PAW Asset Backup with Lifecycle Manager

Planning Analytics Workspace content— books, views, dashboards, and applications— requires regular backups just like any other critical business asset. IBM Planning Analytics includes a built-in tool called Lifecycle Manager that handles this task.

What Lifecycle Manager Does

Lifecycle Manager is an administrative feature in PAW primarily designed for migrating content between environments (for example, moving assets from development to production). However, it works equally well as a backup tool. You can create snapshots of your PAW content, export them as files, and restore them when needed.

What You Can Back Up

Lifecycle Manager captures these PAW asset types:

• Books and workbooks

• Views

• Dashboards

• Folders and their contents

• Applications

• Plans

Note that Lifecycle Manager handles PAW front-end assets only— it does not back up the underlying TM1 database objects.

How to Create a Backup

1. Log into PAW with administrator credentials.

2. Go to Administration and select the Lifecycle Management tab.

Figure 1: Access Lifecycle Manager

1. Click "Create”

Figure 2: Create Snapshot

1. Use the filters (asset type, user, folder, TM1 database, or date) to find the content you want to back up.

2. Select the assets.

Figure 3: Add Assets

1. Click "Create" to store the snapshot.

2. "Export" to download it as a .gz file.

Figure 4: Export Backup File

The exported .gz file can be stored externally and imported back into any PAW environment later.

Where to Store Backup Files

You have several options for storing backup files, depending on your version and deployment type.

• Local Storage.

  • For both on-premises and cloud implementations, you can export snapshots as .gz files and save them directly to your local machine or network storage. This gives you full control over where backups are kept and lets you incorporate them into your existing backup infrastructure and retention policies.

• Drive Explorer.

  • Available in PAW 2.0.98 and later for cloud environments. Drive Explorer provides direct access to the S: drive on the remote server through the PAW interface. You can create folders, copy files, and transfer content between environments

  • To use Drive Explorer, a Subscription Administrator must first enable it through Administration > Users and Groups > Capabilities tab. Once enabled, the Drive Explorer icon appears in the Modeler Workbench ribbon.

• File Manager

  • Available in all versions through the Modeling Workbench. File Manager displays files and folders uploaded to the Planning Analytics database and lets you upload, download, cut, copy, paste, and compress files.

  • To access it, right-click on a database in the Databases tree within a modeling workbench and select "File manager."

Restoring from a Backup

1. Go to Lifecycle Management and click "Manage Snapshots.”

2. Select the snapshot you want to restore from

3. If restoring from an exported file, click "Import" and select your .gz file.

1. Click "Deploy" to restore the assets.

2. Move the restored content to the correct location and set permissions.

Recommendations

• Create snapshots before making significant changes to PAW content.

• Use clear naming conventions that include dates.

• Export important snapshots as .gz files for off server storage.

• Periodically test restores to verify backups are usable.