Backup / restore / transfer a project

Owned by Wolfgang Granzer
Last updated: Jun 26, 2024 by Robert Schneider
7 min read

Making a backup of the NETx BMS Platform or NETx MP Server and its components is of utmost importance. There are several scenarios where the configuration of the NETx BMS Platform or NETx MP Server and its components has to be restored:

  • Hardware failures: if the system is going down due to an irreparable hardware failure (e.g. hard disk crash, motherboard failure), a new system has to be set up. In order to restore the operation of the server and its components, the configuration has to be restored on the new system.

  • Transferring the configuration from one system to another: sometimes it is necessary to transfer the whole configuration of the server and its components to another system. A typical scenario would be the transfer of the configuration from the development PC (e.g. laptop of the system integrator) to the production machine on-site. To achieve this, a backup of the source machine has to be restored at the destination machine.

  • Unintended modifications or data loss: restoring a backup can help to overcome unintended modifications, data loss of parts of the configuration, or even the loss of the whole data. A typical example would be an unintended deletion of a configuration file during the development process. In such cases a backup can be used to restore the lost information.

The NETx Server is not a single Windows application. The functionality of the NETx BMS Platform or NETx MP Server is divided into different software components that are communicating with each other. In order to make a full backup, these components have to be considered separately. Currently, these software components are:

  • Core Server: the main component, which communicates with the devices, stores and processes the data point values and provides the building management functions.

  • Core Studio: the user interface for configuring and maintaining the data points.

  • XLogic Editor: is used to create logic for the Core Server using graphical programming.

  • Web Manager (BMS Platform only): a web application for managing the building management functions like alarm management, scheduling, trending and visualization. Web-based visualizations are also provided by the Web Manager.

  • Visualization (BMS Platform only): serves as editor to create both web-based and PC-based visualizations as well as runtime for PC-based visualizations.

  • Reporting Server (BMS Platform only): the reporting server is responsible for generating the reports, which are configured via the reporting app of the Web Manager.

  • SQL database (BMS Platform only): the SQL database is used to store persistent data like historical data point values and alarm logs. The NETx BMS Platform supports various SQL backends like MariaDB and MS SQL.

Backup procedure

To make a full backup of the NETx Server and its components, several steps are necessary:

  • Core Server: all configuration and runtime files that the NETx Server needs during operation as well as the directories that include these files are referred to as workspace. While a single server installation can contain multiple different workspaces, only one single workspace can be active.  For the BMS Platform, the workspaces are located within the following directory:

    <Install Directory>\NETxAutomation\BMS Platform\Core\Workspaces

    For the MP Server, the folder location is as follows:

    <Install Directory>\NETxAutomation\MP Server\Core\Workspaces

    For example, within a 64-bit Windows system, the default path for BMS Platform is:

    C:\Program Files (x86)\NETxAutomation\BMS Platform\Core\Workspaces

    To create a backup of all workspaces, the whole content of the workspaces directory mentioned above has to be copied to the backup medium.

  • Core Studio: the Core Studio does not use any additional data that has to be added to the backup. All configuration and runtime files are included in the workspace directory.
    XLogic Editor: The XLogic Editor uses several directories and files to store the defined control logic (also called XCommands) and its source code. For the BMS Platform, all files and directories are located within the following directory:

    For the MP Server, the folder location is as follows:

    • DEFINITIONS: here, the definitions of the available blocks within the object catalog of the XLogic Editor are stored.

    • MODULES: this directory contains the compiled versions of all available commands that can be executed by the \productbmsserver. Files that contain the compiled command code have the file extension “.xlogic''. If commands have to be transferred from one server to another one, the content of this directory has to be copied.

    • PROJECTS: here, the source code of all commands are stored. Files that contain source code have the file extension “.xprj.xml''. If a command is transferred to another server and it is also desired to change the command there, the corresponding “.xprj.xml'' file has to be copied too. Note that in that case, it may also be necessary to copy the content of the “DEFINITIONS'' directory.

  • Web Manager (BMS Platform only): all definitions and configurations done within the Web Manager (e.g. alarm, trending, scheduling events, metering definitions, ...) as well as the web visualization projects are stored within the workspace directory. Thus, no additional backup is required for the Web Manager.

  • Visualization (BMS Platform only): the source files and all configuration data of visualizations are stored within the workspace of the visualization editor. Each visualization project corresponds to one visualization workspace. All workspaces are located within the following directory:

    For example, within a 64-bit Windows system, the default path is:

    To create a backup of all workspaces, the entire content of the workspace directory mentioned above has to be copied to the backup medium.

