Backup Methods

There are numerous options for archiving backups from CPM to external systems. Please contact Rexson with any details needed to set up your preferred solution.

External Drive

The simplest method is to plug in an external hard disk or flash drive. A script is available to automatically mirror the content of C:\SqlBackup\CPM to your external drive.

Pushed from ColorPoint

The system backups are run daily on CPM and the last 7 are kept. The backup script has a command to copy these files to a network folder every day after the backup runs. To enable this all we need to do is set the folder location in an environment variable. The script automatically removes older backups from the network folder, so you may want to copy out the most recent once a week for long term storage if needed.

Please advise Rexson of the backup location either as a UNC path (e.g. \\server\folder-for-backups) or as a mapped drive (e.g. X:\folder-for-backups). As long as the user running the scheduled task for the backup has permission to write to this location, the backups will take place automatically.

Pulled by a task on your Network

If the previous method is not suitable for your infrastructure then backups can be retrieved directly from CPM. The folder C:\SqlBackup is shared. The CPM sub-folder contains automated backups and CPM-User contains user initiated ad hoc backups. The local user account CustomerAdmin can be used for authentication.

An sshd server runs on CPM. This can be configured to allow SFTP access to the backups. 

Other Methods

Backups may also be sent from CPM via FTP/SFTP by Rexson Agent. This is a paid add on.

Backing up your data

 

Data backups are often overlooked. It is vital that you make regular backups of your data to protect against virus infection, hard disk failure and computer theft. All three of these have happened to some our customers at some point.

What do I need to backup?

At a minimum, you need to take a regular backup of the ColorPoint Manager database. the CPM database backup is found in C:\SqlBackup\CPM\. Backing up the most recent file to a USB flash drive ensures that we can recover your system in the event of failure or theft.

The files are date stamped and rotated by the backup scheduler. There should normally be 7 backups named ColorPoint.Manager_Full_date_time.bak. If your computer was switched off when a backup was meant to run (03:00) there may be one or more missing. Ideally you want these backups to be made every day, so if needed contact Rexson support to have the scheduled time changed.

If you look in the backup folder and there are no backups, or the newest ColorPoint Manager backup is older than 1 week old (date format yyyymmdd, e.g. 20110331) please contact Rexson support immediately.

What else should I backup?

If you have other software installed on the ColorPoint Manager PC, e.g. spectrophotometer software, Word, Excel, it will be important to backup those documents too. It is beyond the scope of this article to tell you how to back up the other data on your system. Please check with your IT department and spectrophotometer manufacturer for guidelines on what to backup.

If in doubt it is worth using an external hard disk and using the Windows backup program to perform a full system backup on a regular basis too. As long as the hard disk is as large as, or larger than the hard disk on the PC you will be able to make a full backup.

Exporting Data and Performing Backups on ColorPoint Console

 

This post applies mainly to standalone CPC dispensers.

 

There are two methods of saving your data from CPC. Use an export when you wish view the data exported, or change it and import it again. Use a backup when you want to be able to recover the whole system in event of a failure.

 

Exporting Data

To Export data you need to be a level 3 user.

From the Main Menu page go to:

• Configuration
• Import-Export

You will see a summary of the material and formula data on your system.

• Go to Export
• Select the items of data you wish to export. By default al data is exported.
• Press Export
• The data is saved to the Export USB drive in the \ExportFiles folder.
• The file name is [Console name]-[DateTime]-[type].csv,
  • e.g. CPC-14461-001-201102161559-formulation.csv
  • e.g. CPC-14461-001-201102161559-manualmaterial.csv
  • e.g. CPC-14461-001-201102161559-automaterial.csv

See the section "Accessing your data" for the next step.

 

Backups

A database backup is more comprehensive than an export. It contains details of your user accounts and their key codes, as well as any internal settings.All new ColorPoint Consoles have automatic backups scheduled on a daily basis. On some older systems this feature wasn't available. Please contact Rexson Support if you would like to check the status of automatic backups on your console.

To make a backup of your database you will need to be a level 3 user. Go to

• Configuration
• Backup/Restore

You will see a summary of the data on your system.

• Press Backup
• The backup will be stored on the Export USB drive in the \BackupFiles folder.
• The file name is ColorPoint_Full_Date_Time.bak
• If automatic backups are scheduled on your system there may be 7or more of these files, along with some other internal backups
  • The automatic backup system keeps the last 7 days backups in a rotation.

 

Accessing your Data

To access the data on the USB drive do the following:

• Switch off the console using the power button on the front of the panel.
• Open the side panel of the console cabinet. On hazardous systems this will cause the unit to lose pressure and will require purging afterwards.
• Locate the ColorPoint embedded controller, near the centre of the panel.
• 
• Locate the export USB drive on the left of the controller
  • On early models with 2 USB drives
    • this will be a white USB drive in the upper slot.
    • or a silver USB drive labelled "Export" in the upper slot
  • On later models with a single USB drive this is the only drive.
• Remove the USB drive and connect to your computer
• Copy the contents of ExportFiles and/or BackupFiles
• Replace the USB drive taking care to insert it the right way up.
• Close the cabinet and power on the console.