Back up your Salesforce data for peace of mind. Some people might give this advice a double-take, but it’s true! The benefits are clear if you know why you should back up Salesforce data regularly and what to do with the Salesforce backup files.
Here’s how to create the perfect backup plan for your business:
Types of Salesforce Backups
1) Manual Data Export
2) Database Snapshot
3) Data Import Wizard
4) Change Sets
5) Ant Migration Tool
6) Database Backup Utilities.
You must be wondering why backup your Salesforce data. The truth is each method is great for backing up different things. For example, the Data Import Wizard is best used to import non-standard data into your production environment (e.g., customer lists). Once you establish a good backup routine between all of these methods, you’ll soon see why Salesforce backups work and how they’re beneficial!
How Often Should I Backup My Salesforce Data?
The frequency with which you need to create backups depends on the size and complexity of your Salesforce system and what information needs to be in it rather than how long it takes or when sales reps need access to this information. If your file runs extensive reports daily, weekly backups may not give sufficient time for rollback if something goes wrong. How much time do you have? six methods can be used together or independently to back up all types of data in Salesforce successfully. Here they are:
In your sales cycle on now? If you’re using Salesforce to gain a competitive edge, then daily backups are the best option. If you have a high- is sufficient since users won’t have access to the latest data while waiting for it to be restored.
Daily or even hourly backups may be needed in this case, and we see these cases at CliQr. What would happen if your company lost its customer list? A backup plan should probably include one of these methods: an offsite storage device (e.g., NAS) where files can be uploaded once a day/week (depending on need), or add Salesforce file replication via Xively to your existing backup process.
How Do We Run Backups?
First, check out the free trial of CliQr! You can start replicating and backing up your Salesforce data as soon as you install the software. There’s no need to wait around for weeks for a new license or other paperwork. Once you’re all set up with CliQr, there are two main ways to create a Salesforce backup: the GUI and command-line utility. Many users choose to use both methods because each has its advantages, and it’s good to be familiar with both.
Via the GUI: To back up any object in Salesforce, simply open it and go File > Export. If you have many objects, simply choose the ones you need and separate them into folders using the plus sign.
Via the command line: The most straightforward way is to use CliQr’s command-line utility, aptly called cliqrBackup. Simply go to your CliQr install directory in Windows Explorer (example: C:\Program Files\CliQr) and open a Command Prompt window there. Once it opens, type “java -jar cliqrbackup.jar “. You can see all supported arguments by typing ” java -jar cliqrbackup.jar –help “. Check our documentation here for more information on running backups via the GUI or from the command line.
Once your Salesforce backup is finished, keep it safe and secure! You can upload to an offsite storage device (e.g., NAS) and then download and delete the files from your local hard drive as required. Or, you can use our free Xively integration. For those of you who want a crash course on Salesforce backups, this article should suffice as a primer:
What’s next? Once you’ve created your perfect Salesforce data backup plan, implementing it is easy with CliQr’s change management software. There are other great articles to check out here:
A Security Note: Salesforce has very stringent security measures already in place, but we recommend that anyone who manages sensitive data consider taking extra steps to protect their Salesforce CRM. For example, your company may require that you encrypt the data before uploading it to an offsite storage device or Xively.
Closing the browser window of your org is often tempting when you are done for the day, or maybe even week. You might think no harm will come if you don’t do a backup today since it’s Monday and there aren’t any significant changes scheduled this week. But what happens when your network connection goes out–and it always does at some point–and all that data that had been saved to Salesforce is lost?
Or how about the anxious minutes spent trying to get into your production system during an outage only to find out your last backup was four days old? Such situations can be avoided by taking ten minutes to back up your Salesforce instance using Force.com IDE’s tools. It only takes one time for an unwanted outcome to happen, which is why it’s essential to save your data regularly.
Even though there are other ways you can backup your data, the best way is through the Force.com IDE. That’s because this method doesn’t rely on someone manually making backups or transferring files, which slows down productivity time–and that’s exactly what back-ups are supposed to do: allow us to be productive all the time! If you’re using Salesforce1 Mobile and can’t access Salesforce through the web browser, backing up your instance will ensure that you won’t lose custom settings or any customized metadata.
The steps below walk you through how easy it is to backup your data using the Force.com IDE’s tools, especially if you are willing to set up a little bit of structure for your backups–like naming them with dates or tags that will help you remember when they were created. If you have multiple organizations, select the one whose data you want to back up from there.
