Backing up and restoring ACL Analytics Exchange data for PostgreSQL

AX Server stores critical information used by the audit team in your organization. AX Server data should be backed up on a regular or scheduled basis, and the backup and restore process, whether it is manual or automated, should be carefully planned and verified to ensure that data is not lost due to technical problems, such as hardware failures.

One approach is to perform backups as part of any general backup program in place within your organization. Backups can be performed manually, or a network or system administrator can incorporate them in an automated process such as a backup script that runs periodically. Any automated process should be thoroughly tested, including performing a test restore of AX Server data, to ensure that the process is working reliably. You should also ensure that the timing of scheduled backups does not conflict with any scheduled analytics run by your organization.

Important

The PostgreSQL database allows you to perform an online backup or restore of database data while the AX Server services are running, ACL does not support online backing up or restoring and recommends that you do not employ this method of backing up or restoring database data.

Because the PostgreSQL online backup/restore only involves database data, and not the ACL data files, the process can cause the two data locations to get out of sync, leading to data corruption. Incomplete backups can also result because some files may be unable to be copied while the AX Server services are running.

The backup and restore methods recommended by ACL, whether performed manually or by script, require that you first stop all AX Server services.

When performing a backup or a restore, you must ensure that all AX Server data in the following two locations is backed up or restored:

PostgreSQL database – The PostgreSQL database server database stores security information, and configuration information about scheduled jobs, data file locations, and resource names. The database is stored as a set of files in the PostgeSQL data subfolder. The default location is the App\pgsql91\data subfolder where AX Server is installed.

Note
Depending on how your organization configured the installation of AX Server, the PostgreSQL database may or may not be on the same server as the AX Server application server.
File system – AX Server stores files in two folders in the Windows file system that must be backed up at the same time as the ACL Analytics Exchange database. Data files (.fil) are stored in two configurable locations in the Windows file system. The default locations are the Data\repository\datafiles and Data\aclse on the AX Server, but both locations are configurable.

If you are unsure of the location on your server where the ACL data files are stored, log in to the AX Server Configuration web application and check the settings. You need to back up the folders specified in the Data Directory and the Connector Working Directory fields. Depending on how your organization configured the installation of AX Server, the two folders may be in the root Data folder, or one or both of them may be located elsewhere.