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All database and file backups must be made for the same time frame. For example, databases backed up on Sunday and courses backed up from the previous Tuesday will not work. All directory and database backups should be made at the same day and time (cold backup).

Remember to stop the Blackboard services to ensure that the courses, content, and databases are synchronized.

All backed up data must be restored into the same version and build of Blackboard Learn. Do not restore data to different builds of either the Blackboard Learn.

Stop the services

  1. Launch a command prompt from the Windows Start menu.
  2. Navigate to blackboard_home\tools\admin
  3. Stop all services by running the following command: servicecontroller.bat services.stop.

Back up the content management files

Make a complete backup copy of the Blackboard Learn content file system, directory, and the content management storage directories: blackboard_home\content\vi\BBLEARN\courses

Blackboard also recommends a redundant backup of theblackboard_home\mssql directory for single server installations. All Blackboard services must be stopped before backing up the blackboard\mssql directory.

The content management directories are as follows:

blackboard_home\content\courses
blackboard_home\content\institution
blackboard_home\content\library
blackboard_home\content\orgs
blackboard_home\content\users

The content management file system directory locations will vary depending on the original storage location entered during setup.

Create a copy of the blackboard_home\docs\login directory. This is needed only if changes were made to the original login page.

Restore the content management files

The Blackboard services must be stopped on each Application server before restoring the file system content.

Restore the login blackboard_home\docs\login\ folder to restore the special changes to your login page.

One or two server configurations

Restore the Blackboard Learn courses data to the new destination server courses folder blackboard_home\content\vi\courses. Content Collection Users should also restore the external storage directories to the locations selected during installation.

Load-balanced configurations

Stop the DFS service on each web/app server to prevent file sharing violations and perform a restore of the Blackboard Learn courses content to the courses folder \\filesystem_server\bb_content\ vi\BBLEARN\courses on the load balanced file system server designated during the setup of your configuration. Content Management content should be restored to the external storage locations designated during setup.

If the external storage location paths have changed from the original backup, you must update the paths.To learn more, see Editing the Properties File in a SQL Environment.