Synchronize Pre-existing Profiles

The hot backup is now configured, and will receive settings changes and newly walked pages going forward. No walks should be performed on the backup machine - indeed, we disabled them - nor should settings be further modified on it, as it is receiving both from the main machine automatically.

Since only changes to settings will be propagated by replication, any pre-existing, non-replication System-Wide Settings (e.g. HTTPS settings) on the main machine should be copied - just one time, now - to the backup machine to ensure it is in sync.

More importantly, if there are pre-existing profiles on the main machine, they must be propagated now. Otherwise future changes to those profiles will not propagate (and may cause replication to stall). This can be accomplished with the following steps:

• Go to System → System Replication → System Replication Target Status on the main machine: its current profiles will be listed, as well as whether they exist on the backup machine.

• If any profiles are not shown as "ok", they do not exist on the backup machine: they should be copied now, so that future changes and walks propagate. Simply hit Create Missing Profiles at the bottom of the page, and all these profiles' settings will be queued for replication to the backup.

• Re-visit the System Replication Target Status page in a few minutes to verify this: all profiles should eventually be "ok" under the backup machine column.

• The (previously missing) profiles' data should be copied too. This step can be skipped if those profiles will all be doing New walks in the near future on the main machine, as the data will be copied then. However, if Refresh walks are being used, or walks are rare, or simply to ensure the data is backed up now, the data can be propagated manually:

  • For each (previously missing) profile, choose that profile from Profiles.

  • Go to Tools → Replication Tools, choose the backup machine under Send Profile Data, and hit Send Data.

  • Wait for that profile's data to be sent - large walks can take a while - before proceeding to the next one: the status can be seen under the View Replication Status link; wait for it to become empty.

  • Repeat for other profiles.

This System Replication Target Status check can be occasionally performed in the future to ensure all profiles exist on the backup. However, it should not be needed past this initial setup stage, as new profiles (created after system replication is active) will be created automatically on the system replication target(s) configured earlier.