Hi. I am looking for a way of managing some IC Server tasks such as back-ups. What I specifically want is to make automated IC Server Back-ups (for example, everyday) and also I would need the IC Server to send email notifications when the task has been completed or some error occurred during this process. Particularly I would like to back up the IC Server configuration and the Windows Registry Key. I would be very grateful if some of you can help me with this issue. Also, if you consider necessary to back up something else, please let me know.

I use Interaction Migrator from a batch file to backup configurations. The technical reference document has instructions for use from the command line. You can then use any method to run the file and report to the administration team. Using this method you can choose which configurations to restore when the time comes (users, workgroups,etc). If you just export the registry there is not a good restoration process. This type of backup is only good to restore configurations, if you need to restore a server, do full server backups.

There is a Data Backup Technical Reference document in the IC Documentation Library which gives all the recommendations for backing up your IC server. You should start by reading that document.

Originally posted by GGanahl;32790
There is a Data Backup Technical Reference document in the IC Documentation Library which gives all the recommendations for backing up your IC server. You should start by reading that document.

Thanks, I will read the documentation you suggested!

Originally posted by tcannon;32785
I use Interaction Migrator from a batch file to backup configurations. The technical reference document has instructions for use from the command line. You can then use any method to run the file and report to the administration team. Using this method you can choose which configurations to restore when the time comes (users, workgroups,etc). If you just export the registry there is not a good restoration process. This type of backup is only good to restore configurations, if you need to restore a server, do full server backups.

Great, I was just getting to know Interaction Migrator and all its capabilities. I will make some tests and let you know the results.

So what I understand is that there is no way to make this task automatically and get notifications out of it. No matter if it is made using command lines or Interaction Migrator. Am I right?

Not from within Interaction Center directly. You would have to do the automation and notifications with your own tools. For example, you could write a batch file to run the command-line version of Interaction Migrator, then use Task Scheduler in Windows to run that batch file and send you an email when the task has run. Be aware that Interaction Migrator requires the IC Service be stopped when doing an export or import, so you could have downtime on your system if you use Migrator to do the backup. The recommended way to do the backup on a Switchover pair is to stop the IC service on the Backup server in the pair and run the command-line export on that server. That's a pretty tricky thing to figure out in a batch file to be able to automate everything - you have to figure out which server is the Backup and run the task on the correct server, shutting down IC from the batch file, running the export, then starting IC again. For something like that, I would use a PowerShell script instead of just a batch file, running the script on a schedule from Task Scheduler.

Originally posted by GGanahl;32794
Not from within Interaction Center directly. You would have to do the automation and notifications with your own tools. For example, you could write a batch file to run the command-line version of Interaction Migrator, then use Task Scheduler in Windows to run that batch file and send you an email when the task has run. Be aware that Interaction Migrator requires the IC Service be stopped when doing an export or import, so you could have downtime on your system if you use Migrator to do the backup. The recommended way to do the backup on a Switchover pair is to stop the IC service on the Backup server in the pair and run the command-line export on that server. That's a pretty tricky thing to figure out in a batch file to be able to automate everything - you have to figure out which server is the Backup and run the task on the correct server, shutting down IC from the batch file, running the export, then starting IC again. For something like that, I would use a PowerShell script instead of just a batch file, running the script on a schedule from Task Scheduler.

You don't have to stop IC to do a migrator export. You just need to not select to migrate IPA. IPA requires IC to stop. In order to import you must stop IC.

Originally posted by GGanahl;32794
Not from within Interaction Center directly. You would have to do the automation and notifications with your own tools. For example, you could write a batch file to run the command-line version of Interaction Migrator, then use Task Scheduler in Windows to run that batch file and send you an email when the task has run. Be aware that Interaction Migrator requires the IC Service be stopped when doing an export or import, so you could have downtime on your system if you use Migrator to do the backup. The recommended way to do the backup on a Switchover pair is to stop the IC service on the Backup server in the pair and run the command-line export on that server. That's a pretty tricky thing to figure out in a batch file to be able to automate everything - you have to figure out which server is the Backup and run the task on the correct server, shutting down IC from the batch file, running the export, then starting IC again. For something like that, I would use a PowerShell script instead of just a batch file, running the script on a schedule from Task Scheduler.

