Backing Up Configurations and Databases

Aspera strongly recommends backing up your IBM Aspera Faspex configuration and database as a precaution in case of system failure. You may also want to restore your Faspex configuration folder and database on a new machine where you've installed Faspex. To learn more about restoring Faspex, see Restoring your Faspex Database.

Back up your Faspex configuration and database.
Within the Faspex Web UI, go to Server > Configuration > Save/Restore to save your current Faspex configuration and database.
Click the Download button to save your current Faspex configuration folder and database in the format *.tar.gz. From this screen, you may also restore your Faspex configuration folder and database on a new machine by uploading the backup file and selecting the Restore button. Then, follow the steps in the topic Restoring your Faspex Database to finish restoring Faspex on a new machine.

Important: If you use the Safari web browser, you need to make sure the Open "safe" files after downloading option is unchecked in Safari's general settings, before downloading the backup file. Otherwise, the file is downloaded as a .tar file, rather than a .tar.gz file, and does not work when the user attempts to restore the server with this file.

Tip: Alternatively, you may back up your files manually following the commands below.

Back up your Faspex MySQL database using the following asctl command:
```
asctl faspex:backup_database
```
The preceding asctl command uses mysqldump to backup Faspex's three MySQL databases to the following directory:
```
/opt/aspera/faspex/backup/time_stamp-version_number.revision_number
```
For example, the directory name may be 2016-04-15_140547-Faspex.4.0.0.100400.
Verify that the faspex.sql file is present in the directory. You can use this file to restore your MySQL database to a new Faspex instance.
Back up the secret.yml file located at: /opt/aspera/faspex/config/secret.yml. This file must be backed up and restored for the restored Faspex to correctly work with remote nodes.

Back up your Faspex, Apache and MySQL application files.

Aspera also recommends that you back up your Faspex, Apache and MySQL application files, which, in addition to the database backup, yields a full backup of the applications required to run Faspex. You can find the application files in the following directories:

Application	Location of Application Files	Files to Back Up
Faspex	/opt/aspera/faspex	faspex.rb.yml /config/.yml /config/mongrel_cluster/mongrel_cluster.yml /config/aspera.faspex..aspera-license
Apache	/opt/aspera/common/apache	apache.rb.yml /conf/.key /conf/.crt /conf/extra/httpd-ssl_template.conf /custom/
MySQL	/opt/aspera/common/mysql	database.rb.yml