EFA System Backup and Restoration

The backup process saves EFA data, including the database, certificates, and multi-access network configuration. The process does not back up northbound certificates.

Manual Backup and Restore

The backup process creates a backup tar file. You can select from all saved tar files during the restore process. The tar files are saved to one of the following locations.
  • Server: /var/log/efa/backup
  • TPVM: /apps/efa_logs/backup

A backup generated on one EFA system can be restored on another system.

For more information, see Back up and Restore the EFA System.

You can use the efa system backup-list command to see the backup files that are available to use in a restore operation. For example:
$ efa system backup-list
+----+-----------------------------------+---------+----------------+
| ID    | File                           | Version | Generated By   |
+----+-----------------------------------+---------+----------------+
| 1     | EFA-2020.08.20-20.26.46.tar    | 2.3.0-1 | User           |
+----+-----------------------------------+---------+----------------+
| 2     | EFA-2020.08.20-20.27.29.tar    | 2.3.0-GA| System         |
+----+-----------------------------------+---------+----------------+
--- Time Elapsed: 183.69386ms ---

Periodic Backups and Configuration

EFA periodically backs up the system (12 AM by default, but configurable). During the backup process, all the services are locked and APIs return the message "Service is Locked with reason backup". Therefore, you cannot see the Location under dropdown for Device Discovery.

The periodic backup process creates a backup tar file that is saved to the same location as the manual backup files. When new backup and supportsave files are created, the system deletes saved system-generated backup files, supportsave files, and manual backup files, according to the age of the files and the configured maximum number of files to save.

You can use the efa system settings update command to determine the backup schedule and to change the maximum number of backup files to save.
  • The default backup schedule is: 0:*:*:*, meaning every day at midnight.
  • The default maximum number of files is: five backup files and five supportsave files.
For more information, see the Extreme Fabric Automation Command Reference, 3.1.0 .

You can use the efa system settings show command to view the current backup settings.

Tip

Tip

You can use the efa system cleanup REST API to delete a specified backup or supportsave file. This feature lets you delete files before they are automatically deleted.

You can use the efa system settings reset command to reset the backup system settings to default values.

Backups During Upgrades

The process of upgrading EFA also backs up the EFA system, so that you can easily recover data if the upgrade fails. For more information, see "Recover from an Upgrade Failure" in the Extreme Fabric Automation Deployment Guide, 3.1.0 .

Logs

Logs related to backup, restore, and supportsave operations are saved to the following locations.
  • Server: /var/log/efa/system and /var/log/efa/monitor
  • TPVM: /apps/efa_logs/system and /apps/efa_logs/monitor

The REST APIs for backup, restore, and supportsave are part of the Monitoring service and can be accessed through port 8078. The logs for these APIs are saved to <log_dir>/monitor/