Altova FlowForce Server 2024 Advanced Edition

This topic explains how to back up data in FlowForce Server. In this case, there are two possible options:

•From the Web administration interface. This type of backup includes only configuration data: jobs, credentials, deployed MapForce mappings or StyleVision transformations, resources, AS2 certificates, AS2 partners. It does not include application settings or users. Any FlowForce Server user can import or export configuration data if their permissions on the respective object allow it.

•Administrative backup of the application data directory. This approach requires access to the FlowForce Server application data directory on the machine where FlowForce Server is installed. The application data directory includes all the data from the previous bullet as well as users and roles, including users and roles imported from a Directory Service such as Active Directory. The application data directory also includes application-level settings, such as email or LDAP server settings, password policies, cluster settings

Useful tips

In case you want to migrate data to a new machine in the future or restore it from a backup, the tips below will help you carry over data more easily:

•It is recommended to configure LicenseServer to have a fallback second server (the so-called "failover" server). For details, see the LicenseServer documentation (https://www.altova.com/documentation).

•It is recommended that all jobs should use standalone (not inline) credentials. If you are using local (inline) credentials in jobs, all such jobs will have to be edited on a new server machine to match the user credentials linked to that operating system. By contrast, if you are using standalone credentials, you will only need to edit the standalone credentials on the new server machine.

•If you are running mapping functions deployed from MapForce, consider referring to file and folder paths and databases using resources instead of absolute references.

•As an alternative to creating and maintaining users and roles directly in FlowForce Server, you might want to use Windows Active Directory or another LDAP Server with support for Directory Services. For details, see Changing the Directory Service Settings.

Partial backup from the Web administration interface

To perform a backup of selected objects, log in to the FlowForce Web administration interface and use the Export functionality. To restore data, use the Import functionality. For details, see Importing and exporting configuration data.

Backup of all FlowForce application data

The backup of all application data involves creating a copy of the FlowForce Server database (DATADIR) in a safe location from where you can later restore it, if necessary.

To save time and disk space, you will want the DATADIR directory to be as compact as possible. You can achieve this by performing the following optional steps before the actual backup:

1. Archive the old log records by creating a job that runs the built-in archive-log function.

2. Delete old log records by creating a job that runs the built-in truncate-log function.

3. Delete unused files by creating a job that runs the built-in cleanup-files function.

4. Run the FlowForce Server executable with the compactdb.

You can now proceed to the actual back-up steps:

1. Stop both the FlowForce Server and FlowForce Web Server services. See the instructions for Linux, macOS, and Windows.

2. Create a copy of DATADIR to a safe directory (preferably on a different machine or disk). By convention, we will call this copy DATADIR_BACKUP in subsequent steps.