Ideas for Backing Up BOH data files on internet

[leadingpeak138]

Hello,

I would like to backup my client's dated subfolders to an internet drive like dropbox. This is so we have the files saved in a safe place in case the restaurant gets destroyed in a tornado or flood.

I have read some threads about using winhook.bat or windows scheduled tasks to do the backup.

My question is: does anyone have a recommendtion of an internet drives that works reliably with Aloha BOH servers like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box.net, Plain FTP site, or Others?

If so, can you share examples of what command I could insert into winhook.bat to do the actual backup? As an example, if you used dropbox, do you actually install the dropbox client on the BOH server, then just insert a windows "copy" command in winhook.bat? Or do you use another utility to copy the files from the BOH server to Dropbox?

Cheers,
Justin

 

[ClayTaco]

WinSCP is good and fairly easy to use. Running off winhook has it's pros and cons. If you've got a large number of concepts that you're rolling the script out to I'd use winhook since you can just overwrite each of the batch files. If it's just a handful or less I'd set it up using the scheduler. If your eod ever fails to fire your scheduled task will still launch.

Avoid using anything but an FTP site that you have full control over. Having an open connection to any of the 3rd party solutions you mentioned is asking for trouble. Your BOH should have extremely limited internet access. By using your own FTP server you have control over what goes into and comes out of the connection.

Using either the schedule or winhook simply fire off a batch file that runs Winscp. Here's a guide to get started with winscp:

https://winscp.net/eng/docs/guide_automation

 

[leadingpeak138]

Hello ClayTaco,

Thanks for the advice! I read the winscp doc and the information about scheduled tasks.

Since there is a new data folder every end of day, is there an easy way to tell winscp to find all the new data folders since the last winscp run? Winscp has file masks and scripting, but these won't work if the winscp program hadn't run for a few days (e.g. a 3 day holiday when the restaurant closed).

Or, do you just tell winscp to synchronize the entire d:\bootdrv\AlohaTS directory to the ftp server? This would work but the sync would get longer and longer every day.

Anyone already have a winscp script that is smart enough to only send folders that haven't already been sent to the ftp server?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[ClayTaco]

Heck no to syncing the entire iberdir! Getting longer and longer is an understatement!
Just sync the dated sub for the previous day. Using the system date (it'll actually be System Date - 1 since you're uploading the day after the dated sub is created) you can create a variable that is in the same format as the dated sub: YYYYMMDD Using that number you can find the dated sub that needs to be uploaded. A dated sub is created regardless of whether the store was open or not. Even if the fileserver was shut down it'll run eod's until it catches back up to it's current day.
All of the information that you really care about is going to be in the dated subs, I wouldn't worry about uploading anything else.

Missing days is a good argument for using the winhook, if your upload script runs every time an end of day completes you'll never be missing any data.