for when the backup should run. Solatech suggests backing up daily. 9. Click Next. 10. Enter the time when you want the task to run. 11. Click Next. 12. Select Start a program. 13. Click Next. 14. Click Browse. 15. Navigate to the folder \Program Files\Solatech\WCS 4 (or Program Files (x86)\solatech\wcs 4 on 64-bit systems). 16. Select the file swcs42ba.exe and click Open. 17. In the Add arguments field, type /RUN. 18. Click Next. 19. Check the box Open the Properties dialog for this task when I click Finish. 20. Click Finish. 21. When the Properties dialog opens, select Run whether user is logged on or not. 22. Click OK. If you are prompted to enter the password for your user logon, enter it now. If you don t then the backup task will not run. Backing up multiple companies By default the Backup Agent works with one SWCS company. However it can support multiple companies. To do so you just need to create a shortcut to the Backup Agent program and add a command line parameter to the shortcut. This parameter will tell the Backup Agent to use a userdefined configuration file instead of the default one. You can have as many configuration files as you want, thus backup as many different companies as you want. Setup a custom configuration Create a shortcut to the Backup Agent and then modify the shortcut to indicate a custom configuration file. Note: This user s guide assumes you are familiar with working with files and folders in Windows, specifically, creating shortcuts and creating/copying/moving files and folders. SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent Solatech, Inc. Page 8 of 10
1. Create a shortcut to the SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. One way to do this is to copy the SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent shortcut from the Start menu to the Desktop. 2. Give the new shortcut a slightly different name, for example SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent My Second Company. 3. Right-click on the new shortcut and click Properties. 4. At the end of the Target, add the following parameter: /CONFIG: c:\mysettings\myconfigfile.ini. 5. Click OK to save the shortcut. 6. Now double-click on the new shortcut and the Backup Agent will start but instead of using the default configuration it will be using the one specified in the shortcut. You can verify this by looking at the referenced configuration file at the bottom of the screen. 7. Configure the Backup Agent settings. 8. When you are done, click Close. Using a custom configuration To use a custom configuration when performing a backup you need to modify the scheduled command that launches the Backup Agent to reference the new configuration. Create a scheduled task following the procedures above. When you are at the step where you add the /RUN parameter you will need to add another parameter: /CONFIG: c:\mysettings\myconfigfile.ini. The complete target line would like like this:...\swcs42ba.exe /RUN /CONFIG: c:\mysettings\myconfigfile.ini Saving multiple copies of a backup A common backup scenario is to save multiple copies of a backup, such as the past 7, 14 or 30 days. To do this with the Backup Agent requires that you setup multiple configurations, one for each day that you want to backup. You would then setup your schedule accordingly so that each configuration is used on the appropriate day. The following example shows how to setup a 3 day backup schedule, i.e. keeping a backup for the last three days. Setup a folder that will store the backup configuration files Create a folder on the local machine to store the configuration files that the Backup Agent will use to keep track of where to store the different backup files for each day. It does not matter where this folder is or what it s called as long as the user account that the Backup Agent will be using when it s run has read/write access to it. The recommended location for this folder is on the same location that the backup file(s) will be stored. Setup three custom backup configurations 1. Create a shortcut to the SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent. One way to do this is to copy the SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent shortcut from the Start menu to the Desktop. 2. Rename the shortcut to SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent Working. 3. Right-click on the new shortcut and click Properties. SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent Solatech, Inc. Page 9 of 10
4. At the end of the Target, add the following parameter: /CONFIG: c:\backupsettings\baconfiga.ini. where c:\backupsettings is the folder you created to store the backup configuration files. 5. Click OK to save the shortcut. 6. Now double-click on the new shortcut and the Backup Agent will start but instead of using the default configuration it will be using the one specified in the shortcut. You can verify this by looking at the referenced configuration file at the bottom of the screen. 7. Configure the Backup Agent settings as required with the following exceptions: a. For the location of the backup file use a name in the format swcsbackup-a.zip. b. Set the file to be replaced if it exists. 8. When you are done, click Close. 9. Right-click on the shortcut created in step 1 and click Properties. 10. Change baconfiga.ini to baconfigb.ini. 11. Click OK to save the shortcut. 12. Repeat steps 6 to 8. In step 7a, use the name swcsbackup-b.zip. 13. Repeat steps 9 to 11, this time using baconfigc for the configuration file and swcsbackupc.zip for the backup file. Schedule the backups At this point you should have three configuration files that will tell the Backup Agent to create three different backup files. Now you need to setup a scheduled task to perform the backup. Create a scheduled task following the procedures above (Scheduling the Backup). When you are at the step where you add the /RUN parameter you will need to add another parameter that references one of the three configuration files you created. For example: /RUN /CONFIG: c:\backupsettings\baconfiga.ini. Setup this first scheduled backup to run every Monday. Then create another schedule for Wednesday and reference baconfigb. Create a third schedule for Friday and reference baconfigc. You can create any number of configuration files and setup as simple or complex backup schedule as you want. Reference Command line parameters /RUN Causes the Backup Agent to perform a backup instead of showing the configuration screen. /CONFIG:<path> Specify an alternate configuration file. If this not supplied then the default configuration file is used. This parameter may be combined with /RUN. SWCS 4.2 Backup Agent Solatech, Inc. Page 10 of 10