PourMyBeer Server Backup Best Practices

In today’s digital landscape, ensuring the integrity and availability of your data is crucial. For businesses that use PourMyBeer technology to manage operations, regular server backups can safeguard against data loss.

Importance of Maintaining Regular Backups

In today’s digital landscape, ensuring the integrity and availability of your data is crucial. For businesses that use PourMyBeer technology to manage operations, regular server backups can safeguard against data loss due to hardware failures, cyberattacks, or accidental deletions. Implementing a robust backup strategy not only minimizes downtime but also protects sensitive customer and operational information, ensuring business continuity and compliance with industry recommendations.

Backup Options

Cloud Backup Solutions

1. Google Drive: User-friendly and collaborative, ideal for smaller datasets and documents. Google Drive also provides a desktop app that you can configure what to automatically backup and how often to your Google Drive.
2. Carbonite: Offers automatic cloud backup for servers, providing continuous data protection and easy recovery options, ideal for businesses of all sizes.
3. Dropbox: Provides file sharing and storage capabilities with robust backup features. Their desktop app can be installed and configured to backup files easily.
4. Backblaze: Cost-effective and simple solution for backing up data, with unlimited storage options.

Physical Backup Solutions

1. USB Flash Drives: Portable and convenient for smaller backups, ideal for quick data transfer and recovery. Just keep it plugged in out of sight.
2. External Hard Drives: Affordable and easy to use; they allow for quick backups and offsite storage.
3. Network Attached Storage (NAS): Centralized network storage that supports multiple users and can automate backups. You will consult with your IT vendor or a local IT business to find your best options if you don't have experience with NAS. Most locations do not need or use this unless it's a large facility.

Offline Backup Software Solutions To Use With Physical Backup Solutions

1. Windows Task Scheduler: A windows utility that runs pre-programmed/defined tasks on a configured schedule. It can run a powershell or batch script file that copies the relevant PourMyBeer files to the physical backup media of your choosing on a schedule you set.
2. AOMEI Backupper: Backup software embedded with backup, restore, and cloning features to make itself complete and professional windows backup software. Once disaster strikes, for example, system crashes, one can quickly and easily restore their server to a backed up state.

PourMyBeer Server Software Backup Locations

The PourMyBeer core software has a backup solution coded in as seen in the below screenshot. This is only used to backup the Core Software database and configuration.
Feel free to change this backup directory to your backup drive. It is located in the left pane under Server > Server Configuration > Backup Settings

Local Backup Directory Path: In the above screenshot example, E:\ is my USB flash drive that is labeled (E:) in the windows file explorer as seen below. backups is the folder that all the backups will be saved in on my E: flash drive.  E:\backups is the full path.

• By default, PourMyBeer stores backups in date and timestamped folders on the system drive located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Table Tap Go Server\backups
  • Folder structures will look like this: 2024-09-24_05-00
• This is not the safest place to store the backups in the event the server hardware fails so, changing it to a usb or external hard drive that is always plugged into the PourMyBeer Server is best practice as the above example screenshots provide.

You may initiate a database backup manually by clicking in the left pane to Server > Maintenance Operations and clicking on create database backup button as seen in the below screenshot. It will copy the current database to your backup location that you configured in the above screenshots. 

If using 3rd party solutions or script based backup solutions, you will need to know where the different PourMyBeer software solutions are installed. Below are the directories to use to setup your backup solutions correctly.

1. The different PourMyBeer software is installed to:
   1. Core Software: C:\Program Files (x86)\Table Tap Go Server
   2. POS Integration Software(If Installed): C:\Program Files (x86)\PourMyBeerGeneric_1.5.4
      1. The folder's last 2 numbers may depend on your software version installed. It could be PourMyBeerGeneric_1.4.0. As long as you choose the one with the highest numbers.
   3. Untappd Integration Manager(If Installed): C:\Program Files (x86)\Untapped_1.0.6
      1. The folder's last 2 numbers may depend on your software version installed. It could be Untapped_1.0.4. As long as you choose the one with the highest numbers.
   4. CAMPUS Membership(If Installed): C:\Isogent

Best Practices for Server Backups

• Schedule Regular Backups: Automate daily or weekly backups to ensure that the latest data is always protected.
• Test Recovery Procedures: Regularly test backup restoration to ensure data can be recovered efficiently in an emergency.
• Use a Combination of Backup Methods: Employ both cloud and physical backups for comprehensive protection.
• Encrypt Sensitive Data: Safeguard confidential information during the backup process to prevent unauthorized access.
• Maintain Backup Documentation: Keep detailed records of backup schedules, locations, and restoration processes for accountability and ease of use.

By following these best practices, PourMyBeer Operators can ensure that their server data is secure, accessible, and recoverable, ultimately supporting their operational efficiency and customer trust.