COMSOL 6.4 - Backup and Restore of a Model Manager Server Database

Backup and Restore of a Model Manager Server Database

You should configure backup of your Model Manager server database to protect from data loss in case of, for example, a server disk crash. Backup for a database using Managed Server Components can be configured from the web interface and is handled automatically by the Model Manager server itself. Backup for a database using external components needs to be configured and maintained outside of the Model Manager server by your organization.

Backup of a Model Manager Server Database

Backup for a Model Manager server database involves configuring separate backups for its SQL database and its resources directory. The search indexes of a Model Manager server database do not require backup since they can be recreated from the data in the SQL database.

For a Model Manager server database using Managed Server Components with backup enabled, Model Manager server will continuously back up any data written to the managed SQL database server and to the managed resources directory to their respective backup directories — see Backup of a Managed SQL Database Server and Backup of a Managed Resources Directory. These two backup directories together form the complete backup of the Model Manager server database itself.

For a Model Manager server database using external server components, you must manually set up backup routines of their data using external backup software. For External SQL Databases, this involves a backup of the SQL database used by the Model Manager server database. For External Resources Directories, this involves a backup of the directory itself, including all its subfolders and files.


	Read Installation Planning for general guidelines on server setups and where to place backup directories.

Restore of a Model Manager Server Database

The steps required to restore a Model Manager server database from backup depend on how much has been lost in terms of configuration and if the database uses managed server components, external server components, or possibly a mixture thereof.

Configuration Settings Unavailable

If the Model Manager server Preference Directory has been lost, and there is no backup of that directory available, you will first need to recreate the configuration for the Model Manager server database. Proceed as follows:

Reinstall the Model Manager server — see Modifying an Installation. Make sure to select under in the step of the installation to avoid ending up with a new, empty, database.

Log in to the Model Manager server web interface using the username and temporary password for the administrator account specified during installation. Change your temporary password when prompted. See also Accessing the Web Interface.

On the page — which you will be redirected to after saving your new password — configure the server components for the Model Manager database:

For a managed SQL database server or a managed resources directory, write the location for a directory that is either empty or missing from the file system in the field. Write the location for your existing backup directory in the field.

For an external SQL database server or an external resources directory, make sure that the component has already been restored from its backup. Write the configuration settings used to access the component.

For a managed or external search index server, write the configuration settings for the component. In this case, there is no need to restore anything from backup.

See also Adding Databases.

Click the button. Model Manager server proceeds by adding a Model Manager database with all its data restored from the backup locations.

It may take Model Manager some time to restore the data directories. This will be evident by a lack of complete search results on the page until the restoration has completed.

As an alternative to immediately proceeding with step , you can also manually restore each managed server component separately before adding the Model Manager database. This is useful, for example, when the backup directory of the managed SQL database server contains multiple SQL databases, and you want to take control over which one is used for the restored Model Manager database. Begin by recreating the configuration of each managed server component:

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Adding Managed SQL Database Servers

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Adding Managed Resources Directories

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Adding Managed Search Index Servers

Remember to specify the path for the backup directory of the managed SQL database server, as well as for the backup directory of the managed resources directory. If you set the for restoring to for the managed SQL database server, and its data directory is missing on disk, the data directory will be automatically restored from backup when the server starts. Similarly, if the for restoring is set to , a managed resources directory is automatically restored if the directory is missing on disk.

Proceed with step to recreate a configuration for the Model Manager database — optionally replacing managed server components with external server components.

Configuration Settings Available

When a configuration for the Model Manager server database is available:

If currently activated, deactivate the Model Manager server database — see The Database Page for instructions.

Restore the SQL database:

For an external SQL database server, use the restore functionality specific to the platform.

For a managed SQL database server, click the button on the page unless a restore has already been triggered automatically. Wait until the restore finishes. See also Restore of a Managed SQL Database Server.

Restore the resources directory:

For an external resources directory, copy files from the backup directory to their corresponding location in the resources directory — optionally skipping files already present in the resources directory.

For a managed resources directory, click the button on the page unless a restore will trigger automatically. The restore will begin once the database is activated again; see below. See also Restore of a Managed Resources Directory.

Restore the search indexes:

For an external search index server, recreate the search indexes used by the Model Manager server database or, if you have one available, restore the search index server from backup.

For a managed search index server, follow the steps in Restore of a Managed Search Index Server.

Activate the database if not already activated by a previous step.

At this point, if the Model Manager server database uses a managed resources directory, all missing files will be restored from the backup directory to the data directory. All search indexes will also be populated with search data loaded from the SQL database as needed. The time for both of these steps to complete depends on the size of the database.


	When the Model Manager server database has been activated, it is possible to connect to the database from COMSOL Multiphysics. Search results may be incomplete, however, until all search indexes have been repopulated with search data. Some simulation models and auxiliary data files may also fail to load if they depend on data in the resources directory that have yet to be copied from the backup directory by the ongoing restore.