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Creating Backups

Creating Backups

Owned by Nina Cardillo
Last updated: 04-Mar-2025
5 min read
The CMS Import/Export button is available with SmartServer 3.5 and higher. For SmartServer 2.7 Update 1 and higher and prior to 3.5, the CMS Import/Export feature is available with the CMS Settings button. 

For SmartServer 3.5, see Backing Up, Restoring, and Cloning the SmartServer (Release 3.5).

For SmartServer 3.4, see Backing Up, Restoring, and Cloning the SmartServer (Release 3.4). 

For SmartServer 3.3 and prior releases, see Backing Up, Restoring, and Cloning the SmartServer (Release 3.3 and Prior). 

You can back up (export) the SmartServer database and/or settings and restore (import) the data and configuration. You can also back up the contents of the flash memory in your SmartServer in order to recover from a hardware failure of your SmartServer should it occur. This section describes how to create SmartServer system, database, and configuration backup files.

To backup SmartServer database and/or settings, or system, follow these steps:

  1. Save the apollo password for any backed-up SmartServer system image. If you restore a system image onto a new SmartServer, then the new SmartServer's password will be changed to the password from the backup image.

  2. Open the SmartServer CMS.

     

  3. Click the Import/Export button () located on the SmartServer app bar.


    The Import/Export dialog appears.

     

  4. Click the Export tab.

    The Export view appears.

     

  5. Verify the SmartServer from which the contents are to be backed up. If you have multiple SmartServers, then select the SmartServers from which the contents are to be backed up using the checkmarks (yellow indicates selected, blue indicates not selected), or use the Select All button () to select all SmartServers. 

     

  6. Select the Export Destination using the pulldown menu.

    1. Download – saves the SmartServer backup file to your PC (see Retrieving Backup Files When Using the Download Method for information on how to retrieve these exports)

    2. Local Storage – saves the SmartServer backup file to a specified SmartServer directory

       

  7. If you selected Local Storage as the Export Destination, then verify or specify the backup location in the Export Directory field. When backing up to Local Storage for SmartServer Manager, do not change the default /media/sdcard/backups directory setting. Files in this directory do not get backed up to prevent the backing up of backup files. 

     

  8. If you selected Local Storage as the Export Destination, then verify or specify the backup filename in the Export Filename field.

    The backup filename must be unique. You can use the format <install code>-<export type>-yyyy-mm-dd-hhmmss, which is used with the Download method (e.g., 17qes5s-DBSettings-2025-03-03-154004).

    image-20250304-204834.png

     

  9. Select the Export Contents:

    • Database and Settings (default) 

    • Database

    • Settings

    • SmartServer (Full System)

    • Remote CMS (SmartSupervisor) – you can backup the SmartSupervisor database by selecting the Remote CMS (SmartSupervisor) option. You can backup the SmartSupervisor database in the following configurations:

      • SmartSupervisor database only

      • SmartSupervisor database, local database, and settings

      • SmartSupervisor database and local database

      • SmartSupervisor database and full system

      image-20250304-204424.png
      Example: SmartServer Manager

       

      image-20250304-204521.png
      Example: SmartSupervisor

       

  10. Click EXPORT.

    1. If you selected the Settings option only, then an indicator will appear showing that the backup is in progress. You will not be able to use the CMS for a few moments until the settings backup is completed. With SmartServer 4.0, the Ready LED (image-20250227-194506.png) may initially flash red (instead of blue) during a settings export.

      image-20250304-205241.png


      A message will appear when the settings backup successfully finishes.

    2. If you selected the Database option, or the Database and Settings option, then an indicator will appear showing that the backup is in progress and a message will appear stating that the database backup has started. With SmartServer 4.0, the Ready LED (image-20250227-194506.png) may initially flash red (instead of blue) during a settings/database export.

      Your browser session will terminate because the CMS is shutdown. Monitor the process to prevent interruption of the backup. The Ready LED (image-20250227-194506.png) will flash red and blue while the backup is taking place. You will not be able to use the CMS until the database backup is completed (about 10 minutes).

    3. If you selected the SmartServer (Full System) option, then an indicator will appear showing that the backup is in progress and a message will appear stating that the system backup has started.

      Your browser session will terminate because the CMS is shutdown. Monitor the process to prevent interruption of the backup. The Ready LED (image-20250227-194506.png) will flash red and blue while the backup is taking place. Once the export is finished, the CMS will restart resulting in a flashing blue Ready LED. A solid blue Ready LED indicates normal operations. You will not be able to use the CMS until the backup is completed and the system restarts (about 30-40 minutes).

  11. If you are using the Download method as the Export Destination, then login into the CMS and return to the Import/Export dialog once the backup operation is complete. See the Retrieving Backup Files When Using the Download Method section for information on how to retrieve your backup file.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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