Configure the Live Backup Environment

Configure a live backup environment in Cortex XSOAR 6.13.

Live Backup enables you to mirror your production server to a backup server, and in disaster recovery scenarios to easily convert your backup server to be the production server.

When using Cortex XSOAR with Elasticsearch, Live Backup is not available. To back up or restore the contents of your Elasticsearch database, follow the instructions for Disaster Recovery for Elasticsearch. Alternatively, you can also implement a full high availability solution.

Caution

• Before you start, ensure that you save the disaster recovery configurations before you copy all files.
• If the main server has a custom certificate with password, you need to create a one-time-configuration (OTC) file (see Step 8).
• These instructions do NOT apply to multi-tenant deployments. Instead, follow the Configure Live Backup instructions in the multi-tenant guide.

1. On the production server, enable live backup.

   1. Go to Settings → About → Troubleshooting → Server Configuration.
   2. Verify that the External Host Name is correct.
   3. Click Add Server Configuration.
   4. Add the following key and value.

      Key	Value
      ui.livebackup	true

   5. Go to Advanced → Backups and in the Live Backup field, select ON.
   6. Add the following backup server parameters.

      Parameters	Value
      Hostname/IP Address	Backup server IP address or Host name (without https:// prefix).
      Port	Default is 443.
      Trust server certificate (unsecured)	ON: certificates are not checked. OFF: certificates are checked.
      Use proxy	Select whether to use a proxy.

2. On the backup machine (with a different hostname or IP address), install Cortex XSOAR.

   1. sudo ./demistoserver-xxxx.sh -- -dr -do-not-start-server
   2. Verify that the backup server is accessible from the production server through port 443 (or any other port configured as a listening port). Ensure that there are no firewalls that might drop communication.
3. On the production server, stop the Cortex XSOAR server:

   sudo service demisto stop
4. On the production server, create a tarball file of the necessary files and folders on the production server and copy it to the backup server.

   Note

   This process may take several hours, depending on your server specs and the amount of data that needs to be copied.

   1. Ensure that all files and folders located in /var/lib/demisto have demisto:demisto ownership:

      chown -R demisto:demisto /var/lib/demisto
   2. Create the tarball file:

      tar --ignore-failed-read -pczf demistoBackup.tgz /var/lib/demisto/data /var/lib/demisto/artifacts /var/lib/demisto/attachments /var/lib/demisto/images /var/lib/demisto/systemTools /var/lib/demisto/d2_server.key /usr/local/demisto/cert* /usr/local/demisto/demisto.lic

      Sometimes the demisto.lic file is located in /var/lib/demisto/demisto.lic rather than /usr/local/demisto/demisto.lic. If so, change the directory in the command.

      If you have not set up a D2 server, you can remove /var/lib/demisto/d2_server.key.
   3. Verify the integrity of the tar file:

      md5sum demistoBackup.tgz
   4. Print the contents of the tar file to a text file:

      tar -tvf demistoBackup.tgz > demistoBackup.txt

      Do not delete the text file.
   5. Transfer the tarball file (demistoBackup.tgz) to the backup server, using your preferred tool such as scp:

      # scp demistoBackup.tgz root@<yourBackupServerIPortHostname>:/root
5. On the backup server, check the MD5 Checksum and compare it to the original file to verify the tar file is 100% valid:

   md5sum demistoBackup.tgz

   The MD5 sum is displayed. Compare this value against the MD5 sum saved in demistoBackup.txt in Step 4.
6. On the backup server, extract the backup tarball file (original file permissions and ownership are preserved):

   sudo tar -C / -xzpvf demistoBackup.tgz
7. Ensure all the copied files and folders have demisto:demisto ownership.
8. If the main server has a custom certificate with password, you need to add the key password to the one-time-configuration (OTC) file located in /var/lib/demisto/otc.conf.json. After the file is saved and the Cortex XSOAR server is restarted, the OTC file is automatically deleted. Add the following content to the OTC file: {"keypass":"certpassword"}. The otc.conf.json must have permissions for demisto:demisto.
9. Start the backup server:

   sudo service demisto start
10. Start the production server:

    sudo service demisto start

    If the procedure is successful, Live Backup is ON.

    If the server is active, Cortex XSOAR appears as usual when you connect. You can Transition an Active Server to Standby Mode or Transition a Standby Server to Active Mode.