Backup of Spotfire Server

A small set of configuration is unique for each Spotfire Server and is stored on the actual Spotfire Server rather than in the database.

This includes information about how Spotfire Server connects to the Spotfire database, which ports the server should listen to, authentication methods such as Kerberos etc.

During installation the server files are essentially all placed in the installation directory. It should be sufficient to back up this directory, of course it is possible to back up the entire file system.

Once a server has been configured or updated there are no further persistent changes. Log files and other temporary files will change, but a restored backup will have the same functionality.

The configuration which is not in the database includes:

Listening ports configuration. See The server.xml file for more information.
Database connection and database drivers. See Database drivers and database connection URLs for more information.
Logging configuration. See Monitoring and diagnostics for more information.
Memory configuration. See Virtual memory modification for more information.
HTTPS. See HTTPS for more information.
Authentication such as Kerberos or Client Certificates.
Any other advanced configuration performed in Advanced procedures. When performing advanced configuration, you should always take backup into consideration.

Note: The bootstrap.xml file is not stored in the database either. However, since the bootstrap.xml file contains a unique server ID, it can not be re-used if a server is restored on another computer. Therefore, in the event of a server crash where the server is restored on another machine, it is recommended to bootstrap the server again.

Whenever you make any configuration changes or have applied a server upgrade, you should also perform a backup of the Spotfire Server installation directory.

Windows Installations

On Windows installations, there is functionality which will not be restored by only recovering the Spotfire Server installation directory:

Windows Service
Uninstall functionality
Start Menu shortcuts

The Windows Service can be (re-)installed using the bat file service.bat located in the <installation dir>\tomcat\bin directory. Run it on the command line with the following arguments:

C:\spotfire\spotfireserver\<version>\tomcat\bin\service.bat install

Uninstallation can be done by removing the service and removing the installation directory.

The Start Menu shortcuts can be backed up by copying them to the server installation directory, back that up, and when restoring, copying these files to the start menu directory.

Linux Installations

On Linux installations, no essential data is placed outside the installation directory by Spotfire Server. If you have a startup script for the server, it will need to be recreated.

Network Considerations

If you are using Kerberos you should note that configuration needed for this to work is tied to a specific machine and cannot be copied easily to a new one.

You should also consider any other conditions in your environment and their implications, such as IP addresses and firewall rules, LDAP restrictions, and anything else that might affect getting a system back up and running.