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Backing up and Restoring the SmartServer

Backing up and Restoring the SmartServer

Owned by Nina Cardillo
Last updated: 04-Mar-2025
3 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). 

Backup and restore operations are dependent on SmartServer hardware versions

Restore operations are dependent on the SmartServer software and hardware versions for the backup and restore SmartServers. Consequently, you cannot restore a system image on all new SmartServers.

For example, if you backup a SmartServer 3.26 on a dual core SmartServer, then you cannot restore it on a new quad core that uses a Dialog PMIC, which is only supported with SmartServer 3.3 and higher. Doing so could result in the new SmartServer becoming unusable and possibly unrecoverable.

Therefore, only back up the settings and database (not the system) on the old SmartServer. Then, on the new Dialog PMIC hardware, install SmartServer 3.3 or higher and restore the settings and database.


You can use the SmartServer CMS Import/Export dialog to back up (export) and restore (import) the SmartServer system, database, and configuration files. Click the Import/Export button (image-20250227-172508.png) located on the SmartServer app bar to use the Import/Export dialog (shown below).

You can backup and restore the SmartServer system, database, and configuration files in the following ways using the SmartServer CMS Import/Export dialog:

  • Database only – backs up/restores the databases in the SmartServer Manager and the SmartServer platform. The CMS database is located on an SD Card that is shipped with the SmartServer. This SD Card is inserted into the appropriate slot on the device (see figure below). The SD Card must remain inserted in the SmartServer whenever power is applied to the SmartServer. See Creating Backups and Restoring the Database and/or Settings. 

     

  • Settings (configuration files) only – backs up/restores all of the configurations that are exported/imported. Exporting and importing SmartServer configuration files restores the SmartServer configuration, which can also be deployed to multiple SmartServers. This method is typically used when building up your network. See Exporting and Importing SmartServer Configuration Files.

  • Database and Settings – backs up/restores the databases in the SmartServer Manager and the SmartServer platform, as well as all of the configurations that are exported/imported. See Creating Backups and Restoring the Database and/or Settings.

  • SmartServer (Full System) – backs up/restores the entire SmartServer platform, including the Linux operating system SmartServer platform software, and SmartServer Manager. The SmartServer data that is backed up can be restored onto another SmartServer or cloned to multiple sites. A SmartServer system restore preserves the new SmartServer's MAC addresses and changes the serial number, host name, install code, segment ID (SID), and apollo password. Since restoring a backup will change the password of the SmartServer to the password of the backed-up SmartServer, be sure to save the apollo password for any backed-up SmartServer system image before proceeding with restore operations. With SmartServer 4.1 Beta and prior, the SmartServer option is called Full System.

    For a SmartServer system restore, you can either perform a full system restore/replacement (i.e., an identical replacement), or you can clone a SmartServer and deploy a backed-up image to multiple devices. When restoring a SmartServer to multiple sites, you cannot restore the same backup image more than once onto the same network. See Backing up and Restoring/Replacing a SmartServer for an identical SmartServer replacement and Backing up and Restoring a SmartServer to Multiple Sites to clone a SmartServer to multiple sites.

  • Remote CMS (SmartSupervisor) – backs up/restores the SmartSupervisor database (available for SmartSupervisor only). You can backup and restore multiple SmartServers simultaneously using SmartSupervisor. SmartSupervisor keeps files obtained from SmartServers during backups and allows you to upload them back to SmartServers for restore operations. See Creating Backups and Restoring the Database and/or Settings.

This section consists of the following:

 

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