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  • 1.  PAW content backup and restore

    Posted Wed September 20, 2023 08:10 AM
    How can I schedule a backup of the PAW content, books etc.?
    Where is the content located on the PAW dockers server?
    On the TM1 server, it is easy to schedule a daily backup of the model folders and I keep the last ten days in a separate volume. Can I do something simmilair for the PAW content?
     
    This would be useful if the PAW server goes messed up one day and the snapshot of the server is not current enouch. Also if the dockers server is restored but you still want to get the content from the damaged server. 


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    Asgeir Thorgeirsson
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  • 2.  RE: PAW content backup and restore

    Posted Thu September 21, 2023 05:44 AM
    Edited by Bernd Siebert Thu September 21, 2023 05:52 AM

    Yes, you can schedule a periodical backup of the PAW content.

    How this is done depends on which PAW you are running:
    PAW for LInux or PAW for Windows ?
     
    In case of PAW for Linux, one option to create a scheduled PAW backup job is using the Linux tool cron respectively crontab:
    The shell command   crontab -l   will list the existing scheduled cron-jobs.
    The shell command   crontab -e   will edit the existing scheduled cron-jobs, or create new ones, by opening the cron configuration file crontab in a text-editor like nano.
     
    For instance, assuming PAW for Linux 2.0.86 has been installed in the folder /opt/PAW/paw_2_0_86/ and the PAW backup script   scripts/backup.sh   shall be executed daily at 23:30: 
     
    [root@xxx scripts]# crontab -l
    no crontab for root
    [root@xxx scripts]#
    [root@xxx scripts]# crontab -e
    no crontab for root - using an empty one
    crontab: installing new crontab   => The cron configuration file crontab is opened by the text-editor.
    [root@xxx scripts]#
    [root@xxx scripts]# crontab -l
    30 23 * * * /opt/PAW/paw_2_0_86/scripts/backup.sh
    [root@xxx scripts]#
    30 23 * * * /opt/PAW/paw_2_0_86/scripts/backup.sh   is the line you would enter into the cron configuration file crontab opened by the text-editor.
     
    In case of PAW for Windows, you may consider using the Windows Task Scheduler to schedule a periodical execution of the PAW backup script scripts/backup.ps1.
     
    An example how to schedule a PAW related PowerShell script with Windows Task Scheduler is given by the IBM Technote
     
    https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/after-each-reboot-some-planning-analytics-workspace-containers-are-failing-start
    After each reboot, some Planning Analytics Workspace containers are failing to start
     
    5)
    If the problem is still happening after all the previous points were applied, then create a Powershell script ...
    Once done, create a scheduled task to run this script ...



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    Bernd Siebert
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  • 3.  RE: PAW content backup and restore

    Posted Thu September 21, 2023 07:13 AM

    One addition when running scripts/backup.ps1 (or.sh): Keep in mind that a buch of containers will be temporary shut down. So PAW is not functional while the backup is running.

    Kind regards



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    Dominik
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  • 4.  RE: PAW content backup and restore

    Posted Thu September 21, 2023 11:15 AM

    Hey Asgeir,

    We typically (ok, always) have PAW running on a Windows server at our clients and internally.

    I simply have a windows scheduled task that runs nightly when no one ought to need PAW and executes the backups.ps1 script. Easy enough to have the output directory BE on a separate volume.

    I also rolled my own PS script that runs on a scheduled task afterwards, to which you feed the backup folder location and a retention period in days. The script then finds all of the backups outside of that retention window and deletes them.

    Cheers,

    Tom



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    Tom Cook
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  • 5.  RE: PAW content backup and restore

    Posted Mon September 25, 2023 06:42 AM

    Hi,

    Just a note of caution, we also schedule backups of PAW content for windows via Task Scheduler and in some situations we have seen this cause serious issues with the docker containers.

    When we raised this with IBM support, they inferred that scheduling was not their recommended practice, and that we should follow the documentation. I.e. If we needed a backup we do it manually!

    While I was able to pinpoint that the PAW scheduled backups were the cause of the containers being corrupted/exited, I was never able to determine if there was something specific about the server configuration that caused this.

    Mark



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    Mark Wragg
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