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

45072 | Backup and Restore | Web and Email Protection Solutions | 18-Apr-2016


Applies to:	TRITON AP-WEB and Web Filter & Security, v8.2.x TRITON AP-EMAIL, v8.2.x

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

A full appliance configuration backup saves:

All configuration settings for the appliance controller

Configuration and policy information for the Web module, if installed

Configuration and policy information for the Email module, if installed

Forcepoint LLC, 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 of the compression used.

A module configuration backup saves all configuration information for the selected module (Web or Email).

This includes any client and policy data stored on the selected appliance.

For TRITON AP-WEB appliances, the module backup includes Network Agent configuration, but not Content Gateway configuration.

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

Running the appliance backup utility

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

Do one of the following:

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 TRITON Manager and all machines that include web protection components 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:

Use the WebsenseAdmin stop command to stop all software components running off the appliance.

For example, stop Log Server, Sync Service, Linking Service, transparent identification agents, and components on the TRITON management server machine.

Windows: Navigate to the C:\Program Files or Program Files (x86)\Websense\Web Security\ folder.

Linux: Navigate to the /opt/Websense/ directory.

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 8.2 backup can be restored only to an appliance that is at version 8.2.

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.

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

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 G4 must be used to restore a model V10000 G4 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.

Use the WebsenseAdmin start command to start the components that are running off the appliance.

Windows: Navigate to the C:\Program Files or Program Files (x86)\Websense\Web Security\ folder.

Linux: Navigate to the /opt/Websense/ directory.