Back up system configurations

All configuration information for the NGFW Engines is stored on the Management Server component of the SMC. Backups are needed to recover from the loss of the system configurations, for example, due to hardware failure.

The Management Server is the only component that contains usable, complete configuration information for any individual engine component. The engines contain a working copy of the configuration details that allows them to carry out traffic inspection independently. It is not possible to extract this information from the engines if the Management Server is lost. For this reason, regular Management Server backups are essential and must be stored in a safe storage location outside of the computer where the SMC servers are installed.

Always take the backups using the proprietary backup tools in the Management Client, on the Management Server command line, or on the SMC Appliance command line. Third-party backup applications that back up the host system might not produce usable backups of your SMC servers, especially if the SMC servers are running when you take the backup.

Different types of backups contain different information:

  • The Management Server backup contains the policies, elements, and other configuration details for all NGFW Engines that they manage. The Management Server backup also contains the configuration information of the Web Portal Server and of the Management Server itself.
  • The Log Server backup contains the Log Server’s local configuration and optionally the logs.
Note: 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.

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

Steps

  1. In the Management Client component of the SMC, select Home.
  2. Right-click the Management Server or Log Server you want to back up, then select Backup.
  3. (Optional) To back up other servers, select the servers from the list on the left, then click Add.
  4. (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.
  5. (Optional) If you are creating a backup of Log Servers and you want to back up the log files, select Back up Log Files.
  6. Click OK.
    The backup starts and the progress is shown on a new tab.

Next steps

Copy the backup files to a storage location.