Backing Up Shares and the Database

Back up Shares and the MySQL database before any major changes to your Shares installation, such as installing a patch or upgrading to a newer version of Shares.

Note: The Shares web application and the Nginx service are still available when performing a backup.

Create a backup directory.
Run the following in a Command Prompt, where C:\backups is your backup directory:
```
> mkdir C:\backups
```
Stop Shares services.
From the Windows Start Menu search for Services and click the best-matched result to open the Services application. Stop the following services:
- IBM Aspera Shares Nginx
- IBM Aspera Shares Delayed Job 1
- IBM Aspera Shares Web Services
- IBM Aspera Shares Stats Collector

Run the backup command.

> cd C:\shares\www
> bundle exec rake backup DIR=C:\backups

Copy the files in C:\backups to the backup machine.
Copy the following files to the backup machine:
- C:\shares\nginx\conf\cert.pem
- C:\shares\nginx\conf\cert.key
- C:\shares\www\config\database.yml
Restart Shares services.
Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services and start the following services:
- Aspera Nginx Service
- Aspera Delayed Job Service
- Aspera Web Services
- Aspera Stats Collector

For instructions on how to restore a backup of Shares, see Restoring Shares from a Backup.