Backup Environment

While you can run a backup for a network environment where there is only a single Cisco Vision Director server, we recommended a redundant, virtualized environment. In a redundant environment, you run Cisco Vision Director on a primary server, with a secondary server connected to the same subnet where the backup data from the primary server is saved.

The backup process can be scheduled or run manually. When a backup completes, the Content Management System (CMS) is automatically restarted.

The backup task can run even while an event script is running. As part of this change, the database is no longer optimized or repaired during the backup process—a new TUI option is added to run database maintenance manually if needed.

Although it is not expected that database maintenance should be needed regularly, slow performance may indicate a need to run database maintenance.

Tip: You can look at the backup log (/var/log/svd-config/backup-YYYMMddHHMMSSz.log) to see if the table updates are “OK” and up-to-date. If not, then use the TUI option to run database maintenance. For more information, see the “Running Database Maintenance” topic in the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Operations Guide, Release 6.3.

What Cisco Vision Director Data is Backed Up

There are several areas of Cisco Vision Director that need to be backed up. The backup process backs up the following areas of the Cisco Vision Director server:

■Uploaded fonts

■Cisco Vision Director Content Management System (CMS)

■Cisco Vision Director database

■Cisco Vision Director system configuration files

■Content Integration data

■Dynamic Menu Board data

■Proof of Play report data in the /var/sv/pofp/data directory

Caution: The proof of play raw data in the /var/sv/pofp/raw directory is not backed up.

Disk Storage and Maintenance

Note: To be sure that your system has enough disk space, Release 4.0 and later releases only retain one backup file by default.

For more information, see the “Managing Server Resources in Cisco Vision Director” module of the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Operations Guide, Release 6.3.

Restore Environment

As with backups, schedule the restore process or run it manually. When the manual restore screen is displayed, it lists backups from both the backup and restore directories, concatenated together. This allows you to run a manual restore on either the primary or the secondary server. An automated restore always uses the most recent backup file in the restore directory.

Also, the schedule of tasks to run in the primary database and the secondary database will be different, due to the existence of the backup and restore tasks. Therefore, the schedule itself is not automatically restored.

Enabling the Backup Account on the Secondary Server

Before you set up the primary Cisco Vision Director server for automatic backup and restore with a redundant secondary server, enable the backup account on the secondary server using the TUI.

For more information about using the TUI, see Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Server Text-Based User Interface.

To enable the backup account on the secondary server:

1. On the secondary server, log into the TUI by doing the following:

a. Use a directly connected console, or use an SSH client from a laptop computer that is connected to the Cisco Vision Director server network to run a secure login to the secondary Cisco Vision Director server using the IP address for your server.

b. When the login prompt appears, enter the installer userid followed by the installer password at the password prompt.

2. From the Main Menu, go to the System Accounts > Enable/Disable Backup User menu (Figure 1).

Tip: To navigate through the TUI menus, type the character that corresponds to the menu area where you want to go (a, b, c, and so on) and press Enter. To return to other menus, back out of the hierarchy of menus using one of the indicated keys to return you to prior menus.

Figure 1 Enable/Disable Backup User Menu

1. Select Enable backup user account.

When successfully created, the following messages display:

2. Press any key to return to the Enable/Disable Backup user menu.

3. Continue to return to the Main Menu and exit the TUI.

Setting Up the Primary Server for Automatic Backup and Restore

Use a TUI menu option to automate the configuration of the backup accounts and directories between the primary and backup server. Use the TUI to setup the Cisco Vision Director Server environment to run the backup and restore processes.

Note: The TUI is only used to configure the backup environment. Use System Configuration to schedule or run any manual backups. For more information, see Scheduling a Regular Backup and Starting a Backup Manually for Immediate Execution.

Prerequisites

Complete these few steps before performing a backup and restore:

■Determine the IP address of the DSD server which is the destination of the backup files

■On that server (the backup one), enable remote ssh access. Use the TUI on the backup DSD.

a. Use a directly connected console, or use an SSH client from a laptop computer that is connected to the Cisco Vision Director Server network to run a secure login to the primary Cisco Vision Director server using the IP address for your server.

b. When the login prompt appears, enter the installer userid followed by the installer password at the password prompt.

c. From the Main Menu, choose System Accounts (Figure 2) then choose Enable/Disable privileged accounts via remote access (ssh) (Figure 3).

Figure 2 System Accounts in TUI

Figure 3 Enable Remote Access via SSH

After enabling access on the remote (backup) server, go back to the primary DSD server and proceed.

To set up the primary server for automatic backup and restore:

1. On the primary server, log into the TUI by doing the following:

a. Use a directly connected console, or use an SSH client from a laptop computer that is connected to the Cisco Vision Director Server network to run a secure login to the primary Cisco Vision Director server using the IP address for your server.

b. When the login prompt appears, enter the installer userid followed by the installer password at the password prompt.

2. From the Main Menu, go to Cisco Vision Server Administration > Setup automatic backup and restore.

Figure 4 Setup Automatic Backup and Restore Menu Option

3. At the prompt type the IP address or hostname of your secondary (remote backup) server as shown in the example in Figure 5.

Note: Text shown in yellow in the screen (omitted in figure below) is instructions on what is done in Prerequisites above.

Figure 5 Secondary Server IP Address Configuration

4. At the prompt, type the password for the installer account on the secondary backup server.

5. When accepted, the system generates the RSA keys and the public key is copied to the secondary server. Confirm that the keys are created without errors as shown in (Figure 6).

Figure 6 Generate RSA Keys

6. Wait until the “Press any key” message appears (there may be a short delay before it displays).

7. Press any key to return to the Cisco Vision Server Administration menu.

8. Continue to return to the Main Menu and exit the TUI.

Scheduling a Regular Backup

After you have configured the servers to support the backup process, schedule backups using System Configuration in the Cisco Vision Director software.

