How to create an Emergency Vault Backup for restoration

Autodesk Support

Aug 15, 2024

Products and versions covered

Issue:

In some rare circumstances, it may not be possible to create an ADMS Console backup.
There have been situations presented to Autodesk Support where the software became corrupt, for various environmental reasons.
As a result, it became no longer possible to create a backup of the Vault data in a supported way.
An alternative method to backing up the Vault had to be carried out in order to avoid data loss.

Environment:

A corrupt Vault Server environment.

Solution:

THIS IS NOT A PROCESS SUPPORTED BY AUTODESK VAULT.
ONLY USE THIS METHOD IF THE POSSIBILITY OF USING ALL OTHER SUPPORTED BACKUP PROCESSES, HAS BEEN ELIMINATED.

On the Live Production Vault Server Machine

Press the "Windows + R" keys at the same time and in the Run command window, type services.msc. Click "OK".
If the "SQL Server (AUTODESKVAULT)" Service is running, right click it and select stop.
In Windows Explorer, navigate to the SQL Data folder where the DB files are configured to reside.
- By default this would be "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQLXX_XX.AUTODESKVAULT\MSSQL\DATA".
- This location will vary depending on the version of SQL.
Copy these files to another location,
- KnowledgeVaultMaster.mdf,
- KnowledgeVaultMaster_log.ldf
Repeat step 4 for all Vault and Library Databases (mdf and ldf files).
Ignore "master.mdf", "mastlog.ldf", "model.mdf", "modellog.ldf", "MS_AgentSigningCertificate.cer", "MSDBData.mdf", "MSDBLog.ldf", "tempdb.mdf", "templog.ldf".
To the same Network location, copy the filestore folder for each Vault.
If it helps Restart the "SQL Server (AUTODESKVAULT)" Service.

It should be possible to copy the Databases and Filestores to another machine with the same version of Vault Server and SQL as the original Production Vault Server machine.

Tip: When copying the filestore, do not use Windows Copy and Paste. Instead use XCOPY or ROBOCOPY because these are more robust and can be restarted from where they left off, if there is a connection issue..

Next,

Start the ADMS Console on the new server
Attach the KnowledgeVaultMaster (MDF and LDF).
Delete all the orphaned (Vault and Library databases that are not yet attached).
Expand Workgroups and Delete the old Vault Server.
Expand Filestores and Delete the old Vault Server.
Attach all the Vault Databases.
Define the Filestore location for each Vault.
Attach the Library Databases.

After attaching the Vault databases, it will be necessary to grant all users\groups permission to log back into each Vault Database. See "Edit a User Profile".

Note: This is an Emergency Restore\ Recovery procedure.