Hosted Application Service – Backup Processes

Hosted Application Service Backup Details

The Scomis Remote Backup Service is hosted and managed by Scomis in our UK datacentres.  As part of the service functionality, the data is replicated to our second data centre automatically.  The whole platform is backed up giving you a daily backup for 30 days with a further 5 monthly rollups enabling selective restore of your data up to 6 months in the past.

The backup routines are spread across a number of servers and in general, backups take place between the hours of 8pm and 8am: 8PM to 9PM SQL backups are taken of each database (SIMS/FMS), server backups are taken from 10PM (including databases as well as files). In addition please note that all application servers (frontends where customers login) are rebooted between 3AM and 5
This should mean that in unlikely event of a problem such as one of your users making an non-recoverable change in SIMS you would always be able to restore to the previous nights backup.

Backup of your data can be broadly split into these categories, and these are the routines that are in place:

• Databases
  • Takes a backup of all databases to give a supported restore/recovery route in the event of problems
  • Automatically replicates the backups remotely
  • Enables previous backups to be swiftly recovered in the unlikely event they are required
• DocStorage
  • The schools docstorage folder is backed up daily
• FDrive
  • The F:\ drive (where your schools shared documents are located) is backed up daily

Point in time backups

Anyone with the appropriate System Manager permissions has the ability to take an FMS or SIMS backup using the appropriate menu routes in SIMS System Manager / FMS.

This backup will be stored on the database server and available for restore for up to 14 days after which time it is automatically deleted.  When taking the backup the process may hang as it can take up to 20 minutes to complete – please be patient, because – especially in a large school – the database file can be very large.

You may choose to take a backup in this way before making significant changes to the timetable so that you can restore the database if there is a problem.

Please note: backups taken via this route are not stored.  If you would like a point in time backup to be taken and stored, please log a call with the Scomis Service Desk to request.
Please also note: point in time backups are not required and taking one will slow down the system, especially if it is initiated during a peak use period.