Backups and restore

📍 Where in the back officeParamètres (Settings)→Sauvegardes (Backups)Who can:Administrator

A backup contains the whole venue: the database (money, registers, machines, accounting), the proof photos, the archives and the venue’s secrets. It runs every night by itself, and on demand. It protects against a mistake, a damaged database — and, when copied to a USB stick kept outside the venue, against a dead disk.

The screen is reserved for the administrator, in the back office of the venue (in the online back office, you only see the status). It has four tabs: Sauvegardes (Backups), Restaurer (Restore), Clés USB (USB sticks), Réglages (Settings).

First of all: the recovery phrase

As long as the recovery phrase is not set, no backup is made: the status card shows « Arrêtée : phrase de restauration non posée » (Stopped: recovery phrase not set). This is the first action.

1. In the Phrase de restauration (Recovery phrase) card, choose a phrase that follows the Règles de la phrase de restauration (Recovery phrase rules) shown, and enter it twice.
2. Write it down on paper, then tick J’ai écrit la phrase sur papier (I have written the phrase on paper).
3. Enter Votre mot de passe (Your password) again and click Valider (Confirm).

Where to keep the phrase

On paper, stored in a safe, outside the venue. The phrase is kept nowhere: not by the PC, not by the vendor. It is what opens your backups on another PC if the disk dies. If it is lost, your backups can no longer be opened elsewhere.

Once a month, with the paper taken out of the safe, click Vérifier ma phrase… (Check my phrase…) and copy it from the paper, not from memory: the screen says whether it really opens your backups. Nothing is kept.

Changer la phrase… (Change the phrase…) works the same way (the old phrase is asked for, or tick Je l’ai oubliée, I have forgotten it). Old backups keep the phrase they were made with.

Backups tab

The État des sauvegardes (Backup status) card says in one sentence the last successful backup (time to the second, size, duration), where it was copied, the last test, the next backup, and the free space on the disk. Its label: À jour (Up to date), En retard (Late), Jamais faite (Never done), Incomplète (Incomplete), Échec : … (Failed: …).

1. Sauvegarder maintenant… (Back up now…): add a reason if you want (for example « avant de changer le PC de caisse », before changing the register PC), then confirm. The venue keeps running during the backup; the steps appear one by one.
2. In the Sauvegardes sur ce PC (Backups on this PC) list (newest at the top), each line gives its date, its origin (Automatique, Manuelle par…, Filet avant la restauration du…, Téléversée, Trouvée sur clé… — Automatic, Manual by…, Safety net before the restore of…, Uploaded, Found on stick…), where it is, its size, its version, and its check.
3. Essayer cette sauvegarde (Test this backup): the venue checks that the backup can be read back in full, without touching the real database or disturbing the registers. Allow one and a half to two times the duration of a backup. A test also runs at night, automatically.
4. Télécharger (Download) (your password is asked again): to keep a copy elsewhere.

The Journal des sauvegardes (Backup log) keeps each event, newest at the top.

« Incomplète » (Incomplete) or « Échec » (Failed)

The server’s sentence says what is missing or what failed (disk full, power cut…). A failed backup leaves no file. If the status does not go back to « À jour » (Up to date) after the next backup, call your technician.

USB sticks tab

Two sticks used in turn, one always outside the venue: this is the protection against a dead disk.

1. Plug a stick into the venue PC: it appears within a few seconds.
2. Adopter cette clé… (Adopt this stick…) (your password is asked again). You can Renommer… (Rename…) it.
3. Every night, the backup is copied to it automatically; Copier maintenant (Copy now) copies it right away.
4. Oublier… (Forget…) removes a stick from the list.

An alert is raised when no copy to a stick has been made within the set delay.

Restore tab

Restoring puts the venue back in the state of the chosen backup, on the same PC: everything that happened since is lost. It is a destructive action, reserved for a real failure (serious error, damaged database).

1. Choisir la sauvegarde à restaurer (Choose the backup to restore) in the list, or add one: from a USB stick (USB sticks tab → Lire la clé (Read the stick) → Importer (Import)), or from a file (Téléverser une sauvegarde…, Upload a backup…; an interrupted upload resumes where it stopped).
2. Vérifier (Verify): required. The venue checks the backup before going further.
3. Voir ce qui sera perdu (See what will be lost): the Ce que vous perdez (What you lose) box counts the registers, register lines, safe movements and transfers made since the backup, and says what prevents the restore (an update in progress, a transfer in flight…).
4. J’ai lu : confirmer… (I have read it: confirm…): write the reason, tick J’ai compris que tout ce qui s’est passé depuis cette sauvegarde sera perdu (I understand that everything that happened since this backup will be lost), type RESTAURER, enter your password again, then Restaurer maintenant (Restore now).
5. The server stops: the screen shows « Restauration en cours » (Restore in progress) with the steps — this is normal. At the end, everyone must sign in again.

Just before restoring, the venue makes by itself a backup of the current state (the “safety net”): Revenir à l’état d’avant la restauration (Return to the state before the restore) remains possible for a time shown on screen.

A restore requested by mistake

Annuler la restauration (Cancel the restore) is possible as long as the server has not stopped yet.

To do after the restore

The À faire après la restauration (To do after the restore) card lists the actions to take, each with its link; each line is checked again with the server, nothing is ticked by hand:

• Clôturer et recompter chaque caisse (Close and recount each register) left open: its expected amount is the one from the backup;
• take the safe inventory: its balance is the one from the backup;
• check again the manual payments, withdrawals, debts, intakes, transfers and safe outflows from before the restore (some may already have been paid): until an administrator has clicked J’ai revérifié l’argent (I have rechecked the money), the server refuses to pay, refund or approve them;
• read the meters of each machine;
• if the venue is linked: accept the loss (below).

Accept the loss (linked venue)

After a restore, the venue has “gone back” compared with what the platform had already received. A La base a reculé : accepter la perte (The database has gone back: accept the loss) banner appears (here and in Platform): sending to the platform and general ledger numbering wait for this action, which is never automatic.

1. Click Accepter la perte… (Accept the loss…) and read what is lost.
2. Tick J’ai lu ce qui est perdu (I have read what is lost), write the reason, enter your password again.
3. Confirm with Accepter la perte (Accept the loss), then do the physical count requested.

Settings tab

Réglages en vigueur (Settings in force) sums up the policy applied; it is changed in Settings, section Sauvegardes (Backups): Sauvegarde automatique (Automatic backup), Heure de la sauvegarde (Backup time), Rythme des sauvegardes (Backup frequency), Photos et archives : tous les (jours) (Photos and archives: every (days)), Sauvegardes gardées sur le PC (Backups kept on the PC), Sauvegardes gardées par clé USB (Backups kept per USB stick), Destinations, Place gardée libre sur le disque (Go) (Disk space kept free (GB)), the alert delays and the frequency of the automatic test.

Tip

A dead venue PC is replaced by a new PC from a backup: this is a technician’s job, see Back up and restore and Restore onto a new PC. The database is unreadable and nobody can sign in any more? See Rescue mode.