# Back up system configurations

Backups are needed to recover from the loss of the system configurations, for example, due to hardware failure. A backup also allows you to relocate the SMC servers onto different hardware.

## Before you begin

To back up a Management Server, there must be enough free disk space on the server. Twice the size of the management database is required. If there is not enough available disk space, the backup process does not start.

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For more details about the product and how to configure features, click Help or press F1.

## Steps

1. Right-click the Management Server or Log Server you want to back up, then select Backup.
2. (Optional) To back up other servers, select the servers from the list on the left, then click Add.
3. (Optional) To encrypt the backup, select Encrypted, then enter and confirm a password.
   We recommend this option if the configuration contains TLS Credentials and Client Protection Certificate Authority elements.
4. (Optional) If you are creating a backup of Log Servers and you want to back up the log files, select Back up Log Files.
5. Click OK.
   The backup starts and the progress is shown on a new tab.

## Next steps

Copy the backup files to a storage location.