WebOffice > Best Practices > Backup your ArcGIS Server Site Configuration

To guarantee a professional operating control of your ArcGIS Server Site, it is recommended to backup your ArcGIS Server Site configuration periodically (at least weekly). Due to this backup it is possible to react to some negative events like hardware failure, human error or other problems without any loss of information. Please consider, that the creation of such a backup only make sense if the ArcGIS Server Site can provide its full functionality.

You can use a special Backup Utility program for the creation of the appropriate backup of your ArcGIS Server Site, which is available on your machine after installing the ArcGIS Server 10.5.1. The table below shows all the information, which is included in the backup of the ArcGIS Server Site:

Information included	Information not included
Service configurations and service properties	Cache tiles and tiling schemes
Server object extensions (SOEs)	Data used by services (unless it was automatically copied to a folder on the ArcGIS Server 10.5.1 at publish time)
Server object interceptors (SOIs)	Dynamically generated map images and other temporary output
Registered data store item locations	Log messages (including Geoprocessing job statuses and messages)
User and role information	Primary site administrator name and password
List of machines in the site	Statistics data
Clusters and their lists of machines	ArcGIS Web Adaptor configurations
Log settings
Statistics reports
Scene tile cache configuration files under arcgiscache/Hosted

Information included and not included in the backup of the ArcGIS Server site configuration

Note: The information which is not included in the ArcGIS Server Site configuration backup has to be preserved manually.

Backup the ArcGIS Server Site configuration

Please consider the following steps for creating a backup of your ArcGIS Server Site configuration:

1. Close all programs and applications on your machine, which have an active connection to the ArcGIS Server 10.5.1

2. Open the CMD command prompt window as administrator and navigate to <Python directory of installation>\python.exe

3. Use the following command to provide the Backup Utility functionality:

"C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Server\tools\admin\backup.py" -u <User> -p <Password> -s http://<myserver>:6080 -f <Backup Directory>

Parameter	Description
u	Name of the ArcGIS Server 10.5.1 user, who runs the Backup Utility program. This user has to be assigned to the "Administrator" role.
p	Password of the ArcGIS Server 10.5.1 user, who runs the Backup Utility program.
s	URL of the ArcGIS Server Site. The following formats are allowed: http://gisserver.domain.com:6080 https://gisserver.domain.com:6443 http://webadaptor.domain.com/arcgis
f	Path of the folder, in which the backup of the ArcGIS Server Site configuration is stored as an .agssite file. Note: The ArcGIS Server Account must have full control on this folder.
h	Optional: Prints the help for the Backup Utility program.

Parameter of the Backup Utility program

The image below shows an example of the command, which can be set within the CMD command prompt to run the Backup Utility program:

Backup your ArcGIS Server Site configuration by using the Backup Utility program

Restore the ArcGIS Server Site configuration

You can use the Restore Utility program to restore your ArcGIS Server Site configuration, which is available after installing the ArcGIS Server 10.5.1. Please consider the following steps while restoring your ArcGIS Server site configuration:

1. Close all programs and applications on your machine, which have an active connection to the ArcGIS Server 10.5.1

2. Open the CMD command prompt window as administrator and navigate to <Python directory of installation>\python.exe

3. Use the following command to provide the Backup Utility functionality:

"C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Server\tools\admin\backup.py" -u <User> -p <Password> -s http://<myserver>:6080 -f <Backup Directory> -r <Report directory>

Parameter	Description
u	Name of the ArcGIS Server 10.5.1 user, who runs the Backup Utility program. This user has to be assigned to the "Administrator" role, but must not be the user, who was used to backup the ArcGIS Server Site configuration.
p	Password of the ArcGIS Server 10.5.1 user, who runs the Restore Utility program.
s	URL of the ArcGIS Server Site. The following formats are allowed: http://gisserver.domain.com:6080 https://gisserver.domain.com:6443 Note: It is not possible to use the Restore Utility program via the ArcGIS Web Adaptor URL.
f	Absolute path of the folder, in which the appropriate backup of the ArcGIS Server Site configuration was stored as an .agssite file. Note: The ArcGIS Server Account must have full control on this folder.
r	Path of the folder, in which a report is stored after running the Restore Utility program. Additionally, the appropriate report is always written to the CMD command prompt. Note: The ArcGIS Server Account must have full control on this folder.
h	Optional: Prints the help for the Backup Utility program.

Parameter of the Restore Utility program

The image below shows an example of the command, which can be set within the CMD command prompt to run the Restore Utility program:

Restore the ArcGIS Server Site configuration by using the Restore Utility program

You possibly get a list of errors and restrictions within the CMD command prompt after running the Restore Utility program. These errors has to be fixed manually to guarantee full functionality of your ArcGIS Server Site.

Note: If you have changed the users and roles settings after creating a backup of your ArcGIS Server Site, you have to redo these settings after running the Restore Utility program.

Note: If you have changed anything in your machine or cluster settings after creating a backup of your ArcGIS Server Site, you have to redo these settings after running the Restore Utility program.

Note: When your ArcGIS Server Site includes an ArcGIS Web Adaptor, you have to reconfigure the ArcGIS Web Adaptor after restoring your ArcGIS Server Site.