Backing up and restoring the database

Important: Be sure to make a backup before uninstalling License Statistics. All files will be deleted from the License Statistics installation directory during the uninstallation.

Determining how to do the backup

You can use automated backup and restore scripts provided with License Statistics or you may need to perform the backup and restore procedures manually, depending on your needs and your installation.

Using License Statistics backup and restore scripts

License Statistics includes the following scripts for automating backups when the database created by License Statistics EMBEDDED64 is used with default settings (or EMBEDDED32 for versions older than 4.19.1). Review these scripts so you are familiar with what they do, and decide if they will work for your backup and restoration needs.

Note that you may not be able to run the scripts as a normal user on Windows due to Windows limitations, so be sure to run the scripts as an administrator (see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-en/library/cc947813(v=ws.10).aspx for instructions on starting a command prompt as an administrator).

Backing up and restoring the database manually

When running License Statistics using an external database that is not maintained by License Statistics, you must do manual backups instead of using the supplied scripts. You must also do manual backups if you are running EMBEDDED64 (or EMBEDDED32 for version lower than v4.19.1) with any custom settings, such as custom database name, port, password set, or different user.

If you must do a manual backup, review the scripts to do the backup according to what is done in the scripts.

Preparing for the backup

Before you begin your database backup:

1. Go to the License Statistics installation directory and select the MySQL directory for your License Statistics database. This directory is named mysql_version, where version is either x86 or x64 (mysql_x86 = EMBEDDED32, and mysql_x64 = EMBEDDED64). For License Statistics v4.19.1 and newer the directory name is mysql (EMBEDDED64).
   
2. Ensure you have enough space for the database dump.

Backing up the database

The following instructions assume that you are using the License Statistics scripts to backup the database. If you are backing up the database manually, use the scripts to guide you in what is needed for manual backup, and be sure the backup includes all stored procedures and views.

To perform a backup of the License Statistics database:

1. Stop License Statistics. Backing up the database when License Statistics is running will cause the database dump to be inconsistent with the current state of monitored data.
2. Open a command prompt with full administrator permissions (see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-en/library/cc947813(v=ws.10).aspx for instructions on starting a command prompt as an administrator).
   
3. Navigate to the database folder named mysql under the License Statistics directory.
   
4. Execute mysql_start.bat to launch MySQL client.
5. After MySQL starts, execute mysql_backup.bat. The script creates a .dump file.
6. When the backup is complete, execute mysql_stop.bat script.
   

Backing up the database may take a long time, depending on the volume of data in your database.

The script creates the xformation_licstat.dump file.

When the backup is complete:

1. Copy the backup file to a safe location.
2. Copy your License Statistics configuration file (xflicstat.cfg), license file (license.lic), and 3rd party utilities (for example, lmutil.exe) to a safe location.

Restoring the database

The following instructions assume that you are using the License Statistics scripts to restore the database. If you are restoring the database manually, use the scripts to guide you in what is needed for manual restoration.

To restore the data:

1. Stop License Statistics. Restoring the database when License Statistics is running will cause the state of the database to be inconsistent with monitored data.
2. Open a command prompt with full administrator permissions.
3. Navigate to the database folder named mysql under the License Statistics Directory.
   
4. Start the MySQL database using the mysql_start script.
5. If the database already exists, drop it before attempting the restore by running mysql_clean.bat.
6. Put the saved database dump in the mysql directory under the License Statistics installation directory.
7. Restore the database using the mysql_restore script.
   
8. Run mysql_stop in order to shut down the MySQL database.
   
9. As an alternative, you can use the mysql_start_restore_stop script to start, restore and stop the database all in one step.

Restoring the database may take a long time, depending on the volume of data in your database.

Note: When upgrading License Statistics to a new version, you do not have to restore the database dump. You can use a new database (not necessarily the one that was used before upgrading) as well.

After the database is restored:

1. Review the new default configuration file (xflicstat.cfg) and your existing configuration file, and copy the customized settings from the old configuration file to the new configuration file. For example, the configuration file contains information about the directory where License Statistics is installed, so if License Statistics was previously installed in a different directory, you must update this information in the new configuration file. In addition, new License Statistics releases may add or remove configuration settings from xflicstat.cfg, so It is important that you use the new xflicstat.cfg file rather than overwriting it with your previous version.
   
   Important: Do not change the structure of the new xflicstat.cfg file.
   
   
2. Copy license file (license.lic) and 3rd party utilities (for example, lmutil.exe) back into the License Statistics directory.
   

Note: When upgrading License Statistics to version 4.11.1, please paste your old License Statistics configuration file (xflicstat.cfg) to the License Statistics directory.