    In addition, it is possible to create libraries which contain graphical components that can be re-used in visualization projects.  All libraries are located within the following directory:

    For example, within a 64-bit Windows system, the default path is:

    To create a backup of all libraries,  the entire content of the library directory mentioned above has to be copied to the backup medium.

  • Reporting Server (BMS Platform only): reports used by the reporting can be customized. If customized reports are used, a backup has to be created too. All customized reports are located within the following folder:

    For example, within a 64-bit Windows system, the default path is:

  • SQL database (BMS Platform only): the BMS Platform uses an SQL instance for storing historical data. This data includes trending values, alarm logs, data from the NETx LaMPS module and metering data. For the BMS Platform, a MariaDB or MS SQL instance can be used as SQL backend. To backup this SQL instance, it is recommended to use the standard backup procedures that are provided by the SQL backend. For MariaDB, any MariaDB client (e.g. Heidi SQL) can be used to create backups – for MS SQL, the MS SQL Management Studio provides a backup function. 

Restore procedure

To restore a backup of the BMS Platform or MP Server, the data from the backup medium has to be transferred to the destination machine. Depending on the used software components, the following steps are necessary:

  • Core Server: to restore the workspace of the Core Server, the backup has to be copied to the following directory:

    For the MP Server, the destination directory is as follows:

    For example, within a 64-bit Windows system, the default path for BMS Platform is:

  • Core Studio: since the Core Studio does not have any additional configuration data, no additional steps for restore are necessary.

  • XLogic Editor: The XLogic Editor uses several directories and files to store the defined control logic and its source code. All files and directories are located within the following directory:

    For the MP Server, the destination directory is as follows:

    To restore the control logic and its source code, the backup has to be copied to the following sub directories:

    • DEFINITIONS: the backup of object catalog has to be copied to this directory.

    • MODULES: within this directory, the backup of the compiled commands has to be restored.

    • PROJECTS: if the source code of the commands has to be restored, too, its backup has to be copied to this directory.

  • Web Manager (BMS Platform only): all definitions and configurations done within the Web Manager (e.g. alarm, trending, scheduling events, metering definitions, ...) as well as the web visualization projects are stored within the workspace directory. Therefore, no additional steps for restoring are necessary.

  • Visualization (BMS Platform only): to restore the workspace of the visualizations, their backup has to be copied to the following directory:

    For example, within a 64-bit Windows system, the default path is:

    To restore user-defined libraries, the following directory has to be restored:

    For example, within a 64-bit Windows system, the default path is:

  • Reporting Server (BMS Platform only): if customized reports are used, they must be copied to the following folder:

    For example, within a 64-bit Windows system, the default path is:

  • SQL database (BMS Platform only): to restore the SQL data, the restore mechanism of the used SQL backend hast to be used. For MariaDB, the MariaDB client used for the backup (e.g. Heidi SQL) has to be used – for MS SQL, the MS SQL Management Studio shall be used. 

Transfer project

To transfer a BMS project from the development PC to the production machine, there are two possibilities.

Using the GUI:

  • Core Server workspace: within the Core Studio, use the import/export function to transfer the Core Server workspace (menu Workspace → Export... / Import...). Note: The export does not contain log files and backup files.

  • XLogic script: open the XLogic editor and use the import / export function to transfer all XLogic commands. If you would like to transfer only the compiled version of the commands, use Export → Modules. If you would like to change the XLogic commands on the destination PC, use Export → Modules and Sources.

  • Visualization (BMS Platform only): the Core Server workspace contains the visualization projects for the web-based visualization. If you would like to transfer the visualization project from one visualization editor to another one, open the visualization project within the editor and export it (Workspace → Export...). Copy the .vxw file to destination PC where the visualization editor is running. Used the import function (Workspace → Import...) to import it again.

  • Reporting Server (BMS Platform only): to transfer customized reports from one BMS Platform to another one, you can use the import / export function within the Web Manager (Reporting App → Execute → Import / Export):

  • SQL database (BMS Platform only): to transfer the SQL data, you must use the backup / restore functionality of the used SQL backend. For MariaDB, any MariaDB client (e.g. Heidi SQL) can be used – for MS SQL, the free MS SQL Management Studio can be used. 

Manually:

You can use the backup/restore procedure mentioned above.

Article applies to the following products: 

  • NETx BMS Platform

  • NETx Multi Protocol Server