Backup using version 12.5

[leejor]

I've only just begun trying out Versions 12.5 and 14 after acquiring a couple of 64 bit machines. With version 11. I was able, with no issues, to do a backup to a small network server equipped with a couple of USB drives , both, mapped as drives on the machine (Windows XP pro).

Using version 12.5 on A Windows 8.1 machine, I have mapped the same drives in Windows Explorer, however...when i go to do a backup, those drives do not show as available destinations. I can click on Network, and after a few minutes the server will appear. I click on it and after a few more minutes, the two USB drives appear. Click on one of them and after an even longer delay, the files on the drive appear. At this point I can do a backup.

Why in the world is there such a delay? I could go for coffee in the total time it takes to be able to do a backup.
Why don't the mapped network drives not appear as available backup options as they did in version 11 since they are drives the the PC is aware of?

I haven't tried this with version 14, yet. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[aberry]

I'm not sure how things worked in V11, but I did network backups throught the backup / restore utility in 12.5 without any long delays. In v14 they have moved the backup / restore to a function in the web interface. The interface will let you choose and schedule backups to drives that are connected to the host, or to an FTP destination. I have not tried backing up to USB drive with v14, as my server runs as a VM.

Are you saying that you are experiencing the long delay just in accessing the USB drives through windows explorer as well?

 

[leejor]

Are you saying that you are experiencing the long delay just in accessing the USB drives through windows explorer as well?

Simply accessing the drive, using Windows Explorer has no delay at all. It is the delay, and the fact that the mapped drives don't show as available destinations until I go looking for them on the network, that are of concern. Any USB device plugged directly into the computer does show as an available device as expected. I would have thought that any previously mapped drive would also show as an available destination for the back-up.

 

[aberry]

It sounds like it may be related to the userspace that the IIS / 3CX services are running under. It would make sense that they aren't discovered by the backup application because it is running as a service or user that doesn't have access to those mapped drives. I have had this issue with other applications because drive mapping, even if they are persistent, are only presented when an account logs on to windows interactively.

Alternatively using the mklink command to create a symbolic link to that volume would probably work.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_symbolic_link

 

[leejor]

Well... I tried using mklink

In Win 8.1 Windows System/ Command Prompt (run as admin. as it would not work otherwise)

mklink /d C:\3cxbackups_A Y:\

This did create a shortcut on the C drive and it is accessible from Windows Explorer (had to use the d option for a network drive)
Drive was previously mapped as Y:\

When attempting a backup, selecting a location, trying to select the folder shortcut, a window pops up saying that it is not available.

So that isn't going to work from the looks of it.

 

[craigreilly]

in v11/12/12.5, I did this with a BAT file.
1) Ran forfiles on a C directory to keep only last 5 days of backups
2) Ran forfiles on a local USB Drive to keep only last 5 days of backups
3) Ran backup utility for 3cx on ALL CRITERIA to the local folder and gave it the name as yyyy-mm-dd.zip
4) copied that local file to the USB drive.

All of this worked flawlessly. Had to tell it to run even when user was not logged on. Never had much success saving to a network mapped drive. Of course now in v14 - our choices are very limited on the backup.

 

[leejor]

I generally only do two backups (one to each USB drive) after a change, but will usually happen once every few weeks.
With Version 11 I had no issue what-so-ever doing a backup to the server USBs. I like to keep the backups separate, and on something that is network accessible from either 3CX server (I have two identical machines, only one is ever active, so that if one fails I can remotely switch power to the other).

The way it now works is annoying as it takes a lot longer, but not insurmountable. I can back up to a local SD card, then copy the file to both USB drives after. It really shouldn't be getting more complicated

 

[CentrexJ]

I generally only do two backups (one to each USB drive) after a change, but will usually happen once every few weeks.
With Version 11 I had no issue what-so-ever doing a backup to the server USBs. I like to keep the backups separate, and on something that is network accessible from either 3CX server (I have two identical machines, only one is ever active, so that if one fails I can remotely switch power to the other).

The way it now works is annoying as it takes a lot longer, but not insurmountable. I can back up to a local SD card, then copy the file to both USB drives after. It really shouldn't be getting more complicated

The issues you describe are issues with Windows and not 3CX. I use UNC paths with a batch file to do network backups with 3CX 12.5 and below and it works fine.

Regardless though this is all moot with 3CX v14 where you backup locally or over FTP. If you want your local backup copied to a network drive just setup a scheduled batch file to copy the file to the network location after a set interval (longer than the duration that it takes to complete backup).