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Disaster Recovery

Overview

Backup data is encypted by default and encryption cannot be turned off. The key to accessing data in a Storage Vault is the user-profile that backed it up. Comet Server supports replication for the Authentication Role (the Comet Server itself), and Storage Role (customers data).

To ensure redundancy for your backup environment, use:

  • Server Self-Backup to backup your Comet Server (Auth Role), and then choose any other external method to have a redundant copy of the storage data. It is strongly recommendeded to enable Server Self-Backup.
  • Replication to replicate your Comet Server (Auth Role) and the storage data (Storage Role) to another Comet Server (replication will only happen in one-direction). Note: Replication will keep a duplicate of the current data. Mistakes will also be copied-over to the redundant copy.

Comet Server Loss

If you experience the loss of a Comet Server (fire, theft, disaster, ransomware), then you need to do the following:-

  1. Install a copy of Comet server on the new machine (download the software from here: https://account.cometbackup.com/downloads)
  2. Stop the service, and unzip the Server Self-Backup file, overwrite the contents of Windows C:\ProgramData\Comet or Linux/Unix /var/lib/cometd/.
  3. If on Linux/Unix, run the following command to make sure the file permissions are correct. sudo chown -R cometd:cometd /var/lib/cometd
  4. Login and 'relax' the serial to allow the new Comet Server to operate on your account: https://cometbackup.com/my_servers
  5. Once done, the new Comet server will be at the same state as was the previous one at the time of the Server Self-Backup, including all of the client configuration data. You may need to alter DNS records, IP addresses, etc to match the new machine.

Notes for Step 1:

Backup Client Device Loss

If the user loses a device, then all that is needed to recover backed-up data, is the following:-

  1. Install a fresh copy of the Comet client software on the replacement device, using the user-profile username and password.
  2. Verify that the new device shows as 'Online' in the admin web interface: Accounts -> Users -> name -> Devices.
  3. Perform a 'Restore' function as needed.
  4. Add the old device's Protected Items to the new device: https://docs.cometbackup.com/latest/installation/comet-server-usage#copy-and-paste and https://docs.cometbackup.com/latest/troubleshooting#handling-a-changed-device-id
  5. When complete, 'Revoke' the old device-listing in the admin web interface -> Accounts -> Users -> name -> Devices.

Notes:

  • If the user password is unknown, then it can be reset via admin web interface: Accounts -> Users -> name -> Actions -> Reset Password.
  • If the user has disabled admin password reset, then the user must supply the current password for the installation step. The password can be changed by the user at a later stage.
  • If the old device is brought back online at some future time, Comet may make a catch-up billing for the uncharged intervening period.

Other Scenarios

If you have a recovery requirement which is different from the above basic scenarios, please contact support via https://cometbackup.com/support

Please include:

  • A brief description of the nature of the recovery situation
  • Details of your Comet system: number of servers, what role(s) each server has, what type of data storage is used, whether data storage is local or remote.
  • Further details may be requested by the support team.