Backing Up

It is critical that you have a backup system in place for Fusion. We strongly recommend having a system that includes local and offsite backups. This ensures that you will have both consistent backups to protect against data integrity problems as well as offsite copies in case something bad (such as fire) happens to the building the server is in.

Once set up, Fusion can take care of then entire backup system without the need for other software.

This documentation applies mostly to Fusion Server. Fusion Truck also automatically backs itself up, but is fully automatic and does not require secondary backups because you can always start with a new sync if something goes wrong.

Terminology

  • Primary Backup. The first backup Fusion makes each night. It suspends all data file activity and then copies the data file and log file to the Backup folder. Once the copy is complete, data file activity is resumed.
  • Secondary Backup. You can set up multiple locations for Fusion to copy the primary backup up files to after the primary backup copy is finished. Each of these is a secondary backup. Secondary backup locations can be on the local drive, other internal drives, external drives, and to other computers on the network via network shares.
  • Backup Folder. The folder where Fusion places the primary backup files. By default this is in the user folder on the server at ~/Fusion/Backup. It must be on an internal drive on the server. By default Fusion keeps the last 30 backups in this folder.
  • Local Backup. Secondary backups that are located on internal or external drives attached to the server. We call these local because they are physically close to the server.
  • Offsite Backup. Secondary backups that are located in a different building from the server. These are usually on the same network, although a manual system can be set up where the drives are rotated to different sites by employees. This isn't normally recommended as it isn't automatic and prone to failure. We also don't recommend offsite backup over the internet as the files are normally far too large for the kind of internet available at customer sites.
  • External Drive. A USB or other type of drive connected to the server for the purpose of storing secondary backups.
  • Network Share. A shared folder on another computer on the local network that is permanently mounted so that Fusion can copy secondary backup files to it.

Recommended System

There are many ways to set up a good backup system. We strongly recommend the following as a minimum for Fusion.

  • Level 1. Fusion automatically creates a primary backup every night after it finished the midnight calculations and places the primary backup in the Backup folder. It ensures there are 30 days of backups kept in this folder. All this is set up automatically and should not be changed without consultation with us.
  • Level 2. Purchase an external drive (USB works fine) and plug it into the server. 500 MB or 1 TB drives are cheap now and sufficient for this purpose. Set up a secondary backup to copy the primary backup to a folder on this drive.
  • Level 3. Create a network share folder on a computer that is on your local network but in a different building than where the server is. A home computer or a chuteside computer will both work fine, although the computer must be left on all the time. Make sure it is permanently mounted on the server and set up a secondary backup to copy the primary backup to this location each night.

If possible, it is good to have two secondary backups to different computers on the network. If you are not familiar with how to set up a network share folder, please consult the person who takes care of your computers and networks.

Do not use a third party system to backup the data file directly while Fusion Server is running. This will result in a corrupt file. It is possible, however, to rely on third party systems to make copies of the primary backups, although you lose the ability for Fusion to report on errors.

Backup Errors

One reason we recommend allowing Fusion to handle the entire backup system instead of using other software is that Fusion can then handle any errors that occur. If the primary backup or and secondary backup fails for any reason, Fusion will send you a message notifying you of the error. It will also send our support team a message so that we are aware of the failure and can help resolve the problem quickly.

Backup Settings Window

This window can be opened from Fusion Server's task bar. Settings in the Primary Backup and Data File Verification tabs should only be adjusted under consultation with our support team. We can also help with the Secondary Backup tab settings or you can work with them yourself.

To add a secondary backup, click the + button and then navigate to the folder you want to place the folders in (this must be a folder, not the root level of a drive). After selecting it, click the OK button. You can change the location of an existing secondary backup by Double-Clicking the Path cell in the list. You can delete a secondary backup by selecting it and clicking the - button. Note that this doesn't delete the backup files. It just stops Fusion from making any more secondary backups to that location.

If one of the secondary backup locations is small, you can tell Fusion to keep a different number of backups in that one location by Double-Clicking the number in the Backups To Keep column and entering a new number.

You may be in a situation where some of the drives listed are not expected to be available every night. For example, you might have two external drives that you rotate, taking one of them home each night, which means Fusion will only be able to copy to one of them each night. To keep from getting unnecessary warnings about backup failures, you can change the Minimum expected successful backups each night field. For example, let's say you have three secondary backup paths listed. One is to a network folder that should always be connected. The other two are to external drives that get rotated so only one is ever plugged in. In this case you only expect two of the three paths to every work each night, so you would enter 2 in the field. If only one of the paths works, you'll still get a failure message, but as long as at least two of the paths work, Fusion will assume all is okay.

Each time Fusion backs up, it updates the information in this window so you can see when the last successful copy was and how long it took. If a backup path is no longer available, it will show in red in this list. This can happen, for example, if an external drive is unplugged or if a network share drive is not mounted.

You must realize that Fusion expects full control over a secondary backup folder. If there are other files in the secondary backup folder, they will eventually be deleted!
Do not leave this window open for extended periods of time on the server! Only open it long enough to inspect it or make necessary changes and the immediately close it.