Server backups

CADMATIC eShare has a tool for backing up and restoring eShare servers, server and project databases, server configuration files, and individual eShare projects: eShare Backup Restore tool. It is strongly recommended to use the eShare Backup Restore Tool for all backups and restoring.

User can also use standard database and file backup mechanisms to back up eShare data. For example, use the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio application of Microsoft SQL Server to back up and restore databases. The SQL Server Agent application of full versions of SQL Server can be configured to create scheduled backups, but you can also schedule backups with the Task Scheduler function built into Windows.

Databases to back up

Make sure you regularly back up the following databases.

  • The main database. The default name of this database is "EShare", but if you create the database manually the name might be different. This database contains information about the projects and users in the system, and the permissions that each user has in specific projects.
  • Each project database. The default name has the format "EShareProject_<id>", but if you create project databases manually the name is probably different. You can find the name of each project database on the project administration page, under General > Database Name.

Directories to back up

Make sure you regularly back up the following folders.

  • Installation directory of eShare server. The default location is C:\Program Files\Cadmatic\eShare. This directory contains, for example, server configuration files such as ConnectionStrings.config that specifies the connection string used to connect to the main and project databases, and AppSettings.config that specifies the settings for connecting to the license server.
  • Program data directory of eShare server. The default location is C:\ProgramData\Cadmatic\eShare. This directory contains project-related files and maintenance/error logs.

Restoring eShare server from backups

Perform the following to restore CADMATIC eShare server from backups. It is strongly recommended to use the eShare Backup Restore tool.

Prerequisites

Do the following:

  1. Install eShare server on a computer that does not have eShare installed, as described in CADMATIC eShare Installation Guide, using the same version of eShare server that was used to create the backups. In the installation wizard, we recommend that you select the option to manually create the databases.
  2. Restore the main eShare database and the project databases from backups.
  3. Restore eShare server data from backups. The most important files and folders to restore are:
    • The application configuration files ConnectionStrings.config and AppSettings.config.
    • The entire C:\ProgramData\Cadmatic\eShare directory (project data).