Maintenance Backup and Restore Operations

This section explains how to configure the Skylight orchestrator appliance to create regular backups and how to perform recovery operations.

Two types of backup can be made on a Skylight orchestrator appliance:

• Data store backup
  Captures the dynamic changes to the application’s data store. Includes data such as Y.1564 and RFC-2544 test results, daily network element backups, and application user changes. This backup only applies to a Skylight orchestrator appliance. Typically, a data store backup is run on a daily basis.
• Appliance configuration backup
  Captures the configuration of the appliance (network interface settings, hostname definition, timezone settings, NTP configuration and hardening parameters).
  It is not necessary to perform this backup regularly because configuration parameters are not changed often. We recommend that you perform a manual backup after you make any changes to the appliance configuration. This type of backup should be performed on the Skylight orchestrator appliance.

Skylight orchestrator provides scripts or commands for performing manual backup or restore operations for the data store and appliance configurations. This section includes procedures that explain how to use the necessary scripts and commands.

Backing Up the Skylight orchestrator Data Store

Periodically, the Skylight orchestrator appliance makes a backup of its data store.

Data store backups can be accomplished in two ways:

• They can be scheduled to run automatically through the Skylight orchestrator web interface.
  See Scheduling Data Store Backups.

• They can be run manually from the console.
  See Backing Up the Data Store Manually.

The Skylight orchestrator appliance backs up its data store in three steps as shown below.

In the first step, the data store is written to a backup file.

In the second step, the appliance puts the backup file in a backup queue. The content of this queue is visible in the Skylight orchestrator web interface in the Admin ▶ Backup page.

In the third step, the appliance pushes the backup file to a directory on a remote host. You can configure the destination directory for backups using the settings iconin the Admin ▶ Backup page.

Scheduling Data Store Backups

Scheduling of periodic backups is done in the Skylight orchestrator web user interface. See the Skylight orchestrator User Material for the procedures to configure periodic backups of the data store.

Backing Up the Data Store Manually

This procedure explains how to manually launch a data store backup operation. It should be noted that it is not necessary to stop Skylight orchestrator software before the backup operation.

Procedure Requirements

A. This procedure must be executed from the console of the Skylight orchestrator appliance.

B. This procedure must be executed as the visionems user. To execute this procedure, you must know the account’s credentials.

Procedure Steps

1. Log in on the console of the Skylight orchestrator appliance as the visionems user.

2. At the Skylight prompt, enter:
   shell
   You are brought to the appliance’s OS-level shell.

3. Enter the user ID and password for the visionems user.

4. At the prompt, enter:
   /opt/accedian/skylight/scripts/ems_backup_mysql.sh
   The backup is run and saved in the /data/backups directory.

Backing Up the Skylight orchestrator Configuration Manually (Exporting)

This procedure explains how to make a manual backup of the Skylight orchestrator configuration. It is not necessary to stop Skylight orchestrator software before exporting the backup file.

Procedure Requirements

A. This procedure can be executed from the console of a Skylight orchestrator or mediation appliance. Connect to the console either via a remote SSH client, or directly on the CONSOLE port of the appliance.

B. This procedure must be executed as the visionems user. To execute this procedure, you must know the account’s credentials.

Procedure Steps

1. Log in on the Skylight orchestrator console as the visionems user.

2. Enter the following command:
   configuration export
   sftp://username:password@hostname:port/absolutePath/filename
   You must enter the username and password for an account on the host where you want to export the configuration backup file. You also need to enter the full path and filename to which you want to export.
   The current configuration is stored to a file at the specified location.

Restoring a Data Store Backup

This procedure allows a user to manually restore the system from a previous data store backup operation. This procedure can be used in both a data store restore or full node recovery context. Restoring the data store also restores the user accounts of the Skylight orchestrator web application. However, the passwords of these accounts may expire when Skylight orchestrator software restarts.

Procedure Requirements

A. This procedure only applies to the Skylight orchestrator appliance.

B. This procedure must be executed from the appliance console.

C. This procedure must be executed as the visionems user. To execute this procedure, you must know the account’s credentials.

D. The backup file that needs to be restored must be placed on the appliance file system in the /tmp directory.

E. For the purposes of this procedure, the file to restore is assumed to be named: backup_file.gz

Procedure Steps

1. Log in to the appliance console as the visionems user.

2. If operating in a hot standby configuration, suspend redundancy by entering:
   redundancy control suspend

3. Enter: service stop app_server
   Skylight orchestrator software stops.

4. Enter: shell
   You are brought to the appliance’s OS-level shell.

5. Enter the user ID and password for the visionems user.

6. Enter: cd /opt/accedian/skylight/scripts

7. Enter: ./ems_restoredb_mysql.sh /tmp/backup_file.gz
   The restore is run and saved in the Skylight orchestrator data store.

8. Enter: exit
   You exit the OS shell and are returned to the Appliance Monitor command line.

9. Enter: service start app_server
   Skylight orchestrator software restarts.

10. If you are operating in a hot standby configuration, and after the app_server has started, you can resume redundancy by entering:
    redundancy control resume

The data store has been restored.

Restoring a Configuration Backup (Importing)

This procedure explains how to manually restore the system configuration from a previous configuration backup operation.

Procedure Requirements

A. This procedure must be executed from the appliance console.

B. This procedure must be executed as the visionems user. To execute this procedure, you must know the account’s credentials.

C. The backup file that needs to be restored must be placed on the appliance file system in the /tmp directory.

Procedure Steps

1. Log in on the console of the Skylight orchestrator appliance as the visionems user.

2. Enter the following command:
   configuration import
   sftp://user:password@hostname:port/absolutePath/filename
   This command imports the configuration previously saved in a file at the location specified in the command.

3. Enter: reboot
   The appliance restarts. The restored configuration is now in effect.