PLEASE NOTE:
The majority of the contents in this guide apply to both StudioPlus Spectra AND myStratus Desktop.
In most cases, instructions referring to "Spectra" also apply to myStratus Desktop.
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Home > Data Management > Database Backup Best Practices
Database Backup Best Practices

Overview

Do you have a disaster recovery plan in place for your Spectra database? A "disaster" can take on multiple forms, including server or hard drive crashes, lightning strikes, tornados, flooding, theft, fire, or even accidental deletions.  However, the most common form of data loss is actually an unrepairable, corrupt database. No matter how many precautions you take to protect your data, circumstances will arise that could potentially corrupt your data. It’s not a matter of "if" but simply a matter of "when" you’ll need a backup copy of your database. For this reason, we highly recommend you back up your data at least once a day.   

I USE MYSTRATUS. DO I NEED TO BACK UP MY DATABASE?

Did you know that your myStratus database also needs to be backed up regularly? The good news is, we do it for you! We always maintain five backups of your data in separate data centers to protect against catastrophic outages. In addition to that, we also replicate your live data between multiple devices simultaneously to protect your from any hardware failure. 

"Best" Practice

The best option is to set up Spectra to automatically back up your database locally and then physically take a copy of the backup off-site with you every day.

1.
 In the Spectra Control Center, set up the "Backup Database Locally" job with the following settings:
a.
 Run the job every night.
 
b.
 Run the job sometime between 12:00 AM and 4:00 AM. Make sure no other jobs will run during this time period.
 
c.
 Select the PC that is hosting your database as the computer that will run the local backup job.
 
d.
 Set the logs to be emailed to you upon failure.
 
e.
 Set the backup path to be a path to a local folder. Make sure the "Everyone" user has full permissions to this folder.
 
f.
 Set the job to automatically delete old backups after 14-30 days. This setting will prevent your storage space from getting too full.
2.
 Every morning Spectra will create a local backup. However, you are responsible to verify that the backup file was created, as well as to move a copy of the backup off the PC (in case of a server or hard drive crash) AND to make sure a copy of the backup is moved off-site each day. Copying the backup folder onto a USB drive and taking it home each night is a good option.

 

"Next Best" Practice

If you're not using the automatic backup option described above, the "next best" option is to manually back up your database every day.

For Express, Standard, and Professional users:

1.
 From any PC, open the Spectra Database Utility.
2.
 Click Backup Data Files.
3.
 Browse to the local folder where you want to store the backup.
4.
 Check both checkboxes.
5.
 Click Backup to start the backup process.
6.
 Manually copy the backup folder to a USB drive and take it off-site.

For SQL and Enterprise users:

1.
 From the database server, open the Spectra SQL Server Utility.
2.
 Set the backup folder path to a local folder on this computer. Make sure the "Everyone" user has full permissions to this folder.
3.
 Click Backup Database to start the backup process.
4.
 Manually copy the backup folder to a USB drive and take it off-site.

 

Special Note about other Backup Services

Most backup services, such as Carbonite™, Dropbox™, iCloud®, etc., make it clear they are NOT to be used for active databases. The database backup will become corrupt during the backup process and should not be used.

 



See also
Spectra Database Utility
myStratus Database Utility
Internet Update Utility - Spectra 2014 or older
Maintaining your Spectra Database
Updates and Upgrades
FAQ - Upgrading to Spectra SQL
FAQ - myStratus Firewall


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