Backing up and restoring school data

Your school server holds every record your school keeps in Academium. Backups protect those records if the computer is lost, damaged or fails.

Setting up automatic backups

Open the control panel and go to the Backup tab.

  1. Backup location.
    • Windows: choose Browse and pick a folder. Backups are saved in an Academium\SmsBackups folder inside it.
    • Linux: pick one of the drives listed, which shows how much free space it has. Backups are saved in an Academium folder on it. For a network share, choose Enter a path instead.
  2. Schedule. Choose how often to back up: Daily, Weekly (pick the day) or Monthly (pick the date), and the hour it runs.
  3. Keep last. Choose how many backups to keep. Older ones are removed automatically.
If backups are saved on the same drive as the operating system and that drive fails, you lose both your data and your backups. Use the server's second drive, or an external drive, for safer recovery. Two drives (one for the system, one for backups) is the recommended server setup.

Each backup holds your school's records and its uploaded files, such as photos and documents. Backups are encrypted and can only be opened by your school.

Cloud backup

If your school has cloud backup, the Backup tab shows Enabled · backups upload automatically. Every backup is encrypted on your server before it is uploaded. Each backup in the list shows whether it is in the cloud or local only. Choose Upload to send a local one up; on Linux you can also Remove from cloud.

If it shows Not configured, contact Academium to ask about cloud backup for your school.

Taking a backup now

Choose Back Up Now before anything risky, such as moving the server to a new computer or a big change to your records.

Restoring a backup

Restoring permanently deletes all current records on this server, including student records, fees and exam results, and replaces them with the contents of the backup. Anything entered after that backup was taken is lost.
  1. In the Local Backups list, find the backup you want.
  2. Choose Restore, read the warning, and confirm with Restore & Overwrite.

To restore a backup kept somewhere else, such as on an external drive from an old server, plug in the drive or USB stick, choose Restore from another location and pick it. Only your school's backups can be opened, so the server must be signed in with the same Academium Account that created them.

Moving from Windows to Linux? Backups made by a Windows server restore on a Linux server too.

The server restarts as part of a restore.

Common issues

"No readable backups found in that folder." Check that you picked the right folder, and that the server is signed in with the same Academium Account that created the backups.

Backups stopped appearing. Check that the backup location still exists, for example that the external drive is plugged in. Choose Reset to go back to the default location if needed.