If your data is important, then data backups need to happen, because things can go wrong (power failures, disk failures, ransomware, etc.)
While a backup is running, all user activity will be paused until the backup is complete. They won't even be able to log out of mSupply. So:
Choose File > Backup… to run a manual backup of your data. The backup will be carried out according to the configuration of the Preferences > Backup tab.
We recommend you set up your mSupply backups in the following manner
If your machine has the capability (e.g. it is a server with multiple storage volumes), then there is additional data security in configuring a RAID array.
There are other forms of RAID, but their advantages are outweighed by their disadvantages, considering that even a large mSupply database will be of the order of 10 GB in size.
This is a spare disk that the RAID controller will use if a disk in the RAID set fails.
This disk is not part of the RAID
This is still possible if your machine only has one disk drive and you can not configure a RAID array. This could be a volume attached to a USB port (e.g. a thumb drive) or a location on the network, provided that it is always available.
We recommend that you configure the Primary backup as recommended in our user's guide section on the Preferences > Backup tab.
Use Spideroak™ or Dropbox™ to backup your secondary location to their internet servers.
If needed configure an off-site computer to also synchronise with the backup service provider so you have an off-site copy as well as the “cloud” copy.
We have the technology to provide mirrored servers when very high availability is required. Contact us if interested. A charge will apply for implementation
We suggest that you store:
C:/mSupply_data/
C:/mSupply_backups/
C:/mSupply_data/
If you have a synchronisation system with mSupply it's very important that the sync satellite sites have operating backups. By design, mSupply sync satellite sites can operate indefinitely without syncing to the Central server. There are numerous cases of Sync satellite sites operating for months without syncing, though this is not recommended! In such cases, a failure on the sync satellite site could result in months of lost data unless backups are operating on the such sync satellite sites. These sites are normally even more vulnerable to failure than 'Central' servers ….
For data security purposes, the New data file, Restore and Open new datafile functions are disabled if you are on a satellite site in a synchronising system.
An mSupply database can be created from a backup:
.4BK
, eg. CMS.4BK
. Hit OK.In client/server usage this command will have no effect.
Be very careful about restoring. We suggest you consult Sustainable Solutions before attempting a restore, particularly in a synced system.
Previous: 25.05. Web browser access via TSPlus | | Next: 25.07. Updating mSupply |