Snapshots: Custom Snapshot Configurations

A snapshot consists of the data from the SQL database tables that are included in the snapshot. The list of tables to be included in a snapshot is determined by the export mode that you select when you use the Tenants (SM203520) form to take a snapshot. A predefined set of options is available for selection in the Export Mode box of the Create Snapshot dialog box. If the predefined options do not suit your needs—for example, for data security reasons—you can configure and add custom options.

In this topic, you will read about how the snapshot configuration is stored and can be modified.

Snapshot Configuration Storage

The contents of a snapshot that does not include all data—that is, a snapshot with any export mode except Full selected in the Export Mode box of the Create Snapshot dialog box of the Tenants (SM203520) form—are defined by a corresponding snapshot configuration file with the .esc extension. These files are usually located in %Program Files%\MYOB Advanced\<instance name>\App_Data\SnapshotConfigs, where <instance name> is the name of the application instance website.

Creation of Custom Configurations

When the system is creating a snapshot, it goes through all tables specified in the configuration file and copies all data with no restrictions or validation. If you want to preserve some data that you consider sensitive—for example, user passwords and settings for connecting with third-party applications—we recommend that you create your own snapshot configuration files to preserve this data, down to SQL table fields. You can either exclude tables and table fields from snapshots or replace data in table fields with predefined values. For examples of configuration settings, see Snapshots: Examples of Sensitive Data Being Excluded from Snapshots.

Attention: We do not recommend modifying predefined snapshot configuration files because during upgrade, these files will be replaced with the next predefined version.

You can save a copy of the predefined configuration file with a custom name to the same location where the other configuration files are stored and modify the contents of this copy to suit your needs. When you have finished making these modifications, you click Restart Application on the Apply Updates (SM203510) form, which makes your custom export mode available for the creation of a snapshot on the Tenants (SM203520) form.

Attention: Make sure that all users of your website are warned about the site restart so that they can save all documents.