Manual Chapter : Backing up and restoring iWorkflow

Applies To:

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F5 iWorkflow

  • 2.3.0, 2.2.0
Manual Chapter

About backing up and restoring iWorkflow

You can back up or restore iWorkflow™ configuration data by using a user configuration set (UCS) archive. The UCS archive, by default, contains all of the files that the system requires to restore your current configuration to a new system, including configuration files, the product license, local user accounts, and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate/key pairs.

To back up and/or restore a UCS file, make sure that you have:

  • iWorkflow version 2.0.x or later installed.
  • Root access to the iWorkflow instance.

Additional considerations:

  • F5 recommends restoring the UCS archive to a system running the same version of iWorkflow as the source used to create the UCS archive.
  • If you restore a UCS file from one system to a different system, you will have to re-license the iWorkflow instance. Alternatively, you may be able to replace the license file with the original license file from the destination device.
  • If you restore the UCS file to another system, the destination server will acquire the source network settings.

About files names and locations

Unless you include the extension in a file name, by default the iWorkflow™ system saves the user configuration set (UCS) archive file with a .ucs extension. You can also specify a full path to the archive file, and the system saves the archive file to that specified location. If you do not include a path, the system saves the file to the default archive directory, /var/local/ucs.

Archives located in a directory other than the default do not appear when you use the traffic management shell (tmsh) list function for UCS archives. So that you can easily identify the file, F5 recommends that you include the iWorkflow host name and current time stamp as part of the file name.

Backing up configuration data

Before you start, make sure that there is adequate local storage available to create the user configuration set (UCS) file, and that iWorkflow™ version 2.0.x or later is installed.
As an iWorkflow administrator, you should back up the configuration data to ensure eases of recovery for your system.
  1. Log in to the iWorkflow command line.
  2. Run the command tmsh to access the tmsh utility.
  3. Run the command save /sys ucs {new-ucs-file} to create the UCS archive.
    For example: save /sys ucs iwf-1-09092016.
    Note: Run the command list /sys ucs to list all of the UCS archive files on the system. If you use the configuration utility to create UCS files, when you use this command, the system will not display the files. By default, the system saves files in the /shared/ucs_backups directory.
    By default, this creates a new UCS file in the /var/local/ucs directory.
  4. Optional: Run the command save /sys ucs /path/to/{new-ucs-file} to save the UCS file to another location.
    For example: save /sys ucs /var/run/iwf-2-09092016.
  5. Optional: Run the command save /sys ucs /path/to/{new-ucs-file} passphrase <password> to encrypt the UCS archive with a passphrase.

    /path/to/<{new-ucs-file}> is the full path to the UCS archive file.

    <password> is the passphrase you want to use to encrypt the UCS archive.

    For example: save /sys ucs /var/local/ucs/iwf-2-09092016 passphrase password.

  6. Optional: Run the command save /sys ucs /path/to/{new-ucs-file} no-private-key to exclude the SSL private keys from the UCS archive.
    For example: save /sys ucs /var/local/ucs/iwf-2-09092016 no-private-key.
  7. Copy the UCS file to a remote, secure system and storage location.

Restoring configuration data

Before restoring a backup to an iWorkflow™ cluster, make sure that you have:
  • Copied the remote archive files back to the destination iWorkflow.
  • Evicted all peers from the cluster, leaving a standalone instance.
  • A backup of the destination system.
Important: The local system partition is active during the restore process, and the system will entirely replace the partition with the data stored in the archive file. During the restore process, the iWorkflow system is not available for remote users or standard iWorkflow functions.
You restore a backup to an iWorkflow cluster when something goes wrong or when you need to get back to how things were when you made the backup.
  1. Log in to the iWorkflow command line.
  2. Run the command tmsh to access the tmsh utility.
  3. Run the command load /sys ucs /path/to/{ucs-archive-file} to restore the user configuration set (UCS) archive file.
    /path/to/{ucs-archive-file} is the full path to the UCS archive file to restore.
    For example: load /sys ucs /var/local/ucs/iwf-2-09092016.ucs.
    Note: If the UCS archive was encrypted with a passphrase during backup, at the prompt, type the passphrase.
  4. Optional: Run the command load /sys ucs /path/to/{ucs-archive-file} -no-license to restore the backup without the license. This is when you are restoring to a host other than the UCS source.
    For example: load /sys ucs /var/local/ucs/iwf-2-09092016.ucs -no-license.
  5. Run the command reboot to restart the system.
After completing the restore, recreate the cluster using the previously removed peers. The backed up iWorkflow version will then replicate to the other peers in the cluster.