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Backing Up Using Specialist Back-up Software

As described here, we strongly recommend that you use the text back-up or database duplication facilities built in to Standard ERP as the main part of your back-up strategy. The text back-up feature in particular is more economical in terms of disk space and is more reliable in that the success of a restoration is guaranteed even if the version of your Standard ERP application has changed. The database duplication feature allows you to continue using your database while it is being backed up.

However, some users may prefer to rely on specialist back-up software such as Retrospect to produce back-up tapes that can be stored off-site. Such software can sometimes fail to create a back-up file if the files being backed up are still in use. For example, a user may have gone home having forgotten to log off (or having left their machine producing a report) and this may cause the back-up to fail.

To cater for this eventuality, you can change the state of the database at the time when it will be backed up so that, as far as the back-up software is concerned, it appears not to be in use. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Select 'Technics' using the [Switch Module] button in the Navigation Centre or the Ctrl-0 (zero) (Windows) or ⌘-0 (Mac OS X) keyboard shortcut. Then, click the [Settings] button in the Navigation Centre or use the Ctrl-S or ⌘-S keyboard shortcut.

  2. Double-click 'Timed Operations'. The following window appears:

  3. Set the Database Closing Time to a few minutes before the moment the back-up software is scheduled to start work. Use the 24-hour clock, and place a colon (:) between the hour and the minute.

  4. Set the Database Opening Time to a few minutes after the moment the back-up software is scheduled to finish work.

  5. If you have specified a Start Time as well, it should not be between the Database Opening and Closing Times. The database is dormant during this period, so such a Start Time will have no effect.

  6. Click the [Save] button in the Button Bar to save the changes.
Once you have followed these steps, any user who has gone home having not logged off will return the next morning to find their machine still logged in to Standard ERP. Despite this, the back-up should have been completely successfully.

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