Hawk Backup (for BCL Users)

The idea of this program is that you just run this program and do your work, and it will keep snapshot backups as you work:

Automatic hourly backups, and easy to restore from in case of any input issues or errors

• This program knows how the BCL system operates, and backs up company data files after they have been used
• The default settings are to do backups for  BCL Debtors,  Private Ledger, Contacs and Beyond Database/ (JBC Owl Database)
• These backups are the same type as the BCL General Backup/Restore Program option "Backup ledger to Multiple Online", and are interchangeable with these.
• It will do backups at the end of any hour a ledger or company has been updated in.
• The backups take from a few seconds to a minute to complete.
• The program monitors the amount of free disk space, and tailors its operation to fit.
• Older Backups are deleted  as newer ones are made, so the disk space used  remains fairly constant.
• The last backup for a financial period is retained.
• The program shows the numbers of backups stored and the disk space used.
• Backups can be deleted manually  using the convenient "Admin" button.
• Backups can be made manually - click the "Manual Backup" button.
• Backups can be restored using this program - click the 'Admin" button.  This will give a list of backups stored, and you can right click on the one you want and restore.
• The restore also has a new option "Restore to another Company".  This means you can restore a ledger to a different company number while still continuing work on the original company.   Note this makes it very convenient to run reports again, or look at past information while the current work on the main company number continues uninterrupted.  This is especially useful for legal sites where you or the Auditors may want to run reports again for a previous period.
• You still need to do regular backups to either tape drives or CD's or DVD's as well, however this Hawk Backup option is much easier to restore from and gives many snapshots of points in between the backups.

Usual Operation

2 - The backups above have been done:

Note the number of files changed since the last backup, and the time taken are shown in grey under the backup list for the last backup that has run.

(In  normal operations these backup would have  run on the hour at 12:00).

If backups on the hour have been pending, you can make them run sooner by clicking the "Run now" button, as above.  This is useful if you want to shut the PC running the Hawk backup down without waiting until the backup is done.   (This was done for the above example)

When you do not need to restore

Important notes for operators:

• if an Inquiry or Report program crashes, you do not need to restore
• access to the company may be blocked
• in this case of a report that has crashed, go to Company and Password Maintenance and select "Unlock a locked company"
• If the system knows it was a report type program it will unlock access
• If it does not allow unlock because updates have taken place it will say "Online files may be corrupted - unlock inhibited".   In that case a restore is required.

When you do need to restore

• If a maintenance or transaction input or posting program crashes usually you need to restore
• Usually it is quickest just to restore, redo the work since the last backup which should be less than an hour ago.
• If there is no recent enough backup or there has been a lot of input that you do not want to lose then:
• In the case of Contacs - the programs keep a log of updates and sometimes even when an update has crashed it may be safe to unlock
• but this must be done in consultation with JBCL.  
• In company and Password Maintenance - select the option "Information for one company" and input the BCL system and company number
• Say yes to "See more details" and "Do you want a printed copy"
• The print file produced will be PWMAIN.LST and will be in the REP folder.  Send this to JBCL and then call.
• For Contacs this gives a very good idea of what processing has occurred before the program crashed - JBCL can use this report to advise if you need to restore, or if they can fix up effects of input and restore access.

How to Restore from automatic backups

3 - How to administer or delete or restore from these backups:

This example shows how to pick and restore from one of the Contacs backups.  You click on the "Restore/Admin" button next to Contacs, and the backups are shown.  The names of each are the dates - eg the one  highlighted 21070701.BCL is for 7 July 2021, and was number 1 for that company for that day.  Right-clicking on this backup shows the options below.

To restore a ledger use the Restore option in the right-click menu, or click the green arrow button labelled "Restore"

Admin

If you want to either delete or copy several backups, you can click on the "Windows Explorer" button, and this will open Explorer which is a very convenient way to do this, however you do not need to delete backups yourself - the program deletes older backups as it makes newer ones.

Troubleshooting

The JBCL Hawk is designed to need minimal troubleshooting - if it is running the default settings should just start backups.

Note this program needs to be purchased and registered with JBCL - if not registered it does not start in automatic backup mode.

