Managing NerveCenter - Managing the Database - Backing up the Database -
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Backing up the Database

You should establish a regular database backup schedule that suits your environment. Also, you should back up your database prior to doing anything that might affect the database. For example, you'll want to back up the database before upgrading NerveCenter or before importing data from another database. Then, if you need to restore the original data, you can.

SerializeDB exports the object and node data from the database to a single serialized ASCII file (*.asc). On Windows NT, SerializeDB offers an alternative: exporting to a NerveCenter flat file database, which is made up of two text files (*.ncdb and *.node). The flat file database files can be used on UNIX or can be imported into a database on Windows NT.

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Note    The NerveCenter Server checks its connection to its database server on a regular basis. If the connection has been broken, the NerveCenter Server attempts to reestablish it. Upon reestablishing the connection, the NerveCenter Server writes its current data to the database. The retry interval is two minutes.

If, when the NerveCenter Server exits gracefully, its connection to the database server is down, it saves its current database information to an .ASC file in the NerveCenter DB directory and logs a message in the event log. The format of the file is MONTHDAYYEAR_HOURMINUTE.ASC. You can then use SerializeDB to restore this data.

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You can use any number of methods to set up regularly scheduled backups, depending on your environment. Select the method that fits in best with your existing backup strategy. Here are some suggestions:

• If you use a backup tool (such as VERITAS Backup Exec) for scheduled backups already, use it to back up the NerveCenter database, too.
• If you use a scheduling tool, create a process to back up the NerveCenter database.
• If you have a Microsoft SQL Server database, use the SQL Server backup utilities to back up the database.
• On UNIX, set up a cron job to run SerializeDB (the backup utility that ships with NerveCenter) from the command line at a regular interval.

If you need to do a manual backup in addition to your scheduled backups, see Backing up the Database Using the SerializeDB Application.

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Note    We recommend you use SerializeDB (application or command line) instead of manually copying the database file to another directory to make sure you back up the correct files and to minimize the size of the backup file.

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