To configure a backup to run on a regular schedule:

1. Log into the primary Cisco Vision Director server as an administrator.

2. From the Cisco Vision Director click Configuration > System Configuration > Scheduled Tasks (Figure 7).

3. Click the Add icon. The Schedule Task – Add dialog box appears (Figure 8).

4. Click in the Task Type field and type BackupTask (Figure 8).

Note: Be sure to type the name of the task exactly as shown with upper and lowercase characters.

Figure 7 Adding a Backup Task to Run on a Regular Schedule

5. Click in the Task Time field and specify the time (in 24:00 format) when you want the backup to run.

Figure 8 Schedule Task – Add Dialog Box

6. Click in the Servers field and choose config.

7. Click Save.

Starting a Backup Manually for Immediate Execution

If you want to start a backup right away, run a backup manually.

To start a backup manually for immediate execution:

1. Log into Cisco Vision Director as an administrator.

2. Click More > Manage Software.

3. Click the System Backup tab (Figure 9).

4. Click the + icon to start creating a backup. The backup begins immediately.

Figure 9 Generating a System Backup

Use the Log arrow to see the log file information.

Note: The “success” message that appears means that the backup task started. It does not mean that the backup is completed.

Verifying Backup Completion

To verify backup completion, confirm that a backup file exists and also that no errors appear in the log file.

Verifying That a Backup File Exists

Note: Verifying the existence of a backup file only tells you that a backup was attempted. Check the file for errors.

To verify that a backup file exists:

1. Log into the TUI. When the login prompt appears, enter the installer userid followed by the installer password at the password prompt.

2. Choose Cisco Vision Server Administration.

3. Choose Restore all system data from system backup.

4. Verify that backup files with dates and times appear.

Finding Backup Errors in the Log File

Note: The messages “Starting backup” and “Backup completed” always appear in the log, even if unsuccessful.

To find backup errors in the log file:

1. Open the /opt/sv/servers/config/logs/sv_dev_debug.log file.

Tip: You can access log files from the TUI, or by running a System State Report from the Cisco Vision Director Library (Main Menu). Click More > System State Report.

2. In the sv_dev_debug.log file, find messages that include the string “com.cisco.sv.backup.”

These are the backup process messages.

3. Find the “Starting backup” message.

4. After the “Starting backup” message (but before the “Backup completed” message), look for a “com.cisco.sv.backup” message that also includes “ERROR” in the string.

If you find this error, the backup did not complete successfully.

Modifying the Number of Backup Files to Retain

To reduce the amount of disk storage required in your system, the default backup retention policy is to keep one backup file. This retention policy can be modified to retain 2, 5, 7, or 10 days backup files.

Caution: Check your overall disk utilization and the size of your backup content so that your system resources support the number of backup files you keep.

Note: Run this task on both the primary server and secondary backup server.

To modify the number of backup files to retain:

1. Log into the TUI by doing the following:

a. Use a directly connected console, or use an SSH client from a laptop computer that is connected to the Cisco Vision Director server network to run a secure login to the primary Cisco Vision Director server using the IP address for your server.

b. When the login prompt appears, enter the installer userid followed by the installer password at the password prompt.

2. From the Main Menu, choose Cisco Vision Server Administration.

3. Choose Retention Policy.

4. Choose Backup/restore Files.

A menu of policy options is displayed (Figure 10), where you can choose to retain 1 (the default), 2, 5, 7, or 10 backup files.

Figure 10 Backup Retention Policy Menu

5. Type the letter that corresponds to the number of days that you want to retain files and press Enter.

6. When the change of policy confirmation message displays, press any key to return to the Cisco Vision Server Administration menu.

Figure 11 Confirmation of Policy Change

7. Continue to return to the Main Menu and exit the TUI.

Starting a Restore Manually for Immediate Execution

To start a restore other than at the regularly scheduled time, the Cisco Vision Director software also allows you to run a restore from backup to begin immediately.

Caution: You cannot successfully run the restore process while an event script is running. In addition, if your venue was running any script when the backup took place, then those scripts will begin running after the restore.

To start a restore manually for immediate execution:

1. Log in to Cisco Vision Director as an Administrator.

2. Click More > Manage Software.

3. Click the System Backups tab (Figure 12).

4. Click Restore. The Confirm Restore dialog box appears.

5. Click Yes.

Figure 12 Restore the System from Backup

The system restore from backup process begins.

Or, if you prefer, you can still do the same process using TUI.

To start a restore manually for immediate execution:

1. Login to the TUI by doing the following:

a. Use a directly connected console, or use an SSH client from a laptop computer that is connected to the Cisco Vision Director server network to run a secure login to the primary Cisco Vision Director server using the IP address for your server.

b. When the login prompt appears, enter the installer userid followed by the installer password at the password prompt.

2. From the Main Menu, choose Cisco Vision Server Administration.

3. Choose Restore all system data from system backup.

The restore begins immediately.

Restarting the Cisco Vision Director Software

After you perform any restore on a Cisco Vision Director server, you must restart the Cisco Vision Director software to resume normal operation of the services.

To restart the Cisco Vision Director software:

1. On the primary server, log into the TUI by doing the following:

a. Use a directly connected console, or use an SSH client from a laptop computer that is connected to the Cisco Vision Director server network to run a secure login to the primary Cisco Vision Director server using the IP address for your server.

b. When the login prompt appears, enter the installer userid followed by the installer password at the password prompt.

2. From the Main Menu, choose Cisco Vision Server Administration.

3. Choose Restart Dynamic Signage Director Software.

4. Return to the Main Menu and exit the TUI.