Backing Up Your Data

You may have months or even years of work contained within a master database and it is vital that you protect this data sensibly.

Important Note

The following applies to Standalone databases only. For information on the backup of Workgroup databases, please refer to the Workgroup Data Server Administration Guide available for download from the Innovyze Web Site or on request from Innovyze.

You must back up your master database - that is the database file and the GUIDA Globally Unique IDentifier, or GUID, is an automatically generated identifier that is guaranteed to be unique across all systems. It is generated using a complex algorithm based on the date and time and the individual computer's network card ID. GUIDs take the form {629810C2-3F6B-11D3-9BF3-00600891B690} and you will see them in a number of places where uniqueness is essential. directory containing supporting files (e.g. simulation results and ground model files).

When you are developing a strategy for backing up your master 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 master 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 master database.

SQL Server and Oracle users should speak to their database administrator to ensure that the database is backed up regularly.

You should not need to back up your Local Folders. 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 master database, and local results files.

Your local results can be re-generated by running the simulations again, but remember that re-running 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 master 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

Do not copy master databases using Windows Explorer, 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 master database and local working folder could become corrupted.

When you upgrade to a new version of InfoWorks ICM, the database version may have changed to support new data types or new fields. InfoWorks ICM 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 master database to the latest version.

Warning

You should always back up all of your master databases before upgrading to a new version of InfoWorks ICM.
Make sure you commit all changes to version controlled items to the master database before upgrading. If the database version changes, the files that store local copies of the data you are editing may be incompatible with the new version of the master database.

Data Management