Universe backup using promotion management issue

[Former Member]

Hi guys

I am trying to create a universe backup using promotion management but when I go to the destination option for '.biar' file and select file system, it does not take me to the file path...

Am I missing something here?

cheers 

[mhmohammed · Accepted solution]

Hi Buddy,

You can enter a file system path (example: C:\Temp (it's on the BO Server)) as Destination when you schedule this Promotion Job, that you just created.

If you want to run this job manually (right now), you just have to click on Export (on bottom right) and it'll open up the window to save the BIAR file in your desired location (your client machine and/or shared drives you've access to) with a desired name.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,
Mahboob Mohammed

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Mahboob... yeah I just managed to save the file to my shared folders.

My question is, when I have to retrieve the universe from '.biar' in a different environment, will it matter if the back up was created in dev environment and retrieval was done in production? How will the connections get set up?

Are there any steps I can follow?

[mhmohammed · Accepted solution]

Hi Buddy,

It won't matter if the backup was created in Dev, you can apply that to the Prod env, as long as you don't have any issues with compatibility of file created in one version and backup being applied to different env.

Steps to import the content from that file to Prod:

1. Logon to Prod CMC, go to Promotion Management
2. Click Import -> Import file
3. Select the file source BIAR file and it'll prompt and/or create a new Promotion Job
4. Select the content you want to recover and then Promote.

You'll have to create the OBDC connections in the Prod env, with all details exactly same as Dev (ODBC name, credentials, except that it obviously has to point to Prod database). For the BO Connections setup, you should be adding that to the content list while backing up from the Dev env and select in the content to be promoted to Prod.

Apart from all this, why are you creating a BIAR file, why don't you just promote Live to Live (Dev to Prod)?

Hope that helps.

Thanks,

Mahboob Mohammed

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

My idea was to back up my universes and if I had to retrieve a copy from backup for any reason, I wanted to make sure there are no connectivity issues. Thanks for explaining that.

For the BO connection setup I am not really clear.. does this mean I should take a backup for the connection as well but what file extension is used for connection backup?

Could you explain in detail about this part please as its a really critical one...

[mhmohammed · Accepted solution]

Hi Buddy,

You can include the BO Connection in the list of Contents you're including in the BIAR file backup. Logon to CMC, go to Promotion Management, click on the Promotion Job and click Edit on top, then click Manage Dependencies, in the new window that opens up, check the BO connection used by the Universe and click on Add. Or, instead of Manage Dependencies, click on Add objects and scroll down in the list of contents and from Connections, select the connection which is used by the Universe, click Add. Then you'll have to Export the BIAR file again and then retrieve this content in Prod env.

Thanks,

Mahboob Mohammed

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Awesome

Thanks so much!

[mhmohammed · Accepted solution]

Glad to help.

Thanks,

Mahboob Mohammed

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

One more question Mehboob... for future proofing and regular backups, how do I schedule them ?

Will it replace the existing BIAR file with the new one every time the schedule is run?

OR will it create a new one?

[mhmohammed · Accepted solution]

Hi Buddy,

I've read discussions and blogs on SAP SCN where at least few BO experts do not recommend to use this Promotion Job to BIAR file as a backup option, as it backs up specific content. I'm guilty too of relying on this method though (for regular backups of Dev env as DBAs won't backup Dev databases regularly), not too long ago, I created a job which backs up couple of Universes, Reports, and Connections to a BIAR file. I've never tested if the existing BIAR file will be overwritten in the subsequent schedule. I never thought about it rather, as in the schedule options I specified to create the file with name as BODevEnvBackup and added Time and Date placeholder as suffix, so it'll create a new file all the time. I don't think it'll overwrite if you leave the filename to be created as default, I'm sure it will generate a random name. Coming back to env backup, experts recommend to take backup of few things, Databases (CMS and/or Audit, which is the task of DBA), FileStore (this is the task of Storage team), BO Cluster and/or env settings and any customizations (that's all BO Admin's task). There are many blogs on SAP SCN, check them out, I may have missed anything, blogs won't.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,

Mahboob Mohammed

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Other way to have backup copies of the universe will be in the IDT itself when you create projects and import a universe, it saves it in your workspace,

Will it not be a better option to fallback on whenever you want to retrieve an older copy of the universe and just republish it to the repository?

[mhmohammed · Accepted solution]

Yes (for BIAR file backup), as long as its content specific and not full env backup, I think this is one of the ways (I'm relying on it as well, remember) to go. Try adding a Date and Time placeholder as suffix to the file being created.

About the Universe files in Workspace (projects and imports), there's one thing you need to know, when importing a Universe from repository using IDT, you'll have to check the Save for All (Users) or whatever it is exactly, to be able to open the universe in a different env. You can't just get a file from workspace and open it in any env, similar to options for saving Webi report with the option Save for all Users and Remove Documemt Security.

Hlope that helps.

Thanks,

Mahboob Mohammed