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How to Backup and Restore LEAPWORK database (version 2018.1 onwards)

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Praveen Kumar
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Precondition

  1. The user needs to take backup of their Database Encryption Key, the following article explains how to Backup Database Encryption Key.
  2. The user must remember at least one Admin user password or create a secondary Admin account, read more here.

Introduction

Backup and restore provides an essential safeguard for protecting critical data stored in your LEAPWORK databases. To minimize the risk of catastrophic data loss, you need to back up your databases to preserve modifications to your data on a regular basis. A well-planned backup and restore strategy helps protect databases against data loss caused by a variety of failures

With valid backups of a database, you can recover your data from many failures, such as:

  • Media failure.
  • User errors, for example, deleting a database file by mistake.
  • Hardware failures, for example, a damaged disk drive or permanent loss of a server.
  • Natural disasters. By using modern cloud services a user can back up the data in a different region than your on-premises location, to use in the event of a natural disaster affecting your on-premises location.
  • Additionally, backups of a database are useful for routine administrative purposes, such as copying a database from one server to another, database mirroring, and archiving.

What data should I back up?

LEAPWORK Controller holds all data like Flows, Sub-flows, Images, Schedules, and Locatorsanetc. in the form of multiple .sqlite Database files, the controller also holds Automation Runs containing test flow execution artifacts like automation run video and screenshots. If a user is not bound with disk space then it is suggested to take backup of everything under the asset folder, else user can exclude AutomationRunMedia.

Note: Backup of all .sqlite files is mandatory.

What is the procedure of backup?

A user can either backup Manually or automate the backup process using PowerShell script, let's go through them one by one:

Manual Backup

Here is how user can take LEAPWORK backup manually:

  • Login to Controller machine
  • Stop the LEAPWORK Controller services
    1. Press Win+R combination to open the Run dialog
    2. Type ‘services.msc’ and press Enter to open Services window
    3. Find LEAPWORK Controller and stop it using right mouse button click and “Stop” command.
  • Go to C:\Program Files\LEAPWORK folder
  • Copy Asset folder
  • Navigate to the Backup location
  • Paste Asset folder and wait till file copy process is completed
  • Start Controller service
    1. Press Win+R combination to open the Run dialog
    2. Type ‘services.msc’ and press Enter to open Services window
    3. Find LEAPWORK Controller and start it using right mouse button click and “Start” command.

After following the above steps you are done with LEAPWORK data backup.

Script Based Backup

Script based backup perform same task automatically as user do in Manual backup process, below is a sample backup PowerShell script.

##############################################################################################################
# LEAPWORK DATA BACKUP SCRIPT
##############################################################################################################

# Variables to be altered by user
# $assetFolderPath- This is path to Asset folder in Controller machine- Change only if you custom path
# $backupPath- This is safe location where user should keep backup of Asset(Could be UNC/network path)
##############################################################################################################

Write-Host "Backup Process Started"
Write-Host "Step1: Stopping LEAPWORK Controller Service.."

$ServiceName = "LEAPWORK Controller"
Stop-Service $ServiceName

Write-Host "Step2: Check Controller Service State.."
do
{
Start-Sleep -Seconds 2
Write-Host "Getting the service status.."
$ServiceStatus = (Get-Service -Name $ServiceName).Status
Write-Host $ServiceName "-" $ServiceStatus
}
while ($ServiceStatus -ne 'Stopped')

Write-Host "Step3: Taking Backup.."
$assetFolderPath = "C:\Program Files\LEAPWORK\Assets" #Path to Asset folder in Controller Machine
$dateTimeOfBackup= Get-Date -format "dd-MMM-yyyy-HH-mm-ss" #Date time to be added in the folder name to identify daily backup
$backupPath = "D:\Backup-$dateTimeOfBackup" #Path of safe location to backup Asset, it can be UNC/network path
Copy-Item -Path $assetFolderPath -Recurse -Destination $backupPath

Write-Host "Step4: Backup Finished.."

Write-Host "Step5: Starting LEAPWORK Controller.."
Start-Service "LEAPWORK Controller"

Write-Host "Backup Finished !!"

##############################################################################################################

On controller machine user can create a schedule using windows task scheduler and run the above PowerShell script to take backup in defined interval of time.

What is the procedure of Restore?

Restoring is the process of copying data from a backup. Take the backup file and turn it back into a database. Below is step by step procedure to restore LEAPWORK data:

Steps to Restore Database

  • Navigate to the Backup folder location
  • Copy the Asset folder from Backup folder
  • Login to Controller machine
  • Stop the LEAPWORK Controller services
    • Press Win+R combination to open the Run dialog
    • Type ‘services.msc’ and press Enter to open Services window
    • Find LEAPWORK Controller and stop it using the right mouse button click and “Stop” command.
  • Go to C:\Program Files\LEAPWORK folder and replace existing Asset folder with the backup Asset folder, wait till file copy is completed
  • Start Controller service
    • Press Win+R combination to open the Run dialog
    • Type ‘services.msc’ and press Enter to open Services window
    • Find LEAPWORK Controller and start it using the right mouse button click and “Start” command.

After following above steps open your LEAPWORK studio and verify the data. The user can also automate this process by creating a restore PowerShell script.

Note: It is suggested to test your strategy by restoring backups and then recovering your database to prepare you to respond effectively to a adverse/disaster situation.

How often should I run my backups?

The frequency to run your backups depends on how often the automation flows and data changes.

  • Automation flows and data that changes frequently may need daily or hourly backups
  • Automation flows and data that changes every few days might use a weekly or even monthly backup
  • For some data, user might run your backup whenever you make a change

For any clarification, please contact our Priority Support.

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