- Account Backups

Account Backups

Introduction

Users with required permissions can produce backups of the documents held in an iPassport account, together with their metadata. A subscription is required for this service but it allows unlimited backups during its term. It is possible to only backup documents from selected OUs and a full history of previous backups is always available.
Genial Compliance Systems Ltd. has rugged systems in place to ensure continuity of service and to keep backups of the entire system. However, if a customer loses access to the internet and therefore can’t use iPassport, it’s helpful to have local backups of documents that can be opened outside of iPassport.

Settings

Subscription Expiry

There are no account settings that users can directly access for account backups. The Genial sales team manages settings according to subscriptions received and the user will always be able to see when a subscription is due to expire in the Account Backups page.
If an account doesn’t have a subscription, links are provided to help getting one easily.

Backup Expiry

Backups have a lifespan of 2 weeks, after which they automatically expire and can no longer be downloaded. There is no setting to adjust this. The system checks for requests and runs backups every 15 minutes but some can take a long while to complete, so it’s necessary for the system to store them until the user comes back to download them. They must then be gradually removed to clear space for the following ones.
Any backups that haven’t expired when a subscription expires, will continue to be available for the remainder of their 2 week lifespan.

Permissions

The permission, Backups: Manage Account Backups is required in at least one OU for users to be able to produce backups. This permission is included in the system role, Administration Editor. As a security precaution, users must have the permission in each of the OUs they wish to back up. Only Site Admins can do backups of all OUs without having the permission in every one.

Having this permission will make the Account Backups menu visible but a subscription is also required for the module to become usable.

Viewing and Downloading Account Backups

To access the backups area, go to Administration > Account Backups. The menu item will only be visible if the user has the permission above.
The Account Backups tab displays a table of all backups requested. It includes the following information:

  • Status:

    • Pending - as backups are run over night, this is the expected status when one is first requested
    • In Progress - this shows while the backup is being prepared
    • Completed - the backup is available for download for a period of 2 weeks in this status
    • Expired - after two weeks a backup can no longer be downloaded but the Download History remains available
    • Cancelled - while a backup is in Pending status, it can be cancelled by clicking the delete (trash) icon under Actions
    • Failed - in the event the backup process isn’t successfully completed, the system aborts it to allow requesting it again

  • Created At - date it was requested

  • Created By - user who requested it

  • Download Expires - reminder of expiry date

  • OUs - if all Organisational Units are requested, this field will display, “All OUs”; it will otherwise list every OU requested

  • Document Count - provides indication of the number of documents included in the backup

  • Actions:

    • a Delete (trash) icon is available while in Pending status
    • a Download icon is available while in Completed status
    • a Download History icon is always available

Visibility of Backups

The list of existing backups will only show ones where the user has permission to create backups in all of the OU’s included in that backup.
Site Admins can see all backups.

Requesting a Backup

The Request Backup button is only visible when there aren’t any pending backups and the subscription is valid.

To request a backup:

  1. Click the Request Backup button to open the, Request an Account Backup lightbox
  2. Leave the field under, Limit export to the following OUs blank to back up all of the OU’s the user has the permission to create backups in, or
  3. Click in the field and select OUs by clicking one by one below (text can be entered to narrow down the dropdown list)
  4. The checkbox under, Include active controlled documents in the backup (Default) is ticked by default but it can be deselected if required
  5. Tick the checkbox under, Include inactive controlled documents, as required
  6. Tick the checkbox under, Exclude superseded controlled documents, as required
  7. A Password can be entered to protect the zipped download (Warning: if it’s forgotten, the files won’t be accessible!)
  8. Click Request Backup

Requesting a Backup in an Enterprise Account (with Facilities)

This section only applies to accounts which have facilities. An additional field is provided to allow limiting backup requests to a facility without having to select all of its OUs. Multiple facilities can be selected if the user has access to them and then individual OUs can be selected from one or more of the facilities. If no OUs are chosen from a selected facility, all of its OUs will be backed up.

Backup History

The download history of each backup remains available after it has expired. Clicking the History icon under Actions, brings up a lightbox with details of any downloads of that backup. If it hasn’t been downloaded, the message, “Backup not downloaded yet” is displayed.