Backups strategy for Systemlink.

[zombae]

Hi i have a couple of questions regarding Data storage on systemLink server. 

1. Is there a way to backup files and data stored on the SystemLink server to another location and add this data back to systemLink server when needed. Currently the data is stored according to MongoDB structure, but can it be backed up in a similiar way to this 

2. Can i bookmark a tag or a TDMS file if the value goes above a certain threshold.  

[Brad_Turpin · Accepted solution]

Hi Zombae,

There is no comprehensive, pushbutton backup feature in SystemLink Server.  The TDM components offer configuration backup and restore as features, but SystemLink doesn't offer a native backup solution for the content of any of the many databases it installs and uses.

If you happen to be hosting the SystemLink application on a virtual machine or a cloud image, then you can leverage the existing backup capabilities of those hosting environments.  Alternatively, if you have arranged your SystemLink Server to house its Mongo db and/or PostgreSQL db on external nodes that are virtual machines or cloud images (or db services), then you can use the backup capabilities of those hosting environments to safeguard the content of those databases.

All that said, it almost sounds like what you mean is "archiving" of older data, rather than "backup" of all active data.  Is that what you mean when you say, "add this data back to SystemLink Server when needed"?  SystemLink Server also does not offer any archiving features, and those are not commonly available in external (generic) hosting environments.

For your second question, SystemLink Server of course supports tags and alarms based on tag values.  You can configure an alarm and notifications to occur when a tag's value goes above a defined threshold.  I'm not sure what you mean by "bookmark", though.  There is a table that shows the existing alarms and whether they've been acknowledged... does that approximate what you mean by "bookmark"?

When you ask about bookmarking a TDMS file, what part of the TDMS file are you wanting to evaluate against the threshold... or did you mean to bookmark the TDMS file when a certain implicit tag exceeds its threshold?  In any event, again I'm struggling to understand what a "bookmark" means for an uploaded or indexed data file such as TDMS.  You could add a keyword or property that you could use to query such files, perhaps.  It will depend to some extent what you're wanting to evaluate to determine the file's bookmark status-- evaluating some part of the TDMS file's content would work well in the DataFinder=>Automation Analysis workflow, for example.

Brad Turpin

Principal Technical Support Engineer

NI

[zombae]

Hi Brad, 

Thanks for the reply. 

Yes bookmarks for me would be if a tag values or a value in the TDMS file is goes beyond a threshold value. 

I know by default the tags can only be retained for 30 days. Can we save the value of a tag for more time than that if the values exceeds the threshold value?

[Brad_Turpin · Accepted solution]

Hi zombae,

You can configure a longer retention to a tag's history than 30 days, but of course then you have to have storage space for it.  Any alarms that trigger will retain the offending value in that alarm's details, as you can see below.  The alarm history is stored automatically.

Cheers,

Brad Turpin

Principal Technical Support Engineer
NI

[zombae]

Thank you Brad, 

The space shouldnt be an issue.