# Scheduling Backups

You can schedule events to automate the process of backing up the system database to an external FTP or SFTP server. Use the External FTP Server form to set up a connection to the server.

## Conditions

- Scheduled backups are supported on the local node only. If you want to back up the databases of the member elements of an SDS Administrative Group, you must perform a regular, unscheduled backup (see Backing up a Database for details).

- During a system backup, users cannot access the web-based tools (such as the System Administration Tool), access Visual Voice Mail, or save changes. For this reason, schedule system backups outside of business hours.

- Avoid scheduling backups for 3:00 AM. Daily maintenance on the voice mail system starts at this time, which may cause problems for other resource intensive processes such as backups.

- While the backup is processing, SDS distribution updates sent by other data-sharing elements are rejected by the local node.

- For a complete list of the data that is backed up, see What Data is Backed Up?

- If a scheduled backup fails, the system generates a Backup Failure alarm, which persists after a system reboot and clears only after a system restore OR once the Audit Failure alarm (if present) and other issues are cleared and the backup process completes successfully. See Database Verification and Backup Failure Notification for details.

NOTE: If System Data Synchronization is enabled, resolve all pending updates and errors prior to the scheduled backup event.

## Operation

To schedule backup events, refer to the following procedures:

- Add a Backup Event

- Edit an Event

- Delete an Event

- Copy an Event

- Execute an Event Immediately

### Add a Backup Event (Local System)

To create a backup event for the local system:

1. Go to the Scheduler form.

2. Use the screen tools (arrows and mini-calendar) to locate the day you wish to update.

3. Select the day and click Add Event.

4. Click the Event Parameters tab and complete the following fields:

5. Title: Type a title for the event. The title can contain up to 255 alphanumeric characters.

6. Start Date: Use the dialog box to select the Month, Day, and Year that the event is scheduled to start.

7. Time: Use the dialog box to select the Hour, AM/PM, and Minute that the event is scheduled to occur. Click Set to save your changes.

8. Repeats: Specify how often you want the event to repeat - Once, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly, or Repeats Interval. If you select Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly, the dialog expands, enabling you to customize the repetition interval. If you select Repeats Interval, you can specify the number up minutes between repeat events (up to 1440 minutes, or 24 hours), and whether you would like the event to be repeated continuously or a fixed number of times.

5. Click the Activity Parameters tab and complete the following fields:

6. Select Activity: Select Backup.

5. In the Backup file prefix field, enter a prefix to apply to the database file names. The prefix should be all lowercase and should contain only letters and numbers. Spaces are not allowed. The databases will be saved to the FTP or SFTP server using filenames in the following format: <prefix>_<node name>_<release version>_<timestamp>.tar

6. Select Call History and/or Voice mail messages if you want to include them in your backup. Including these records and messages can increase the backup time significantly.

6. Click Submit and then OK to save the new event.
   The new event is added to the event list.

NOTE: To run the event outside the normal schedule, see Execute an Event Immediately.

Related Topics

- Scheduler

- Scheduler Overview

- Scheduling CSV File Import/Export

- Scheduling Database Audits

- Scheduling File Transfers

- Scheduling IDS Synchronization

- Scheduling Night/Day Service

- Scheduling Hot Desk User Logouts