Explanation
Backing up your data is critical. It is easily one of the most important tasks that you can do, however completing this task and making sure it is happening on a consistent basis is often taken lightly. While the Cyrious offers integrated backup capability, the user is still responsible for configuring the backup, making sure copies of the backup are stored on more than 1 computer, offsite, etc.
Cyrious SMS offers an integrated backup solution, the backup feature in SMS allows you to create a compressed backup archive of your database. When you initiate a backup in SMS, the Cyrious SSLIP program notifies copies all the database files and compresses them into a .zip format. The backup is stored in the folder you specified under Mgmt | Setup | User Options | Backup Options.
Cyrious Control also offers a backup solution, however this backup works a bit different than SMS. When you initiate a backup in Control, the Cyrious SSLIP program notifies SQL Server to initiate a backup, once that backup has been completed the Cyrious SSLIP moves a copy of that backup to the folder you specified under Setup | System Setup | Backup Options. The Control backups are not compressed.
While Cyrious does provide backup capabilities, it is important to have a plan for emergencies when creating your backup plan.
- It is a good idea to have your backup designed to be saved to at least another computer in your location.
- It is a better idea to have your backup also stored offsite if there is a fire at your store.
Cyrious Data Backup
Cyrious recommends rotating your data backup media and moving weekly data backups off premises. A strict backup policy should be implemented to your daily closure procedure. Performing a daily backup of your data can save you countless hours should a catastrophic event occur, such as: System Theft (robbery), Severe weather causing system failures, database corruption, etc.
Program | Default Data Location (Backup the entire folder and all files within) | ||
SMS v2000 (Single User) | C:\Pos\Data3 | ||
C:\Pos\Mktg | |||
C:\Pos\Custom Reports | |||
SMS v2000 (Network Installation) | P:\Pos\Data3 | ||
P:\Pos\Mktg | |||
P:\Pos\Custom Reports | |||
SMS v8 (Single or Network) | C:\Program Files\Cyrious\SMS\Data On 64-bit Versions of Windows: C:\Program Files(x86)\Cyrious\SMS\Data |
||
C:\Program Files\Cyrious\SMS\Reports On 64-bit Versions of Windows: C:\Program Files(x86)\Cyrious\SMS\Reports |
|||
C:\Program Files\Cyrious\SMS\ReportExport On 64-bit Versions of Windows: C:\Program Files(x86)\Cyrious\SMS\ReportExport |
|||
Control | C:\Program Files\Cyrious\Control On 64-bit Versions of Windows: C:\Program Files(x86)\Cyrious\Control |
||
Filename: Storedata.mdf | |||
Filename: Storedata.ldf or Storedata_log.ldf | |||
Folder Name | Folder Contents | ||
SMS Version 2000 | |||
Data3 | Contains all information pertaining to customers, invoices, estimates, payments, etc. | ||
Mktg | Contains all saved marketing queries and/or reports | ||
Custom Reports | Contains all SMS report files, including custom templates unique to your store. These could include: custom estimate, invoice, work order, etc.. | ||
SMS Version 8 + | |||
Data | Contains all information pertaining to customers, invoices, estimates, payments, etc. | ||
Reports | Contains custom templates unique to your store. These could include: custom estimate, invoice, work order, etc. | ||
ReportExport | Contains exported reports, such as QuickBooks export files. | ||
Control | |||
Storedata.mdf | SQL Database data file that contains all information pertaining to customers, invoices, estimates, payments, etc. | ||
Storedata.ldf or Storedata_log.ldf | SQL Database log file. | ||
Reports | Contains custom templates unique to your store. These could include: custom estimate, invoice, work order, etc. | ||
ReportExport | Contains exported reports, such as QuickBooks export files. |
Common Causes of Data Loss
- Hard Drive Failure. This can happen at any time. Although hard drives are becoming more reliable you never know when you could suffer a failure.
- Burglary. We've spoken with several customers that were very responsible about making sure they backed up everyday, however they never took any backups offsite and unfortunately when a break-in occurred their computers were stolen. Since the backups were on the computers all their data was lost.
- Fire, Lightning Strikes, etc. Any of these events may lead to data loss, in terms of lightning or electrical issues it is a good idea to protect at least the computer where your data is stored with a quality UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply).
Important
When choosing an offsite backup, there are a couple of important factors to remember:
- Pick a company that you have researched.
- Pick a company that offers version (snapshot) support. Typically look for anyone that offers at least 14-30 days of file versions, this will greatly help you if you experience data loss due to corruption. Suppose your data was corrupted 7 days ago for a particular set of files/records however you just noticed the problem, if your backup company only keeps the last 3 days of data then the backup would also include the corrupted data. If you were with a company that keeps the last 30 versions of that file then you could have potentially restored a non-corrupted version.
- Pick a company that offers Incremental backups. Typically your initial backup is a complete backup of all files, folders, etc. The incremental backups then contain only the files that have changed since your last backup so you're saving lots of time by not backing up the same files again that haven't changed. This helps keep costs lowered on your backup plan.
- Pick a company that offers the ability to have various schedules for different files and folders you want to backup, that also supports backing up locally.
Online Backup Services and In-Use Files
We have found that some online backup services lock files down while they are being backed up, causing problems for software that might need those files to be 100% accessible 100% of the time. In Control, this causes users to receive errors that records, files, tables, etc. aren't available to them for one reason or another. Carbonite and Mozy are the two most popular culprits. Users may experience problems when using online backup services such as these if the backups are allowed to run while users are in the system making changes. In most of these programs, there are settings to tell the backup program not to run during certain hours. Use these settings to build a time frame during which it is safe for your data to be accessed by Control users.
For example, if your users work from 7am-7pm, tell Carbonite/Mozy/etc. not to back up between 7am and 7pm. With this setup, no files will be locked down during the period of time in which users need them, but a daily backup is still automatically performed every night.
Backup Providers
Below is a list of common backup providers, Cyrious does not directly endorse or support any backup software, vendor, etc. It is the responsibility of the user to conduct their own research when selecting a backup vendor. Our comments are meant as advice and opinions and in no way should be construed as official recommendations.
http://www.globaldatavault.com
http://www.ironmountain.com/Services/Data-Backup-and-Recovery.aspx
While we have listed some vendors that other customers have successfully used, please do not take this as the definitive list of providers. We highly recommend that you research this more yourself, as you know your needs best.
WIKI Links
There are several WIKI articles on various backup tasks relating to Cyrious products, below is a list of some common articles however it is recommended that you search the WIKI if you do not find the information you're looking for under these links.
How-To Automate your Backups to Run at Night