PostureRay Backup Strategies

PostureRay  Backup Best Practices

So often we have clients that will call us after a virus attack or hard drive crash to reinstall PostureRay, only to find out that they have failed to make backups of their precious data.  A robust backup solution should be in place for all practice data, including PostureRay.  It is not good enough to have simply one back up location either.  You should always have an offsite solution as well as a local backup copy.  Also, if your practice adheres to HIPAA standards you should know that backups and backup safeguards are required for compliancy.

Best practices are to have multiple backup stratgeies, not just one strategy. We highly recommend you get with your IT professional and follow the 3-2-1 Backup Strategy. The 3-2-1 backup strategy simply states that you should have 3 copies of your data (your production data and 2 backup copies) on two different media (disk and tape) with one copy off-site for disaster recovery.

We offer starting in version 25 an online cloud backup method which is discussed below. However, this is just one method our of the 3-2-1 plan of backup strategy. Please discuss the following details with your IT professional to come up with the best plan for your data.

If you operate a true server in your office please have your IT professional make sure they’re doing frequent image-based backups of the entire hard drive(s) in case disaster strikes.  The Windows Server backup utility can provide a basic daily image of your system.  Other products such as ShadowProtect can provide more granular images and incremental snapshots that can restore data saved to within 15 minutes of a failure.  This is the best way to ensure your full server data is readily available and HIPAA disaster recovery compliant.  Both of these methods should direct their backups to an external device such as a NAS, storage server or external hard drive.

Once your image-based backup solution is in place, offsite transfer or storage of backup data should be put in place in the event of a true disaster scenario.  There are third party services that can facilitate this and your IT professional should be consulted on which is best.  Backup services such as ShadowProtect also offer this as an option.  If backing up to external hard drives, you can utilize a drive rotation scheme that keeps at least one drive offsite at all times.  Again, consult your IT professional for best practice solutions.

If unable to use an image-based backup solution, there are several cloud-based data only backup solutions that are available.  Among these but not limited are services such as  Carbonite, CrashPlan. If using one of these methods, you will need to verify that all files and folders for PostureRay are included in the backup.  These are typically found in C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86) for Stand-Alone PostureRay users.  If using a network version of PostureRay, you will need to follow steps below to backup your SQL database and image folders. For users with dedicated servers, the folder is typically found on a data drive.  Please contact PostureCo support if you need assistance finding your data folder.  Additionally, PostureRay users can also copy and paste the entire PostureCo folder to backup media. 

PostureCo Secure Cloud Backup for PostureRay (also includes Computer Vision Module and Online ViewBox)

Staring in version 25 of PostureRay, we offer secure cloud backup for PostureRay images and databases (not DICOM backup). This is a great method for restoring your PostureRay from our cloud. But remember this is just one method of the suggested 3-2-1 Backup Strategy that every IT professional should implement with your critical data. Please note this must be set up by our technicians, and you must be covered under an active technical support agreement. If your technical support expires, or if you manually log out of the cloud on PostureRay, your data will not be backed up on our secure cloud. For more additional information what is covered under annual support agreements, please see: https://www.postureanalysis.com/knowledge-base/postureray-annual-technical-support-plans/

Servers and New Server Updated SQL Backups

PostureCo has began offering rolling out Microsoft SQL as a new database format available with current upgrades starting in 2015. It is recommended all networked installation use SQL databases at this current time for improved stability.  In addition to backing up the PostureCo Net folder on the server, you will need to also backup the SQL database.  The SQL database format provides greater performance and extensibility, but also changes the location of the PostureRay data set.  If using an image-based backup solution of your entire hard drive of your server, there is nothing that needs to be changed or added to ensure your PostureRay data is included.  If using any of the cloud-based solutions or backing up only specific folders, you will need to verify that the PostureRay.mdf and PostureRay_log.ldf files in  C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\ and/or  C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\ are also included in the backup.  Please note these are only the “usual” locations depending on the version of the SQL Server.

If you are uncertain that you have the new SQL data format, or can’t find your SQL data, please contact PostureCo support for assistance.  Please note, it may be necessary to make sure all users have exited the PostureRay application before a cloud-based solution will be able to back up the SQL data files.  

Again, it is always suggested to have multiple backup strategies in case one method fails during a data recovery. This goes for any important data, not just our software. You should not rely on just one, even if it is our PostureRay Cloud. Follow the 3-2-1 Backup Strategy for the most safety.

Video link: http://youtu.be/hwT7bFpnOx0
PLEASE BE SURE TO WATCH THIS ENTIRE VIDEO TO SEE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A NETWORKED POSTURERAY BACK METHOD VS. STANDALONE 1 COMPUTER BACK UP STRATEGY.