Manual Chapter :
BIG-IQ System File Management
Applies To:
Show VersionsBIG-IQ Centralized Management
- 7.0.0
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 active
Backing up the
standby BIG-IQ system in a HA configuration is not
supported. To recover the secondary BIG-IQ, you would
synchronize from the active BIG-IQ. In the unlikely event
that the active and standby BIG-IQ systems fail, use the
backup to restore the active BIG-IQ and then synchronize
with the standby BIG-IQ.
- At the top of the screen, clickSystem.
- On the left, click.
- theSchedule Backupbutton.
- Near the top of the screen, click theCreatebutton.
- Type a name to identify this backup, and an optional description for it.
- If you want to include the SSL private keys in the backup file, select theInclude Private Keyscheck box.If you save a copy of the SSL private key, you can reinstall it if the original one becomes corrupt.
- To encrypt the backup file, select theEncrypt Backup Filescheck box, and type and verify the passphrase.
- For theBackup Frequencysetting, selectDaily,Weekly, orMonthlyfor theSchedule Backupto specify how often backups are created. Based on the frequency, you can then specify the days and time you want to create the backups..
- For theStart Datesetting, click the calendar and select the date you want BIG-IQ to start creating backups.
- Use theLocal Retention Policysetting 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, selectDelete local backup copyand specify the number of days to keep the backup copy before deleting it.
- To keep copies of the backups indefinitely, selectNever Delete.
- To keep copies of backups remotely on a SCP or SFTP server:
- For theArchivesetting, select theStore archive copy of backupcheck box.
- For theLocationsetting, selectSCPorSFTP.
- In theIP Addressfield, type the IP address of the remote server where you want to store the archives.
- In theUser NameandPasswordfields, type the credentials to access this server.
- In theDirectoryfield, 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. - Click theSave & Closebutton 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.
- At the top of the screen, clickSystem.
- On the left, click.
- Click theBack Up Nowbutton.
- Type a name to identify this backup, and an optional description for it.
- If you want to include the SSL private keys in the backup file, select theInclude Private Keyscheck box.If you save a copy of the SSL private key, you can reinstall it if the original one becomes corrupt.
- To encrypt the backup file, select theEncrypt Backup Filescheck box, and type and verify the passphrase.
- Use theLocal Retention Policysetting 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, selectDelete local backup copyand specify the number of days to keep the backup copy before deleting it.
- To keep copies of the backups indefinitely, selectNever Delete.
- To keep copies of backups remotely on a SCP or SFTP server:
- For theArchivesetting, select theStore archive copy of backupcheck box.
- For theLocationsetting, selectSCPorSFTP.
- In theIP Addressfield, type the IP address of the remote server where you want to store the archives.
- In theUser NameandPasswordfields, type the credentials to access this server.
- In theDirectoryfield, 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. - Click theStartbutton at the bottom of the screen.
When UCS backup file is complete, you can restore the BIG-IQ system.