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Manufacturing

Alibre Options: How to Backup, Archive and Move a Repository

14 Aug, 2005 By: Michael Todd Cadalyst

Protect and move your data safely with a repository snapshot.


The Alibre Design repositories provide a number of useful functions, including a way to securely share design data with other Alibre Design users, track version history and manage access through check-in/check-out functions. Also your design data is encrypted for further security. But how do you back up or move your repository data to a new or upgraded computer? The answer is repository snapshots. Repository snapshots provide a secure method for storing backup copies of your repository data and an easy method to move your repositories to a new computer. Please note that you should not use repository snapshots to share or copy repositories. I'll cover the correct methods for those tasks in a future tech tip.

Part 1: Creating a Repository Snapshot

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Figure 1. Select the Repository tool to open the Repository window.
    1. Open the Repository window. In the Alibre Design home window, click the Repository button, which looks like a blue file cabinet (figure 1). You may also select Repository from the Window menu.

    The Repository window opens (figure 2).

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Figure 2. The Repository window.

    2. In the Repository Explorer, select the repository that you want to archive.

    3. Click the Tools menu, and select Save Snapshot of Repository. The Save Snapshot of Repository dialog box appears (figure 3).

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Figure 3. The first step in the Save Snapshot process is to specify the location of the backup file.

    4. Click the Browse button, and select the folder where you want to place the backup file in the Save As dialog box (figure 4).

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Figure 4. In the Save As dialog box select a location in the Windows file system to store your backup file.

    5. Enter a name for the backup file, and click Save. The location for the backup file is now listed in the Save Snapshot of Repository dialog box (figure 5).

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Figure 5. Verify that the location for the backup file is correct.

    6. Click OK.

All the contents of the repository now are saved in the specified location in a single file. This process may take several minutes and is tracked by a progress bar in the Save Snapshot of a Repository dialog box. When the backup is complete, a confirmation message appears.

Part 2: Restoring a Repository from a Snapshot

    1. In Alibre Design, open the Repository window.

    2. In the Repository window, click the Tools menu, and select Create Repository from Snapshot. The Create Repository from Snapshot dialog box appears.

    3. Click the Browse button adjacent to the Backup File field, and locate the snapshot file for the repository that you would like to restore; then click Open.

    The Restore to and Repository Name fields now contain information from the selected backup file (figure 6).

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Figure 6. The Create Repository from Snapshot dialog box.

    4. To restore the repository to a different location, click the Browse button adjacent to the Restore to field; then select the new location for the restored repository.

    Note: If you change the location for the restored repository, it is best to place it in a new empty folder with a name you can remember.

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Figure 7. In this example, Alibre Design will extract the BACKUP.ARB file located in the D:\backup folder and restore it to the D:\Repositories folder with the name "aa38."

    5. Click OK.

This process may take several minutes and is tracked by a progress bar in the Save Snapshot of a Repository dialog box. When the backup is complete, a confirmation dialog box appears.

Note: If you try to restore a repository on a computer where a version of that repository already exists (even if it has been renamed), the software will delete the existing repository. You will lose any data created after the snapshot was created. If an existing version is detected, a dialog box gives you the option to delete the existing repository or to cancel the restore process.

Keep in mind: if another person's repository is published to you, and you try to restore a copy of it locally, both instances of the repository will be unusable until you both exit Alibre Design. If you do restore a repository to your computer that exists on another computer, the Alibre Design server will see it as one repository. That means that if both users are working online with Alibre Design, only the second user to go online will be able to access their version of the repository. The repository snapshot function is meant to permanently move repositories from one PC to another; it should not be used to duplicate repositories.

Next month we'll explore some of the unique collaboration features built right into Alibre Design that make it easy and secure to share and work on designs with other Alibre Design users. Until then, look for me as the Alibre Assistant online in Alibre Design.

About the Author: Michael Todd


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