How do I back up and restore V-Series appliances?

Topic 50212 | Backup and Restore | Web and Email Security Solutions | 11-Mar-2014


Applies to:	Web Filter, Web Security, Web Security Gateway, and Web Security Gateway Anywhere, v7.6.x, 7.7.x, and 7.8.x Email Security Gateway and Email Security Gateway Anywhere, v7.6.x, 7.7.x, and 7.8.x

Two types of backup are available on the V-Series appliance:

A full appliance configuration backup saves all appliance settings, as well as configuration and policy information for all active modules (for example, Web Security Gateway and Email Security). Websense, Inc., recommends running a full backup on every appliance in your network on a regular basis.

Note that the full backup file may be smaller than the module backup files, because it is compressed.

A module configuration backup (Web Security Configuration or Email Security Configuration) saves all configuration information for the selected module. This includes any client and policy data stored on the selected appliance.

Content Gateway backups are performed in the Content Gateway manager. See How do I back up and restore Websense Content Gateway?.

Running the appliance backup utility

Log on to the Appliance manager and go to the Administration > Backup Utility page.

To run an immediate backup, click Run Backup Now.

To schedule the backup process to run at a regular interval, click Configure Backup Schedule.

If you are creating scheduled backups:

Select a Backup frequency: daily, weekly, or monthly.

For weekly backups, select which day of the week the backup is run.

For monthly backups, select which day of the month the backup is run. You cannot schedule backups to run on the 29th, 30th, or 31st day of the month, because not all months have those days.

Specify a Start time for the backup process. Enter the time in 24-hour format (where 00:00 indicates midnight, and 12:00 indicates noon).

Ideally, select a time when the appliance is unlikely to be under heavy load.

If you have multiple appliances, or a distributed environment, schedule backups for the TRITON console and all Web Security machines to run within a 30 minute window. This simplifies the process of restoring a previous configuration, if required.

Provide a Storage location for the backup files. Only one remote backup location can be configured.

Select Appliance to have the file stored locally. A maximum of 20 backup files can be saved, and the backup file directory cannot be renamed, moved, or deleted.

Select Remote machine to store the backup file on another machine in the network, then indicate whether to use a Samba file share or FTP server and provide the following connection information:

The IP address/hostname of the remote machine, and the connection Port to use.

The Default directory in which backup files will be created. A different subdirectory will be created automatically for each backup file type.


	Important If you want to create backup files for multiple appliances on the same remote machine, be sure to use a separate directory for each appliance's backup files. This avoids the possibility of conflicts that could lead to files being mistakenly overwritten or deleted.

The User name and Password to use when connecting to the remote machine. If a network logon is used, also provide the Domain in which the account resides.

Make sure that the account entered has read, write, and, if necessary, delete permissions in the specified directory.

Click Test Connection to make sure the appliance can communicate with the remote machine and write to the specified location.

Note that the test process will verify that the specified account has read permissions, but may not completely verify write permissions. Delete permissions are not tested.

If you want remote backup files to be automatically deleted after a specified time period, mark the Delete backup files that are older than check box, and then select a time period from the list.

Click Save to save your changes and return to the Backup Utility page. The new backup schedule is displayed in the Perform Backup list.

Restoring your appliance configuration

When you initiate the restore process, all current settings for the appliance or module are erased. Backup files stored on the appliance are not affected. When restoring the full appliance configuration, at the end of the restore process, the appliance restarts. The appliance is not restarted after restoring a module.

To restore an appliance or module to a saved configuration:

Stop all Websense software components running off the appliance.

For example, stop Log Server, Sync Service, Linking Service, transparent identification agents, all components associated with the TRITON Unified Security Center, and the integrated Data Security Management Server.

On Windows, use the Windows Services tool (Start > Administrative Tools > Services or Server Manager > Tools > Services) to stop the Websense services.

On Linux, navigate to the /opt/Websense/ directory and enter the following command:

./WebsenseAdmin stop

Open the Appliance manager on the appliance whose configuration you want to restore and go to the Administration > Backup Utility page.

Click the Restore tab, then select the configuration type that you want to restore from the Select restore mode list. Note that when you restore a full appliance configuration:

The current appliance version must match the version associated with the backup file. (The appliance version is displayed on the Restore tab.) Thus, a version 7.6 backup can be restored only to an appliance that is at version 7.6.

The current appliance policy source mode (full policy source, user directory and filtering, or filtering only) must match the policy source mode in effect when the backup file was created.

In most circumstances, the current appliance mode (Email Security, Web Security, Web and Email Security) must match that of the backup file. (For example, a backup from an Email Security-only appliance must be used to restore an Email Security-only appliance.)

There is one exception. If you are running in Web and Email Security mode on a V10000 G2 appliance, you can restore a Web Security Gateway full backup.

The hardware model of the current appliance must be the same as the model that was backed up. (For example, a backup from model V10000 G2 must be used to restore a model V10000 G2 appliance.)

The original appliance that was backed up cannot also be running elsewhere in the network. Restoring a full configuration re-creates the original appliance and makes use of unique ID numbers from that appliance.

Click Run Restore Wizard. The restore wizard opens.

Select a radio button to indicate where the backup file is stored, and then click Next.

This remote machine: <host name or IP address>: Retrieve the file from the default location on the specified machine. The default location is the path specified in the backup schedule for the selected backup type.

This appliance: Use a backup file that was saved locally.

Another location (browse for file): Use a file saved on any accessible machine in the network.

Select or specify the file to use.

If you selected the default local or remote backup file location, you are given a list of available backup files to use. Select an entry in the list, and then click Next.

If you selected another location, browse to the path on the remote machine where the backup file is located, and then click Next.

Verify the details on the Confirm page, and then click Restore Now. The appliance is restored to the selected configuration.

If you have initiated a full appliance configuration restore, the appliance is restarted during the restore process.

Start the Websense components that are running off the appliance.

On Windows, use the Windows Services tool (Start > Administrative Tools > Services or Server Manager > Tools > Services) to start the Websense services.

On Linux, navigate to the /opt/Websense/ directory and enter the following command:

./WebsenseAdmin start