Problems with the backup tool for 3CX

[efounco]

Just FYI, the backup tool that 3CX installs does a very poor job of backing up 3CX. It will not backup your custom phone templates, customized system prompts, or any .xml files you might have modified. Instead, it overwrite them with the default files from the install. If you've made changes to any of these files, as I have, you will want to back them up manually in case you need to reinstall. Personally, I stop all of the 3CX services on the computer and make a copy of the \ProgramData\3CX\ folder and all of it's contents.

 

[nbailey]

When you create custom templates with 3CX you don't save copies to a different location? 3CX never says it will backup this information, the backup and restore tool is for the items listed in the tool itself, if you edit the templates in 3CX in theory you should be backing up this information elsewhere. This is item 1 I tell people when they do edit or make custom work in 3CX. I don't think it is too much to keep this information backed up at a separate location? In any case thank you for posting this for other users who may not be aware of this.

Thanks,
Nate

 

[efounco]

IMHO, Given the fact that 3CX allows you to modify and save changes to phone templates from within the WEB interface, I think it should also backup this information. I mean, how hard is it to simple backup a folder? Now, I do agree that it shouldn't be responsible for changes made to the system .xm files, but it should be backing up everything else. Either way, my .vbs works better than the backup utility, so this comment is moot...

 

[tsteffens]

Mind sharing your vbs backup script?

 

[nbailey]

for backing up Call History, Voice Mails, Recordings, Prompts, Firmware as it states in the backup and restore tool, our tool is good, it has command line tools for creating batch files for scheduling backups, FTP off site and is a good tool. If you have a better way to backup that is good, what works for you might be more then what others need. Our tool is too backup exactly what it says in the tool. If you edit the .xml files in 3CX and uninstall and re-install you should be taking extra precautions to back up this data. Just because we allow you to make custom configurations you cannot expect us to read your mind and backup everything. Consider a large 3CX Install, most folks don't make custom changes and so won't need extra files backed up. Rule of thumb, if you are unsure if it will get backed up, make a backup yourself. Save your work, especially if you make custom changes.

Thanks,
Nate

 

[efounco]

Sorry tsteffebs, our script is custom tailored for incremental snapshots/backups on a VM. It will not work for you. However, you can simply create a .bat file in Windows that stops all of the 3CX services, copies all the data over and then restarts the services. Schedule the .bat to execute via the Windows Task Scheduler. That alone will provide a backup that's more "robust" than the utility that comes with 3CX.