(if not registered it can do backups but will generally not continue doing automatic monitoring)

Note some BCL programs do not alter the data files and so a backup will not be scheduled after using Inquiry or Report programs.

• Pending backup information is shown in the grid on the lower left of the screen
• Normally when an operator starts input the Hawk Backup will show the company number and start time in the "Update1" column
• When the operator finishes input and returns the the BCL menu the Hawk Backup should show that time in the "Update2" column
• Once both times are shown it should then show a due time for backup (In the "Due" column)  (see picture below for what this will look like)
• Once the clock gets to the due time, the Hawk backup will wait until the company is not in use and then run the backup
• The completed backups information is shown in the grid on the lower right of the screen
• Once a backup is done, the details are moved to the completed backups grid
• The big LED will show the status of the program:
• Blue=monitoring but no backups yet
• Yellow=backup pending
• Red=backup underway
• Green=backups have been done
• Grey=backups paused

Run the JBCL Hawk Backup automatically on the Input Operator screen

Note for versions up to V6 of the Hawk backup - make sure the Hawk backup is not running on more than one screen at once, or is not running more than once on the same screen.

(If it is running more than once, it is possible two backups will run at once and these might interfere with each other and trip up the backup verification process)

Note - New V7 Hawk program will detect and prevent this - versions since V7.21.7.11 will tolerate more than one copy of JBCLHawk running at once,

and only one will be able to run a backup at once.

This is to cater for the situation where a site might have 2 operators doing input work, and they might be working different and overlapping hours:

• If they both have the JBCL Hawk set to run on their PCs
• if only one is logged on at some time, their session of the Hawk backup will do the regular backups
•  When both are logged on and active doing input, the backups will only run from one of the two screens.

How to start JBCL HawkBackup automatically

For BCL users it is useful for the main operator to have this program run automatically on their PC.  The program is configured to start with all the default options set and needs no further setups.  As long as it is running it will:

• Start monitoring BCL systems for ledgers to backup immediately
• It will do snapshot backups on the hour for all ledgers and companies that have had updates
• Note this program is designed to run on only one screen on a network, so the screen that is in se by the operator is the most likely screen to be active and is the best to run this program on
• The backups typically take from a few seconds to a minute or two depending on the size of the data files.  Further input to the ledger is blocked until the backup finishes.
• The program also cleans up older backups as it goes.
• Once running, there is nothing the operator need do, except check from time to time that the program is performing backups, which is easily done by looking at the backup window and noting that backups are being listed in the lower right corner of the screen.
• Manual backups can also be done at any time with the Manual Backup button
• If automated backups are pending but not due for some time, these can be forced to run now by clicking the "Run Now" button.  All this does is change the due time to now rather than the start of the new hour, and the backups will run shortly.

(this will start the JBCL Hawk Backup and the desktop clock)

Starting JBCLHawk Manually

Check the windows taskbar, if JBCLHawk is not running and you know it is not running on another screen, then just run it from the JBCL Menu.

Once started there is nothing else to be done - the default options should start backups.

Manual Backups

You can also make a manual backup at any time - click the manual backup button and select the BCL System and company number.  The backup will then run.

Some advanced features of this backup:

Backups cleanup

The program generally deletes older backups as it makes newer ones, and monitors free disk space.   With modern servers even hundreds of backups are not generally a space issue as they are compressed.

Backups can be manually deleted from the folders using Windows Explorer from the folders CCMCO  CCMPL CCMPAY etc

There is a function in the Backup administration to smartly delete backups - this will try to retain a last backup from a financial period while deleting other backups before and after.

Printfile restore

BCL programs produce edit listing of all maintenance and input, and theses are automatically archived.   If you restore a Hawk backup, it will offer to fetch the input listings in the period since the backup was made so you have a guide as to what input needs to be redone.

This will put all these reports into a single file which it opens in Windows Notepad, and you can inspect and print it as required.

Normal BCL procedures are that operators are recommended to keep a batch book which records what input they have done for each company with dates and times, this printout acts as a backup to the information in the batch book.   Using either or both should make it easy for an operator to work out what input to redo (and in which order) after restoring from a backup.