Getting backup of custom content (simulations) created in SAP Enable Now

[AngadJadhav]

We have created custom Simulations or Tutorials in the SAP Enable Now Workarea. These simulations have been edited and reviewed once. At this stage, we want to take backup of all simulations just to be on safer side in unknown situations.

I know the following options to take backup:

Option A: Export all simulations at the root folder level. As a result, the simulations will get exported in the .DKP format. Later, I can import the .DKP file to the SAP Enable Now Work Area if needed.

Option B: Create a folder named "Backup" under Contents within the SAP Enable Now Work Area itself. Then, create duplicates of your simulations and save these duplicate files in the "Backup" folder.

Is there any other option to take back up of simulations? Please suggest.

Thanking you.

[DirkManuel · Accepted solution]

Why take a backup at all? At the object level, you can always get Revert to any prior version of an object. If an object is deleted then it still remains in the server trash so can be restored from there, so you just need to control who can empty that. And if the entire server blows up, SAP take regular backups - full weekly and delta every hour I think? (Although it literally has to be a full server crash - don't go to SAP saying "Hey, I accidentally deleted file X can you get it back for me?" because they will tell you "No.").

There's no point in taking a backup to another Group in the same Workarea because there's no additional control and if the Workarea gets corrupted you'll lose the backup too. Additionally, at some stage, someone is mistakenly going to update the backup instead of the original, and that will just result in a mess.

You could export everything, but again, it's not necessary. If you really want to, I would suggest creating a new Workarea, and just doing a "Copy from other Workarea" into that, periodically.

[AngadJadhav · Accepted solution]

Thank you Dirk for the detailed and quick response. I agree to your points completely.

A few follow-up questions:

• Can users with the Master Author role empty the trash?
• Any guideline on how to control who can empty the trash? Do we do anything specific at the User Access level in SEN Manager?
• If SAP takes regular backups for the Cloud version, does SAP charge any fees to share the backup, if at all we need it from SAP in a very rare scenario?
• For the testing purpose only, if I export any content object as .DKP file, I can easily import it back to load the content object and work on it. Is that right?

I also liked the idea of creating an additional work area, if needed.

[DirkManuel · Accepted solution]

1. By default, Administrators, Master Authors, Standard Authors, SMEs, and Snippet Authors can all delete content objects from the server trash (Resources requires a separate permission). It's easy enough to take that away from roles you don't trust.

2. Same answer. It's down to Permissions assigned to Roles.

3. No fees to TAKE the backup. I don't think there are fees to restore from a backup, but again they will only do this in case of a complete server meltdown - and it is their server (assuming cloud edition), so... Yes, it would be a very rare scenario (I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has actually done this). Would they restore on demand at any other time? For a price, probably...

4. Yes. Trade secret: .dkp is really just a form of .zip file. So that's all you're really doing: saving it to a zip file. If you import it again, it will overwrite any version currently in the Workarea (based on the UID).