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Manual Chapter : BIG-IQ System File Management

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BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 6.0.1
Manual Chapter

BIG-IQ System File Management

UCS Backup Management for the BIG-IQ System

How do I back up and restore a BIG-IQ system's configuration?

The configuration details of the BIG-IQ® system are kept in a compressed user configuration set (UCS) file. The UCS file has all of the information you need to restore a BIG-IQ system's configuration, including:
  • System-specific configuration files
  • License
  • User account and password information
  • SSL certificates and keys

Schedule BIG-IQ system's UCS file backups

Back up the BIG-IQ system's UCS file on a regular schedule to be sure you have a current copy of its configuration in case you ever have to perform a system recovery.
If your BIG-IQ system is part of an HA pair, create a backup schedule only for the primary BIG-IQ system.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    System
    .
  2. On the left, click
    BACKUP & RESTORE
    Backup Schedules
    .
  3. the
    Schedule Backup
     button.
  4. Near the top of the screen, click the
    Create
     button.
  5. Type a name to identify this backup, and an optional description for it.
  6. If you want to include the SSL private keys in the backup file, select the
    Include Private Keys
     check box.
    If you save a copy of the SSL private key, you can reinstall it if the original one becomes corrupt.
  7. To encrypt the backup file, select the
    Encrypt Backup Files
     check box, and type and verify the passphrase.
  8. For the
    Backup Frequency
     setting, select
    Daily
    ,
    Weekly
    , or
    Monthly
     for the
    Schedule Backup
     to specify how often backups are created. Based on the frequency, you can then specify the days and time you want to create the backups..
  9. For the
    Start Date
     setting, click the calendar and select the date you want BIG-IQ to start creating backups.
  10. Use the
    Local Retention Policy
     setting to specify how long you want to keep the backup file on BIG-IQ.
    • To delete the copies of the backup after a certain number of days, select
      Delete local backup copy
       and specify the number of days to keep the backup copy before deleting it.
    • To keep copies of the backups indefinitely, select
      Never Delete
      .
  11. To keep copies of backups remotely on a SCP or SFTP server:
    1. For the
      Archive
       setting, select the
      Store archive copy of backup
       check box.
    2. For the
      Location
       setting, select
      SCP
       or
      SFTP
      .
    3. In the
      IP Address
      field, type the IP address of the remote server where you want to store the archives.
    4. In the
      User Name
       and
      Password
       fields, type the credentials to access this server.
    5. In the
      Directory
       field, type the name of the directory where you want to store the archives on the remote server.
    Storing a backup remotely means you can restore data to a BIG-IP device even if you can't access the archive in the BIG-IQ system directory.
    If you configure BIG-IQ to save backup files to a remote server and that server is unavailable during a scheduled backup, BIG-IQ ignores the local retention policy and retains the local copy of the backup file. This ensures that a backup is always available. To remove those local backups, you must delete them.
    Archived copies of backups are kept permanently on the remote server you specify. If you want to clear space on the remote server, you have to manually delete the backups.
  12. In the
    OID
     field, type the object identifier (OID) you want to associate with this user.
  13. Click the
    Save & Close
     button at the bottom of the screen to save your changes.

Create an immediate backup of the BIG-IQ system's current UCS file

It's a good idea to create a backup for your BIG-IQ system before you make any major configuration changes, or upgrade.
  1. At the top of the screen, click
    System
    .
  2. On the left, click
    BACKUP & RESTORE
    Backup Schedules
    .
  3. Click the
    Back Up Now
     button.
  4. Type a name to identify this backup, and an optional description for it.
  5. If you want to include the SSL private keys in the backup file, select the
    Include Private Keys
     check box.
    If you save a copy of the SSL private key, you can reinstall it if the original one becomes corrupt.
  6. To encrypt the backup file, select the
    Encrypt Backup Files
     check box, and type and verify the passphrase.
  7. Use the
    Local Retention Policy
     setting to specify how long you want to keep the backup file on BIG-IQ.
    • To delete the copies of the backup after a certain number of days, select
      Delete local backup copy
       and specify the number of days to keep the backup copy before deleting it.
    • To keep copies of the backups indefinitely, select
      Never Delete
      .
  8. To keep copies of backups remotely on a SCP or SFTP server:
    1. For the
      Archive
       setting, select the
      Store archive copy of backup
       check box.
    2. For the
      Location
       setting, select
      SCP
       or
      SFTP
      .
    3. In the
      IP Address
      field, type the IP address of the remote server where you want to store the archives.
    4. In the
      User Name
       and
      Password
       fields, type the credentials to access this server.
    5. In the
      Directory
       field, type the name of the directory where you want to store the archives on the remote server.
    Storing a backup remotely means you can restore data to a BIG-IP device even if you can't access the archive in the BIG-IQ system directory.
    If you configure BIG-IQ to save backup files to a remote server and that server is unavailable during a scheduled backup, BIG-IQ ignores the local retention policy and retains the local copy of the backup file. This ensures that a backup is always available. To remove those local backups, you must delete them.
    Archived copies of backups are kept permanently on the remote server you specify. If you want to clear space on the remote server, you have to manually delete the backups.
  9. Click the
    Start
     button at the bottom of the screen.
When UCS backup file is complete, you can restore the BIG-IQ system.
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