Backing Up Your Site

After you deploy and configure your site, you should back up all the files on your site so that you can restore it in case of server failure. If your site is small, the easiest way to back up your site is to repackage it using Commerce Server Site Packager. The new package will save many of the configuration settings specific to your current site. Site Packager does not package properties that are specific to the computer you are on. For example, Web server properties and some application properties that are set in Commerce Server Manager are not packaged. For a list of data that is packaged for each resource, see Where Resources and Data Are Unpacked.

The following components are not included in a package file when you pack your site and need to be backed up through other means:

  • Data Warehouse resource
  • Direct Mailer
  • Predictor resource
  • Existing databases in the Profiles resource

Remember to repackage your site each time you change its configuration. For information about how to package a site, see Packaging a Site.

In addition to packaging your site, it is recommended that you periodically use system backup software to create full backup copies of the data on the hard drives of your servers.

If your site is large, creating a package file for it may not be practical. In this case, you need to back up each component (applications and databases, for example) using an appropriate method for that component.

It is recommended that you back up your Commerce Server configuration every time it changes so that you can easily return it to a previous state should you experience a hardware or software failure. The following list describes the appropriate backup tools for each Commerce Server component type.

To back up your Commerce Server installation

  1. Back up your SQL Server databases using SQL Enterprise Manager.
  2. Back up your Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 metabase using Microsoft Windows 2000 Backup Wizard.
  3. Back up your Registry using Windows 2000 Backup Wizard.
  4. Back up your Commerce Server files using Windows 2000 Backup Wizard.
  5. Package your Commerce Server site using Commerce Server Site Packager.

To restore your Commerce Server installation

  1. Restore your IIS metabase using Windows 2000 Backup Wizard.
  2. Restore your Registry using Windows 2000 Restore Wizard.
  3. Restore your Commerce Server files using Windows 2000 Restore Wizard.
  4. Unpack your Commerce Server site and/or resources using Commerce Server Site Packager.

This section contains:

See Also

Using Site Packager

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