Data Backup and Restore

Owned by Svetlana Sheptiy
Last updated: Oct 07, 2021 by jorge.rueda
8 min read

With the Data Backup and Restore tool, the Administrator can backup Snare Central configuration data and SnareArchive event data and restore it. Data can be stored or retrieved from a Network storage (CIFS or NFS) devices, removable USB storage devices or from Optical media.

To achieve this, simply:

0. Select the operation mode Backup or Restore.
1. Select Storage Device: where the backup resides or will be stored and mount it.
2. Select Contents: Choose the files to backup into the device or to restore from the device.
3. Backup: If doing a backup or Restore for restore back to SnareArchive.
4. And finally, once the file restoration finishes, unmount the storage device.

NOTE

Due to version constraints it is not possible to restore Configuration settings form previous Snare Central versions lower than v8.4.0. This restriction does not apply to event data though.

CAUTION

The restore functionality does not allow to restore files in arbitrary disk locations or directories; this means that it will overwrite the current existing files in the server. Hence, special care shall be taken when restoring system files from the configuration sections. Restoring systems files from /etc directory from old backups as well as the configuration database, could lead to system problems or even a system crash. Please restore system files with caution.

Network Storage

In order to be able to use a Network Storage for a backup or restore operation, it is necessary to specify the required NAS parameters. Simply click in the “Network Storage” selector to open the NAS mount dialog as shown below:

It is possible to specify a Windows Share (CIFS) or to use a NFS remote filesystem as a restore device.

If CIFS is used, specifying User, Password, Workgroup and the Share Name is mandatory.

If NFS is used and assuming that the NAS or NFS server has granted the correct permissions for the Snare Central Server to access the resource, only the name of the exported filesystem is required.

NOTE

In both cases (CIFS and NFS), the Share Name shall be provided as a path (just prepend the “/” character as show above).

Once the NAS settings are provided simply click on the MOUNT button and if the mount is successful, Click “NEXT” to go to the “File Selector” section showing backup contents if in restore mode or the contents of the SnareArchive if in backup mode.


USB Storage

If one or more external USB storage devices are detected in the system, the 'USB Storage' selector will be enabled. Click on the selector to open the USB mount dialog as shown below. Simply choose the device to mount from the drop down and click the MOUNT button and if the mount is successful click “NEXT” to go to the “File Selector” section showing backup contents if in restore mode or the contents of the SnareArchive if in backup mode.

DVD Storage

If one or more DVD storage devices are detected in the system, the 'CD - DVD Device' selector will be enabled. Click on the selector to open the DVD mount dialog as shown below. Simply choose the device to mount from the drop down and click the MOUNT button and if the mount is successful click “NEXT” to go to the “File Selector” section showing backup contents. Mounting a DVD for backup purposes is not supported.

 

ISO Image Upload for restore

Because the Data Backup and Restore tool in Snare Central is able to produce an ISO image with all the backed-up data on it for download, Data Restore tool allows to upload such ISO image to the server and mount it to access it’s contents. While in restore mode, click on the “ISO Image” selector to open the upload dialog as shown below.

Simply click on the Browse button to select the ISO image file and click on the “MOUNT” to start the upload-mounting process and if the mount is successful click “NEXT” to go to the “File Selector” section showing backup contents.

 

ISO Image backup.

As mentioned above, the Data Backup and Restore tool in Snare Central is able to produce a backup in an ISO image file for download. This ISO image can be fitted into a standard single layer DVD with a DVD burner. To achieve this, switch to backup mode and Click on the “ISO Image” selector and click “NEXT” to go to the “File Selector” section showing the contents of the SnareArchive.

Once the backup is finished, the newly created ISO image file will be shown in the Backup ISO Images section where it can be downloaded or deleted using the “...” (ellipsis) icon as shown next.


File Selector

Once a device has been successfully mounted, the File Selector appears displaying the contents of the backup when in restore mode or the contents of SnareArchive when in backup mode as show in the image below

The File Selector shows the backup contents as a directory tree with the configuration backups firsts and the available event data directories at the end. Its operation is simple:

  • Scroll down inside the File Selector to see all existing directories in the backup.

  • Open a directory by clicking on its folder icon and navigate inside it.

  • Select one or more dates to restore or backup by clicking on it or use the select-all checkbox on every directory to select all the dates under it.

  • Clicking again on any selected date will deselect it.

  • Uncheck any checked checkbox to deselect all dates under it.

Once file selection is finished, simply click on the “RESTORE” button if in restore mode or “BACK UP” button if in backup mode to start the process.

Once the backup or restore task is finished, a Summary section will show the last 1000 lines with the outcome of the operation. If needed a complete summary can be downloaded as a text file by clicking the download icon as shown in the next image.

Finally unmount the backup media. To unmount click the “BACK UP AGAIN” button to return to step 1 and click on the “UNMOUNT” button.


Scheduled Backups

A backup task can be scheduled for periodic or later execution. The procedure involves manually mounting the backup device (except in the case of creating a new ISO backup image), configuring the backup to specify the SnareArchve data to be included, specify if Snare configuration data shall be included in the backup or not and the last step is scheduling the task:

1. Mount the device
2. Configure
3. Schedule

When configuring the scheduled backup, user needs to specify the following information in the configuration window (shown below)

• Enable Scheduled backups: To indicate if scheduled backup is been configured.
• Create an ISO image backup: to indicate if scheduled backup is to be stored in an ISO image.
• Include Snare configuration data in the backup: To indicate if scheduled backup shall include configuration data.
• Snare Archive Date Range.

Finally schedule the task with the Schedule button on the top menu as normal. Backups can be configured to start on a defined schedule and custom time of day as per the following image. Select the schedule button from the top menu and it will open the popup to configure the schedule and email settings.

 

 

Email notifications of the backup process can also be configured to be sent to the desired email address. The SMTP gateway needs to be configured in the Configuration Wizard for this to operate correctly.


To restore parts of the system configuration or particular log files select restore from the menu toggle then:

  • mount the NAS or USB location or select the specific ISO/DVD image, enter the credentials or IP address details as needed as per the backup process above.

  • select next to step 2 and select the component to be restored. Expand the selection area and/or select the checkbox for the component to be restored.

  • Select NEXT to proceed to validate what will be restore then select RESTORE

  • The UI will show the progress bar of the restore activity and a log of the results will be displayed once completed. This log can be exported to a text file using the export button on the right.