Backup Tab

The Material Library Server has the ability to automatically back up the library based on a schedule. The Backup Tab allows you to set the backup schedule and revert to a previous backup when needed.

Schedule

Action

The Action drop down sets how often to create a backup. The options are: None, Daily, and Weekly. None will disable automatic backups, Daily will create a backup every day, and Weekly will back up on the specific days that are selected.

If the Weekly option is set and all the days are selected, then it’s ideal to just select the Daily option. Additionally, the Weekly option needs at least one day selected, or an error will occur.

No backup will be created if there are no changes made to the library.

Time

Time sets a time range for when backups can be created. Normally this should be set for a time range not during normal business hours. The default time range is set from 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM.

To change the time range click on the pop-out icon on the right of the text box.

Like all clocks, the outer wheel is the minute hand and the inner wheel is the hour hand.

While dragging either of the markers, the time will update in the text box.

Destination

These settings are for the location of where to put backups. There are two locations where one is a fixed location (Default Location) and the other is a user defined (My Location) location. The default location is a fallback place in case My Location becomes unavailable. The Backup table will be populated with backups for both locations.

My Location Popup

The popup context menu functions work as follows:

• Open Location: Opens the location in File Explorer.
• Change My Location: Allows you to change the location of the My Location folder. Once a different location has been chosen, the Backups list will refresh with files from both locations and run cleanup based on the Maintenance settings.
• Change My Location To Default: Set the My Location to the Default Location value. This will refresh the Backups list and run cleanup based on the Maintenance settings.
• Backup Now: Creates a backup of the current library.

Default Location Popup

• Open Location: Opens the location in File Explorer.

Backups

This section has the table of backups pulled from the Default Location and My Location.

The columns are defined as:

• Location: Identifies if the backup is located at the Default Location or My Location.
• Lock: Shows the lock icon if the backup is not allowed to be automatically deleted.
• File: The name of the file. A GUID is generated for backup file names so this will be a guide with extension of “.library”.
• Groups: The number of groups in the library of this backup.
• Materials: The number of materials in the library of this backup.
• Textures: The number of textures in the library of this backup.
• Thumbnails: The number of thumbnails in the library of this backup.
• Size: The size of the library file in kilobytes (KB).
• Created On: The date and time the backup was created.

Right-Click Menu

When right-clicking on a backup, a context menu will appear.

The context menu functions are defined as:

• Restore: This will restore the current active library with the contents in the backup. A confirmation message box will show when performing this action. Any connected clients will immediately be updated to the restored material library.
• Open Location: Opens the location of the backup in File Explorer.
• Lock/Unlock: Locks or unlocks the backup depending on the selected option.
• Delete: Deletes the selected backup (except locked backups) with a confirmation dialog box. Backups deleted this way are moved to the operating system’s recycle bin.
• Delete All: Deletes all backups (except locked backups) with a confirmation dialog box. Backups deleted this way are moved to the operating system’s recycle bin.

Maintenance

To many backups can fill a storage disk. The Maintenance section is used to clear old backups to free up storage.

Action

The Action drop down allows you to change how old backups are handled.

The Action options are:

• Do Not Remove Any Backups: This does not automatically remove any backups so the only limit is how much disk space the user has.
• Remove Backups Older Than: This will automatically remove backups that are older than a set amount of time in either days or weeks. The default amount of time is 14 days.
• Remove The Oldest Backup Exceeding Count: This will automatically remove backups when the number of backups exceeds a set maximum. The oldest backups will be removed first.