Back Up and Restore an Infor CRM SLX Database

The vast majority of information stored by Infor CRM SLX is stored in its connected database. This database contains both data and configuration information, pretty much everything aside from file attachments. There may come a time when you need to take a backup of your Infor CRM SLX database. This might be because you need to move it to another server, are making a change and want to be able to revert if it goes poorly, or want to place it in the a test environment so you have an exact copy of production. The good news is that this is a fairly simple procedure. The caveat is that the SQL manager doesn’t have much in the way of guardrails, so always double check what you are inputting to make sure you do no harm to any existing databases.

In order to backup a database, I use SQL Management Studio. In a normal installation of Infor CRM SLX, everything aside from the file attachments is stored in the database, so when you back that up, you are getting almost everything. Log in to SQL Management Studio using the SA account (or one with equivalent rights, sysdba does not have backup or restore rights.) Expand the list of databases, if needed, and right click on the Infor CRM SLX database. (It is often named Saleslogix.) Mouse over Tasks on the menu that opens, and then click Back Up on the sub-menu that opens.

In the Back Up Database window that opens, most of the default values will be fine. The main thing here is to set the Destination. If the path and filename are already set to what you want, you are fine. If you need to save it elsewhere, click Remove to clear out the old path, then click Add to set the path and file name you wish to use. In the Select Backup Destination window that opens, you can either type in the path and filename you want, or click the ellipses to browse to the desired path. Be sure to include the .bak at the end of the filename, so SQL will recognize it as a backup file.

The procedure for restoring from a backup file depends on whether you are using the backup to restore an existing database to it’s state when you ran the backup, or are placing a copy of the database on a different server. If you are restoring it as a new database, just right click on the database folder of the SQL instance and choose Restore Database. Choose Device for Source, then browse to your backup file and click OK. If you are using a backup to restore an existing database to it’s state at the time the backup was taken, the procedure is much the same. Right on the database to be restored, and choose restore. Choose the backup file as before, and the rest of the procedure is fairly similar.