Great then! We are familiar enough with PowerShell scripts and sending emails that way. So the next big step would be to figure out how to run Interaction Migrator Command Line Version and exporting the back up configuration through that way- Thanks again!

For the PowereShell exporting everything (thus requiring the IC service be stopped) I have used: Stop-Service 'Interaction Center' Start-Process -Filepath "D:\I3\IC\Migrator\ININ.Migrator.Console.exe" -Argumentlist '-export -noprompt -exportfolder="D:\I3\IC\MIgrator\Export\" -exportNodes="all" -noprompt' -wait That presumes you have installed Migrator to the default path on the IC server. You might be able to change the -exportFolder to a mapped drive - I can't remember. I haven't tried it in a while, so you'll need to try it out on a test server to see if it still works. To avoid shutting down IC, you'll need to change -exportNodes="all" to be a comma-separated list of the nodes you want to export. I don't have a list handy. Ryan is looking to see if he has one.

Originally posted by GGanahl;32803
For the PowereShell exporting everything (thus requiring the IC service be stopped) I have used: Stop-Service 'Interaction Center' Start-Process -Filepath "D:\I3\IC\Migrator\ININ.Migrator.Console.exe" -Argumentlist '-export -noprompt -exportfolder="D:\I3\IC\MIgrator\Export\" -exportNodes="all" -noprompt' -wait That presumes you have installed Migrator to the default path on the IC server. You might be able to change the -exportFolder to a mapped drive - I can't remember. I haven't tried it in a while, so you'll need to try it out on a test server to see if it still works. To avoid shutting down IC, you'll need to change -exportNodes="all" to be a comma-separated list of the nodes you want to export. I don't have a list handy. Ryan is looking to see if he has one.

Great. I'll give that code a try and see the results in our test environment. Migrator was indeed installed at the default path so that won't be a problem. Also, given that there is no back up server available, this sort of task will be made at convenient times so when Interaction Center Service is down, it does not impact people working. Would it change anything if back ups are manually moved from the folder you mentioned ("D:\I3\IC\MIgrator\Export\")? I believe it will not be a problem given that this will probably be made one a week only.

I am testing on my server now, and found an error in my command-line options. I have a PowerShell script running right now using the "all" option for exportNodes, and it hasn't failed yet - though it hasn't gotten to the Process Automation nodes yet, either. You can manually copy the file, or use PowerShell to move it at the end of the script. I'll run a test going to a mapped drive as well, and I'll let you know whether you really have to stop the service. Attached is a text file of all the node names, in case anyone wants the official names to do a limited export.

Ok, I verified that I can write out the export to a mapped drive on the network. When I ran the script with "all" for exportNodes, it exported most everything, but did not export the IPA config. Unfortunately, I can't tell for sure whether it really exported all nodes except for the ProcessAutomation-related ones, or if it failed when it reached ProcessAutomation and quit running. There are at least 120 nodes, and the names that show up as valid in the command-line help don't exactly match the names in the export file (though the data seems correct), and I don't have time to verify every line. If you want to do it up right, you should figure out which nodes you really want to export and do the comma-separated list. My export file was over 450MB on a system with 10 users and stations when I used the "all" option, since it exports all .wav files and handler files (which include prompts). Here is the PowerShell I used that worked for export to a mapped drive: Start-Process -Filepath "D:\I3\IC\Migrator\ININ.Migrator.Console.exe" -Argumentlist '-export -noprompt -exportfolder="S:\Migrator\Export" -exportNodes="all" -customHandlerPath="D:\I3\IC\Handlers\Custom" -noprompt' -wait