Backup

Introduction

As part of any FO project, it is necessary to move your configuration between environments for development, testing, and eventual release. The same is true of the Lasernet FO Connector configuration.

Luckily, the Lasernet Connector has excellent built-in tools to help with the migration process. These tools allow the migration of either whole configurations or individual parts of a configuration between different entities within the same environment and between different environments.

Backup Menu

To access the backup menu items, navigate to Lasernet > Common > Backup.

Within this menu are three options:

• Export Lasernet backup: can be used to create a tailored export of all of the Lasernet configurations from the current legal entity.

• Import Lasernet backup: imports the backup files created by the export wizard.

• Copy Lasernet reports and configuration to other companies: copies the configuration from the current entity to other entities within the current environment.

Export Lasernet backup - One Time Export

The first option allows users to export a backup of the Lasernet configuration within the current legal entity. It is often necessary to take one-off backups to save a configuration before changes are applied or before an update to the system.

To take these ad-hoc backups, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Lasernet > Common > Backup > Export Lasernet Backup.

   The following wizard is displayed:

• Endpoint Type: the location where the file that is being extracted will be saved. Usually, this will be saved to the local machine (if Browser is selected), but it is also possible to save the backup to an Azure Storage account (if Lasernet Connection is selected).

• Compress Backup: allows users to choose whether the exported file should be a zip file or not.

• Static Filename: if using the Lasernet Connection endpoint it can be useful to use a static filename so that any processes trying to regularly import backups in the future can easily find the files.

2. Leave the Endpoint Type as Browser to download to your local machine, leave the Compress Backup toggle set to Yes and the Static Filename toggle set to no.

3. Click OK.

   The wizard will update to show the export options:

4. To export the whole configuration, leave the options as default. Specific reports can be excluded by deselecting them from the Selected Reports pane of the wizard.

Similarly, the Connector configuration can be excluded by deselecting the tables in the lower pane of the wizard (a full list of the tables and their contents is shown at the end of this guide):

Both panes display the option to select All tables/All Reports. However, be aware this will also include the archive, which is not normally part of a backup and can increase the file size drastically.

It is possible to save predefined selections to apply to the wizard. For more information, visit the Default Selections page of this guide.

5. Leave the Include Model Manifest option deselected.

6. Once the appropriate components for the backup have been selected, click OK, and the backup will be downloaded.

Export Lasernet Backup - Regular Backups

During the development phase of a project, several features change frequently, both with the Lasernet configuration and the FO configuration. This means that it can be very useful to take regular backups. The Export Lasernet Backup tool can be used to do so.

1. Navigate to Lasernet > Common > Backup > Export Lasernet backup.

2. Change the Endpoint type from Browser to Lasernet Connection.

3. Under Connection, select the storage connection where the backups are going to be archived. In this instance, Azure Storage has been selected, but this could be a File Storage or SharePoint.

4. Leave the Compress backup toggle set to Yes and the Static filename toggle set to No. Then click OK.

5. Select the required Reports and Tables and click OK.

The wizard will display options to set up Batch Processing to regularly export the backups to the defined endpoint. For more information about how to configure batch processing refer to the Microsoft documentation or ask your Dynamics partner.

Once the batch is configured, Lasernet will regularly save backups of the configuration to the defined endpoint based on the batch recurrence.

Import Lasernet Backup

Once the backup has been exported from Lasernet, it is necessary to import it into another environment. To import the backup, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Lasernet > Common > Backup > Import Lasernet Backup.

2. On the wizard that opens, leave the Endpoint as Browser and click OK.

3. On the next wizard, search for the backup file that needs to be imported.

4. Once the file to be imported has been selected, the wizard will show a screen allowing the user to pick certain tables and reports or use the All reports and All tables checkboxes to select everything.

The selections in this screen will relate to all the possible configurations in the imported file. It is not necessary to import everything from the backup. For example, certain reports could be deselected, or certain tables could be removed so as not to overwrite the configuration in the destination environment.

The predefined selection can be used to define the imported components, as explained in the Default Selections page of this guide.

5. Leave Disable style sheet generation and  Disable version check set to No and click OK.

• Disable style sheet generation: when this toggle is set to Yes, it will stop the style sheet for the report being updated on import.

• Disable version check: when this toggle is set to Yes, Lasernet will check the version of the current environment and the environment the export came from to see if there are any mismatches.

6. On the next wizard, select the legal entities to which the backup needs to be imported, then click OK.

A predefined selection can be created here for a set of legal entities using the steps highlighted on this page of this guide.

The wizard will give you the option to set the import as a batch job.

7. If required, configure the batch. If not click OK and the import will be copied to the selected entities.

Copy Lasernet Reports and Configuration to Other Companies

As well as being able to import configuration from other environments, Lasernet can import a configuration from other legal entities within the same environment. For example, when a new project is started, the Lasernet setup is usually first created in one entity for testing, then migrated to other entities within the same environment.

1. Navigate to Lasernet > Common > Backup > Copy Lasernet reports and configuration to other companies.

The wizard that is displayed is the same as the import/export wizard.

2. Select the appropriate components and click OK.

3. Select the companies to which you want to copy the configuration, then click OK and proceed as in the other wizards.

For more information about this topic, watch our feature video.