Managing Terminology Database Backups

A database backup is a complete export of your entire terminology database as an XML file. A database backup contains all terminology entries as well your entire data model.

Images that you’ve added to terminology entries aren’t part of the data model and aren’t included in the terminology backup. Instead, they’re stored in the directory %ACROLINX_CONFIGURATION_ROOT%\server\www\uploadedImages\ and must be backed up manually.

Use database backups and a copy of the images folder to back up your terminology data, or to copy a terminology database to another installation.

Important: Make sure that you restore a backup within the same Acrolinx Server version and not across Acrolinx Server versions. An Acrolinx Guidance Package update automatically migrates your data so don't restore your backup to migrate your data.

To open the database backups page:

  • Navigate to Dashboard Terminology Import and Export > Database Backups.

Creating a Database Backup

You can back up your entire terminology database or just the data structure without the terms. The data structure includes any custom categories or fields that you’ve created as well as your import and export configurations. You might back up the data structure without the terms if you want to create a test version of your terminology database on another server.

To create a database backup, follow these steps:

  1. (Only follow this step if you want to back up the data structure without the terms) Select the option Backup the data structure only.
  2. Click Create Database Backup.
  3. Right-click the Download Link that appears, and click Save Target As.

Restoring a Database Backup

You can restore a database backup by uploading the backup file in the Dashboard. When you restore a database backup, all existing term entries, duplicate detection rules, layout configurations, custom fields, and categories are overwritten.

To restore a database backup, follow these steps:

  1. Locate the database backup file using the Browse button.
  2. Click Restore Database Backup.

    The backup file has the format 'terminology-dump-YY-DD-MM-HRS-MIN.xml' meaning it looks something like 'terminology-dump-2016-02-25-16-39.xml'.
  3. In the security dialog that appears, enter the word yes and click OK.

    This type of dialog is an extra precaution to prevent you from overwriting your terminology database unintentionally.

    The import operation starts and a confirmation prompt appears when the import has completed.

Restart all servers (for more information on how to restart servers, see the Acrolinx Server Administration Guide).

If the configurations of all installed language servers aren’t reloaded, the term help files don’t load correctly.

Uploading a Database Backup to the Server

If you’ve downloaded a database backup from an Acrolinx installation, you can upload the backup file to another Acrolinx installation of the same version. After you’ve uploaded the backup, you can restore the database backup to the second installation. You might upload a database backup if you’re changing the computer where your Acrolinx server is hosted. You can use the database backup to move your reporting data to the new installation.

To upload a database backup to the server, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Analytics Administration Database Backups.
  2. In the Available Backups section, click Browse, select the backup file and click Upload.
  3. When the backup file is successfully uploaded, a new entry for the backup appears in the Available Backups table. You can click Restore in the Actions column.
  4. If you’ve uploaded a corrupted or invalid backup file, you see the action Delete in the Actions column. A backup file can become corrupted if the server is stopped before the backup was completed. Additionally, you might see this action if you select the wrong file to upload. To remove the file from the list, click Delete.