You should regularly back up your FotoWeb system to make sure that the configuration can be easily restored in the case of hardware failure. Backup of Index Manager indexes and your documents are not covered by this document and must be handled separately.
All configuration data used by FotoWeb is stored in the /fotoweb application directory and its subdirectories, with the exception of the sites’ databases, which need to be backed up separately.
You can easily create manual backups through the FotoWeb Administration Console. Right-click the Server node and select All Tasks | Backup System. This will open the FotoWeb System Backup Wizard which will aid you in making a ZIP file with all the configuration data from your FotoWeb server.
The first step of the wizard lets you select the sites that you want to back up. If the database server is located on the same machine as FotoWeb, this wizard will also back up the database content. In that case you must be logged in as an administrator to use the Use Trusted Connection option (the default), or type in the username and password of an account with backup privileges in the database server.
If users have uploaded files to the FotoWeb server, the Include user folders in backup option will ensure that all these files are part of the backup. This can create a very large backup, and the option is therefore off by default.
The next step of the wizard lets you specify where the backup file will be stored. FotoWeb will suggest a filename based on the current date and time. All the files that are backed up will be compressed into a ZIP file so that you can manage the backups easily.
When you click the Next button you will be presented with a final confirmation page before the processing starts. If you have many users and a large database of log information the backup can take a while to process. A dialog will inform you about the progress of the backup procedure.
FotoWeb does not provide an automatic tool for restoring the configuration from these ZIP files. You must manually extract the files from the ZIP file into the FotoWeb application directory to restore the files16. You must also use the All Tasks | Database | Restore function in the Site context menu to restore the database. Make sure that you stop all the FotoWeb services and Internet Information Services before starting this operation.
If you need to restore your server after a complete reinstallation of the operating system you must follow the procedure outlined below:
Install the operating system and software required by FotoWeb
Install FotoWeb using the installation program to the same location as before
Extract the content of the backup ZIP file into the application directory
Use the All Tasks | Database | Restore function in the Site context menu to restore the database
Start the FotoWeb services
You can use any backup software to copy the FotoWeb configuration files. Include the FotoWeb application directory and all subfolders and files in your backup. You can schedule a backup of these files even when FotoWeb is running.
However, the database must be backed up separately. Most backup software supports extensions that allow backups of Microsoft SQL Server. These can be used to back up the content of the SQL Express 2005 engine used by FotoWeb. An alternative is to let FotoWeb make backups of the database during the database maintenance routine and include these files in your system backup. You should then make sure that the system backup is scheduled to start after FotoWeb database maintenance has completed.
If you are using the SQL Express 2005 that is installed with FotoWeb you should enable the Automatically create database backups option in the Site Properties | Database dialog in the FAC. These backups will be placed in the <System drive>\Documents and Setting\All Users\Application Data\FotoWare\FotoWeb\Site Settings\<Site name>\Backup folder each time the database maintenance routine is run.
The backup procedure does put some stress on the database server, and the maintenance scheme should therefore be run at a time when the server is not handling many simultaneous users, for example during the night or in the weekends. It is not recommended that you run this procedure more often than once a day.