This article describes the best practices for backing up a Definition Center server's data and configuration information.

Since the installation of the Definition Center software is a simple short process we don't recommend backing up the program structure. We do recommend keeping a copy of the installer for the version you are running handy in case you need to re-install or move to another machine. Alternately have the software installed and ready to go on a backup machine.

The data directory for the server should be backed up following your standard backup regimen. At most companies, this is a weekly full backup with daily incremental backups. The default data directory location for the software is \iRise\data. Make sure you include all files and folders under that base folder.
 
 As a best practice, the backups should be run in off peak hours when the least number of users potentially will be accessing the application. The iRise Definition Center service does not need to be stopped in order to run a backup and users can be accessing the application, but we recommend that you stop the service and perform the backup during non peak hours if at all possible.

IMPORTANT:

If you run a backup with the service running make sure you omit the following files from the backup \iRise\data\database\irise-dc.lock.db, \iRise\data\repository\.lock. If you do not omit these files from backup, make sure you remove them before using a copy of the data on another running Definition Center. These lock files in place in another data location may direct the copied instance of the Definition Center's H2 database to the source Definition Center's data directory and could result in data crosstalk and data corruption between the two Definition Center instances.

To backup the basic configuration information for your Definition Center, backup the following files:

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 If your server is running TLS (HTTPS), the following files should be backed up:

 If your server is running LDAP Auto Provisioning, the following file should be backed up:

 ​If in doubt as to which Definition Center configuration files you need to backup, simply take a backup of the DefCenter folder, space permitting.

The software performs an automatic backup of two directories in the \iRise\data folder: database and repository, and creates the backups in a new folder called backup. On a default installation, this backup is scheduled to run at 12:00am. To get the most reliable and complete backup of the entire Definition Center's data, we recommend backing up the data directory immediately following this automatic backup.

The automated backups are stored in a folder with the following naming convention:
 
 \iRise\data\backup\yyMMddHHmm

 For each automated backup performed you should see two files in this folder, a zip file and an xml file. Check the modified time on these to see how long that automated process is taking.

To modify the scheduled start time for this automated backup, edit the file:
 
 \iRise\DefCenter\tomcat\webapps\iRise\WEB_INF\Classes\server.properties
 
 Look for the section that looks like this:

# Backup settings (please refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRON_expression for valid values)
 backup.hour = 00
 backup.minute = 00
 backup.retainBackups = 30

 The settings above are for 12AM and are set to retain 30 such backups. To change this to 2:30PM for example, use the 24-hour clock format and change the backup hour to 14 and the backup minute to 30. Also, change the backup.retainBackups value if you want the automated backup process to save more or less backups.

Backing up your iRise Studio Data

Contact iRise Customer Support if you have any questions or concerns about backing up your Definition Center server.