In some circumstances it may be necessary to restore an MCS installation from backups. Reasons for this include:
- The database has become corrupt
- The hardware MCS is installed has failed
- An upgrade has failed because the system does not have the correct licensing
All of the tasks outlined below require a knowledge of how to use SQL Management Studio. If you are not confident in using this application then please contact Mitel support for guidance.
To perform any of the database operations outlined here you will need permissions to access the SQL databases. Ensure you connect to the MCS SQL instance using the same user account from which the MCS was first installed.
SQL Management Studio
The processes below refer to the 'SQL Management Studio' application. This is no longer included with MiVoice Office Application Suite installations but can be downloaded and installed manually using the following link:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-management-studio-ssms
Restoring MCS Databases
Before restoring the MCS's SQL databases, ensure that all MCS services are stopped. When stopping the MCS services, stop the watchdog service first before stopping any other service. For more information on the services used by MCS, please refer to the 'About Communication Service' section.
Once all the services have been stopped then the database restoring can be started. Using SQL Management Studio, connect to the MCS's SQL instance (usually '127.0.0.1\MCS').
One at a time, click on each for the databases in the SQL instance, right-click and select 'Tasks -> Restore -> Database'.
- On the form that loads, select the 'Device' radio option and browse to the backup file for this database.
- Browse to the 'Files' section of the form and double check the database to be overwritten with the backup is the correct one
- When it has been confirmed that the correct database will be overwritten, browse to the 'options' section for the form and check the box 'Overwrite the existing database (WITH REPLACE)'.
- Press 'Ok' at the bottom of the screen to start the restore process.
- Repeat this step for each of the databases in the solution.
The backups taken by the MCS server are zipped. They will need to be unzipped prior to restoring.
Restoring databases incorrectly can result in data loss. Restoring an SQL database should only be done when backups of all data is in place to restore from. If in doubt, please contact Mitel support for guidance..
Restoring a backup database will result in any new data that have been stored since the backup was taken being lost.
Restoring To A Different Server (if the original server is still accessible)
If the MCS solution needs to be restored to server other than the one it was originally installed then follow these steps:
The next steps involve detaching each of the databases from the original SQL server instance and re-attaching them to the SQL server instance on the new MCS. This can be done using the 'SQL Management Studio' application.
On the existing MCS Server
- On the existing server, make note of the Site ID and Serial number of the software. This can be found on the Server License section of the MCS website.
- Deregister the software, refer to the Server License section for more information
- Make a copy of the contents of the 'C:\ProgramData\Mitel\Mitel Communication Service\Net Store' folder from the old server.
On the new MCS Server
- Install and register MCS on the new hardware (or virtual environment).
- Stop all MCS services on the new server.
- Copy the SQL backups from the old server to the new server
- Follow the restore process above to restore all databases
- Copy the contents of the 'C:\ProgramData\Mitel\Mitel Communication Service\Net Store' from the old server to the new.
- Restart the MCS Watchdog service.
At this point the MCS should be back up and operational as it was on the old hardware.
Restoring To A Different Server (if the original server has failed)
If the server running MCS has failed, follow these stops to re-install the MCS on new hardware:
- Locate the original certificate used to install the MCS (the Site ID / Serial number will be needed)
- Contact Mitel support and explain what has happened. Request that the license be reset so that it can be reused on another server.
- Install the MCS on the new hardware and use the original certificate information to license it
At this point, the MCS should be installed and licensed. If there are backups of the original MCS then the normal restore procedure can be followed from this point. If there are no backups available then the MCS must be reconfigured as a new installation.
Rolling Back An Upgrade
If an upgrade MCS server is not working has required then the software can be rolled back to a previous version (this process assumes that all necessary backups were taken before upgrading). Follow these steps:
- Uninstall the MCS software from the server.
- Re-install the version of MCS software you wish to rollback to.
- Stop all MCS services (stop the watchdog first otherwise it will restart other services).
- Follow the database restore process outline above.
- Start the MCS Watchdog service.
At this point the MCS should be returned to the state it was in before the upgrade.
When rolling back the software, any data stored since the upgrade will be lost. This includes call recordings.
Rolling back the software without restoring the database can cause the system to be unstable. This can be because there are new database elements that the rollback version of software does not know about.
Restoring Recordings from an old server to a new server
If the Call Recording role was used on the old Server, there will be recordings in C:\Recordings (this is the default setting, but you may have changed this path) which you will need to copy the contents of onto the new Server. This folder will contain various folders and .wav files which are the physical call recordings.
Our recommended way to carry out the migration of call recordings would be to use the old hostname and the same IP Address as the old Server, otherwise the file paths for old call records stored in the SQL databases will be wrong and you will not be able to playback the calls via the web interface.
After the software has been installed on the new Server, the databases have been restored and it’s been licensed then you will need to copy the whole C:\Recordings folder off the old Server onto the new Server in the exact same location (C:\Recordings). Reboot the new Server after this folder has finished copying.
If you are a North American reseller/customer you can raise a support ticket here: https://support.mitelcommunicationservice.com with the full details of the issue.
If you’re an EMEA reseller/customer please contact your distributor to raise a ticket with them.
