Learn how to protect and back up you work contained in the on-premise and cloud database.
On-premise database
You must back up your on-premise database - that is the database file and the directory containing supporting files (for example, simulation results and ground model files).
When you are developing a strategy for backing up your databases, it is worth doing a quick estimate of how much it will cost you if you do lose data.
For example, if one user is using a database that is backed up daily, it should cost you a maximum of one day to replace the lost information, plus the time lost restoring a previous backup of the database.
If you have a workgroup of ten people you are immediately looking at a maximum of two weeks work lost if you carry out daily backups.
If you have a workgroup of any size you should consider other methods of protecting your data, such as redundant data storage, to reduce the likelihood of data being lost and to reduce downtime when carrying out routine maintenance and repairs to hardware. Speak to your own IT department for advice about minimising risk if you are using large, multi-user databases.
SQL Server users should speak to their database administrator to ensure that the database is backed up regularly.
Oracle users should speak to their database administrator to ensure that the database is backed up regularly.
Cloud database
Cloud databases are backed up as part of the back up and disaster recovery procedure. Contact us if you require help recovering data.
Working folder
You should not need to back up your working folder. The only things you would lose if the directory is destroyed are changes to networks you are currently editing that have not been saved to the database, and local results files.
For cloud databases, your local results will still be available on the cloud so you can download them.
Your on-premise local results can be regenerated by running the simulations again, but remember that rerunning simulations takes time. It might be worth copying the results to the server if you want to keep them. This has the added benefit of making them available to other users.
The best option for protecting changes to the network is to copy changes to the database regularly. This has two advantages:
- Your changes are available to other users.
- You have more options for going back and branching in another direction if the changes you have made prove to be the wrong ones.
When using Oracle databases, the working folder contains a file with suffix .IWO that maintains a link between the database and the working folder. These link files are used to help InfoWorks WS Pro communicate with the database, and are automatically maintained.
If you move the working folder, or the directory is damaged or destroyed, you will have to open the database as if you had never opened it before. This will regenerate the .IWO file.
Copy databases
Do not copy on-premise databases using Windows Explorer/File Manager, or the facilities provided by the database server, and then use both the original and copied database. The two databases will have the same unique database identifier and data in the database and working folder could become corrupted.
Upgrade InfoWorks WS Pro
When you upgrade to a new version of InfoWorks WS Pro, the database format may have changed to support new data types or new fields. InfoWorks WS Pro will attempt to update your database when the new version is first run.
When you upgrade to a new version of InfoWorks WS Pro, the database version may have changed to support new data types or new fields. InfoWorks WS Pro will, therefore, display a message when the new version is first run, which informs you that the database version has changed and the implications of updating the database to the latest version.