Backup/Restore

This section describes how to back up and restore your AlgoSec Security Management Suite from AFA using both automatic scheduling and manual processes.

Backup files include ASMS users, devices, and other configurations and optional content, and can be saved locally or on a remote server. Only one backup or restore process can run at a single time.

In this topic:

Backup and restore prerequisites

Note the following before starting your backup or restore procedure:

User roles	You must be an administrator to perform the backup or restore.
Version	You can only restore ASMS to the same major version from which the backup was taken. If you have upgrades to perform, upgrade your system only before the backup or after the restore. Do not attempt to upgrade your system between backup and restore processes.
System processes	Restoring your system requires some downtime. Disable any jobs scheduled to run during the restore process, such as ASMS monitoring or analysis. Reinstate the scheduling once the restore is complete.
System requirements	We recommend always restoring to an appliance with the same number of cores as the appliance from which the backup was taken.

For more details, see:

• Backup and restore on distributed architectures
• Define backup options
• Back up your system
• Restore your system

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Backup and restore on distributed architectures

Backup and restore handles data on a single appliance. Performing a restore overwrites the settings and device definitions on each target node with the data from the source node.

Additionally:

• In geographic distributions, the target appliance for the restore must have the same number of Remote Agents, with the same names, as the appliance on which the backup was performed.

• In load distributions, restoring to an environment with fewer Load Units than existed on the backup environment will impact performance.

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Define backup options

In the AFA Administration area, browse to the Options > Backup / Restore tab, and define the Backup Scheduler options and Backup Server options.

Backup Scheduler options

Define the following options to schedule a regular system backup:

Schedule backup	Select to schedule a regular backup process. Define the daily, weekly, or monthly backup schedule in the Scheduling Options area that appears below.
Backup options	Select either of the following: Include traffic logs. Includes traffic logs in the backup. Include reports. Includes AFA reports in the backup. This option includes all reports created since the last scheduled backup.
Additional options	Select Encrypt backup files to configure encryption for the backup file. In the Password and Retype password fields that appear, enter and confirm the password you want to use to secure the backup file.

Backup Server options

Define the following options to define your backup server:

Back up via	Select one of the following to determine how backup files are sent to the backup server: FTP SFTP Local
Backup server name	Enter the name of the backup server. This field is not relevant for local backups.
Username / Password	Enter the credentials used to access the backup server. These fields are not relevant for local backups. Note: Public key authentication is supported for SFTP. In such cases, enter the private key's passphrase in the Password field.
Path	Enter the path where you want to store the backup files. The afa user must have permissions to access the specified path. If the directory does not exist, AFA will attempt to create the folder automatically, as follows: Local paths. When testing the connection Remote paths. Only when performing a backup, either manual or automatic. Note: If an error appears stating that there are connection problems, the user may not have the permissions required to create the directory. In such cases, either manually change the permissions or have an admin user create the directory.

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Back up your system

This procedure describes how to perform an immediate ASMS backup, in addition to any backup process you may have scheduled.

Do the following:

1. In the AFA Administration area, browse to the Options > Backup / Restore tab.

2. Click Back up now...

3. In the Backup configuration dialog that appears, select any of the following options as needed:

   Include traffic logs	Include traffic logs. Includes traffic logs in the backup
   Include reports	Includes AFA reports in the backup. By default, this includes all reports created since the last scheduled backup. Tip: To save disk space, select Only include last successful report per device. Including all existing reports may require a significant amount of disk space
   Encrypt backup files	Select to configure encryption specifically for this backup file. In the Password and Retype password fields that appear, enter and confirm the password you want to use to secure the backup file.

4. In the Backup configuration dialog, click Back Up Now to start the backup.

   

Backup files are created in the path configured, including several directories containing your backup files. Each directory contains a single backup, where the folder name is the epoch timestamp of when the backup was generated.

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Restore your system

This procedure describes how to restore your ASMS system from a saved backup file. Restoring ASMS replaces all existing users, devices, and configurations with those specified in the selected backup file.

Do the following:

1. If you are working with HA/DR clusters, break your cluster before starting your restore. For more details, see Break a cluster.

2. In the AFA Administration area, browse to the Options > Backup / Restore tab.

3. Click Restore now...

4. In the Backup configuration dialog that appears, enter the following values:

   File name	Enter the filename of the backup file you want to use.
   Backup file requires password	Select if the backup file is encrypted. Enter the required password in the Password field that appears. Note: Entering an incorrect or old password restores only those reports that were not encrypted, or those encrypted with the password entered. In such cases, the restore process does not fail, but error messages in the log indicate the names of the reports that failed to restore.

   The restore process begins.

   Note: ASMS is unresponsive for the duration of the restore process.

   To view details during the process, see the log file at /data/algosec-ms/logs/ms-backuprestore.log.

5. After the restore is complete, run a report on All Firewalls to ensure a valid network map.

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