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backup options for a remote MangoES box
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What are my backup options for a remote MangoES box?
I have been tasked with figuring out how to backup the MangoES unit installed at a customer site that is some distance from our office. We can go to the customer if needed (20 minute drive). The MangoES box automates a rock crushing operation at a sand/gravel mine. At the moment, we would need to go onsite to access the box on the customer's local network to communicate via SSH (as I understand?). All that we normally use is the redirect link via mangoautomation.net to access dglux and Mango at the site from our office..
My questions follow the resource links that I have found...
I have looked at the wiki and found the following resources:Link2
http://help.infiniteautomation.com/support/solutions/articles/14000023028-setting-up-remote-backupsLink3
http://infiniteautomation.com/forum/topic/1966/idriveQuestion1:
Does following the instructions in Link1 above back up only the Mango files only and not the DgLux files?Q2:
This type of backup (Link1) is storing the files on the same "drive" as the system & Mango?Q3:
If we can figure out how to SSH from our office to the MangoES at the remote location, does the iDrive option give us our best option for backup to a separate drive.Q4:
Is is possible (and how to do it.)... to put in a USB drive (ie: 128GB usb thumb drive) into one of the USB ports of the MangoES and backup specific directories or the entire MangoES box?Q5:
I think it to be quite obvious, but should we be doing both local and off box/off site backups?Q6:
Should we do both backup setups in the System Settings as available in the "Mango NoSQL Information" and "Configuration Backup Settings" items of that Mango page (see attached pic).Q7:
Are there any other backup settings/options that are available that I couldn't find that we should consider using?I ask some of these questions because I don't know how much bandwidth is available at the site to move a full backup to iDrive, nor do I fully understand all of what gets backed up using the iDrive backup as discussed in links 2&3 above.
Thanks,
Tracey -
Hi Tracey,
If your device is accessible via mangoautomation.net, it may have a vpn it belongs to. I don't believe we issue keys typically to clients to connect their own machines to the vpn hosting their device(s), but such a credential could get you past the need to gain local access.
Q1: Correct, they do not backup your DGLux files. You can find these in Mango/web/modules/dglux/web . You're probably most interested in your DGML files, but you will need your user and navigation files to restore it completely.
Q2: Correct. Stored in Mango/backup
Q3: iDrive is an option, and its one we like. Lots of the configuration and scripts are already in place on an ES to do an iDrive backup.
Q4: It is certainly possible. You would want to get some kind of controller for USB operations. You can check out something like usbmount and use it to trigger the copy of files you desire or if you're feeling more low level you can write a udev rule to kick off a script to mount/copy/unmount
Q5: "Should" is such a relative term. If you were collecting data on some classified widget, then surely the business protocols you operate under would govern if it were wise to let that data reside anywhere but behind your locks and your keys. However, since I'm assuming this is not a classified rock crushing application or anything so sensitive, then yes it is definitely a good idea. What's the probability of a rock crushing computers onsite vs. offsite? In general, yes, it is better to do offsite backups to wherever. The probability of a massive electrical event or general cataclysm affecting an area is greater than that event happening to two or more areas, even if still fairly small.
Q6: There are three backup options offered (counting NoSQL). 1. H2 backup - this backs up your entire database, 2. Configuration backup - this exports the configuration of the Mango to a JSON document, but has no runtime information at all (events, values). 3. NoSQL - this backs up only your NoSQL database. You need to have a database that matches the NoSQL backup to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again. Just restoring a Configuration backup to a new Mango will not have the actual point IDs guaranteed to be the same as the source system, and since the actual ID, not the XID, are used in the NoSQL module it is important these are retained. If you are running on MySQL, this would mean dumping your dataPoints table at the very minimum. Note also that if you were not using NoSQL the H2 backup would also backup your point values.
Q7: See answer to Q6, but yes, the H2 backup will also retain the data point IDs and therefore as explained in Q6 is necessary (if using H2) to restore both the point values and the configuration.
Good questions!
