Portal Express, Version 6.0
Operating systems: i5/OS, Linux, Windows

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Backing up, archiving, and restoring applications

Use the applications catalog to back up, archive, and restore applications. Application status that is monitored and detected by policies will help you determine the maintenance action that you need to perform. By default, the application property Application Backup for Archiving and Restore is not available for selection in this release of the product because some business components of composite applications do not support backup, archive, and restore. You can make application backup available by editing the backup.properties file.

To make Application Backup for Archiving and Restore available for use in the portal environment, edit the backup.properties file:

1. On the IBM^® WebSphere^® Portal Express server, open a command prompt.

2. Locate portal_server_root/shared/app/ai.xml.impl.service.jar and open the backup.properties file for editing.

3. Modify the backup property values:

   • To turn on backup for all composite applications, specify all.backup.block=false.

   • To turn on backup for composite applications built from templates with Workflow enabled, specify wf.backup.block=false.

CAUTION:If you make application backup available in your production environment, heed the Warning that displays for business components that do not support backup, archive, and restore. If you back up applications containing business components that do not support full-cycle backup, archive, and restore, you will lose application information or entire business components. For example, Document Libraries that are deployed as Document Manager business components within composite applications cannot be restored if you back them up because they are deleted during archiving. Restriction: If you back up an application that is enabled for Workflow, the Workflow definition only is backed up; other Workflow business component information is not backed up. When you restore the backed-up application, all Workflow portlets will be available, but they will have no content. Workflow business component information that is not backed up and, therefore, cannot be restored is any content added to the Workflow binder, which is stored in the Java ^TM Content Repository; and process and task template and instance data for new, in-progress, and completed workflows, which is stored on IBM WebSphere Process Server. If you are an administrator or an application manager, you can perform advanced actions from within the applications catalog:

• Backing up applications

• Archiving applications

• Restoring applications

• Deleting applications

  Deleting an application permanently removes the application and all of its content (business components, application roles, and membership list) from the server. A confirmation message lets you proceed with or cancel the Delete action.

• Unlocking applications

  If an application has exceeded the limits set by its policy for size, inactivity, and lack of modification, the application is locked. The padlock icon is displayed in front of the application name in the catalog. If you are an administrator or an application manager, you can click the padlock icon to unlock the application. Then open the application to refine the elements that require attention.

The Backup and Archive actions are available if , when you edit the application properties, you set the property Application Backup for Archiving and Restore to Enable backup. The Restore action is available if you have backed up or archived applications. If the application property Application Backup for Archiving and Restore is not available for selection, edit the default backup.properties to turn on backup, archive, and restore for all composite applications or for Workflow-enabled applications.

 

Backing up applications

Backing up an application locks the application and makes a copy of the application in the default backup directory or to another directory specified in the custom property of the WebSphere Application Server service:

• The default directory is portal_server_root\backup.

• In the IBM WebSphere Application Server service WPApplicationInfrastructureXMLService, the custom property is backup.root.

While an application is being backed up, it is locked for Archive, Restore, and Delete actions.

 

Archiving applications

Archiving an application locks the application, backs up the application, and deletes it from the server. While an application is being archived, it is locked for Backup, Restore, and Delete actions.Attention: Do not be confused by the misleading confirmation message that states that the application is being backed up. After you click the Archive icon, the archive process begins: the application is locked, backed up, and deleted.

After you archive applications, you can filter the applications catalog to show only Archived Applications. When you work with Archived Applications in the catalog, you can perform the following actions:

• Changing the view of the catalog

• Finding archived applications

• Viewing the Name, Owner, Archive Date, and Template of each archived application

• Restoring an archived application

• Deleting an archived application.

The following actions are not available when the catalog displays only Archived Applications:

• Create new applications

• Add and remove archived applications from your Favorites list

• View your favorite archived applications

• View general application status based on policy

• Display detailed status based on policy

• Back up an archived application.

 

Restoring applications

The Restore action is available if you have backed up or archived an application. Restoring an application lets you choose a backup copy or an archive copy of the application to reinstate. While an application is being restored, the application is locked for Backup, Archive, and Delete. When you restore a backed-up application, you choose an older version of an existing application. When you restore an archived application, you recreate from a backup copy an application that has been deleted from the server. Restriction: Only administrators can restore an archived application. This prevents application managers from restoring an application that was archived because it exceeded the limits on application size, inactivity, and lack of modification set by the policy in force for the application. When an archived application is restored, the most recent backup copy is used.

 

Parent topic:

Application management

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