Skip to main content

Perform a First Disk Backup and Integrate Data

As part of an offsite backup, and depending on the available upload bandwidth, the first (full) backup can be very long. To secure data more efficiently, it is recommended to perform a first disk backup and a manual data integration on the storage servers.

Prerequisites​

The client’s backup account must have been created and installed on the target machine.

The first disk backup is a real backup (with encryption, compression, and deduplication). It is not a simple file copy.

First Disk Backup​

Here are the steps to perform a first disk backup:

  • Configure your backup account normally (selections, schedules, reports).
  • Go back to the selection tab, then at the bottom, in the "Backup" section, choose your target disk as the backup destination.
  • Start your manual backup by clicking the "Start a backup immediately" button.
  • Once the backup is complete, disconnect the disk to proceed with manual data integration.

If you do not manage your storage servers, simply send the disk containing your encrypted data.
Otherwise, you can continue with the procedure.

Manual Data Integration​

Once the backup is complete, here is how to integrate the data on your server(s):

  • Connect your USB disk to your storage server and mount it.
  • Start the screen utility.
  • Navigate to the storage directory of your disk backup. The directory name is composed of the backup account name and the disk backup timestamp.
  • Then run the following command: arx-account integrate <accountName> --archive-path=. making sure to replace <accountName> with the actual account name.
  • Once the integration has started, you can detach from screen by pressing Ctrl+a followed by Ctrl+d. You may then close your session.
  • To reattach to your screen, type screen -r. If the integration is complete, you can exit screen.

When the integration is complete, you can:

  • Integrate the same data on the other servers of the account
  • Force a manual synchronization of the account to propagate data to all servers
  • Wait for automatic account synchronization

What’s Next?​

Nothing! Everything is automatic.

At the end of the integration, integration locks are automatically removed and backups will resume at the next scheduled time.