How do I back up and restore Forcepoint appliances?

Backup and Restore | Web and Email Protection Solutions | 29-Apr-2022

Local backups are limited to 20. The oldest backup will be replaced with the newest when the limit of 20 is reached.

Two types of backup are available on Forcepoint appliances:

A full appliance configuration backup saves the appliance controller and all installed modules.

Forcepoint 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 configuration information for the selected module (Web or Email).

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

Web module backups include only data in the Web container. Neither the Network Agent or Content Gateway modules are included.

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

To include all modules, perform a full appliance backup.


	Important Backups can be restored only on Forcepoint appliances of the same type and version. Thus, a V10000 G4, version 8.4 backup can be restored only on a V10000 G4, version 8.4 appliance. For complete details, see Restoring your appliance configuration.


	Note Backups can also be performed and restored via the Forcepoint Security Appliance Manager (FSAM).


	Note Refer to the latest Forcepoint Appliances CLI Guide for more information about the CLI and the most current updates to CLI commands.

Running the appliance backup utility

Log on to the appliance command-line interface (CLI) and elevate to config mode.

To perform an immediate backup, use:

create backup now
--location <local|filestore_alias>
[--desc <description>]
--type <full|email|web>
--save-path <filepath>
[--url <url>]
[--auth-required]

local places the backup file on the appliance.

filestore_alias places the backup in the remote storage location defined by filestore_alias. For information about defining a filestore_alias, see the Forcepoint Appliances CLI Guide.

To create scheduled backups use the following command:

create backup schedule
--type <full|web|email>
--location <local|filestore_alias>
--freq <daily|weekly|monthly>
--day <Mon|Tue|Wed|Thu|Fri|Sat|Sun>
--date <integer>
--time <hh:mm>


	Important To create backup files for multiple appliances on the same remote machine, use a separate directory for each appliance's backup files. This makes it easier to locate the backup file for a specific appliance and avoids the possibility of conflicts that could lead to files being mistakenly overwritten or deleted.

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 the restore completes, the appliance automatically restarts.

To restore an appliance or module to a saved configuration:

Stop all software components running off the appliance (including management components, Log Server, and transparent identification agents).

Windows: Navigate to the C:\Program Files or Program Files (x86)\Websense\Web Security\ folder and enter the following command:

WebsenseAdmin stop

Linux: Navigate to the /opt/Websense/ directory and enter the following command:

./WebsenseAdmin stop

In the appliance CLI, use the following command to restore a backup file:

restore backup
[--location <local|filestore_alias>]
[--file <file_name>]
[--url <backup_url>]
[--auth-required]
[--nocert-verification]

To see a list of available backup files, enter:

show backup list --location <local|filestore_alias>

When you restore a full appliance configuration:

The current appliance version must match the version associated with the backup file. Thus, a version 8.5 backup can be restored only on an appliance that is at version 8.5.

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.

The current appliance mode (Forcepoint Email Security, Forcepoint Web Security, or Forcepoint URL Filtering) must match that of the backup file. For example, a backup from an email appliance must be used to restore an email appliance.

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.

User directory and filtering and Filtering only appliances must have retained the same policy-source IP address that was captured in the backup.

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.

Start the components that are running off the appliance.

Windows: Navigate to the C:\Program Files or Program Files (x86)\Websense\Web Security\ folder and enter the following command:

WebsenseAdmin start

Linux: Navigate to the /opt/Websense/ directory and enter the following command:

./WebsenseAdmin start