Back Up and Restore Data

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Limited Availability: Upgrade to SWG 13.0 for enhanced stability and security. Contact Skyhigh Support for assistance.

The process of backing up and restoring data is crucial to retain the existing system configurations and information, alongside preventing data loss. So, while migrating Secure Web Gateway from SWG 12.x or earlier to SWG 13.0, it is recommended to follow the steps mentioned below during reimaging with SWG 13.0 ISO.

Prerequisite

Remove the SSO configurations and policies before taking the backup.

NOTE:

Use the newly provided script to identify policies that contain deprecated properties and events. Run the utility to locate the affected rule sets, and delete all deprecated properties and associated rule sets from SWG before taking the policy backup.
Before backing up for restoration on the SWG 13.0, make sure to remove any rules containing SSO, TIE, or DXL properties or events, as SSO, TIE, and DXL are End-of-Life (EOL) and are not supported by the SWG 13.0.

Remove Deprecated Legacy Properties and Events Before Migration

Certain legacy properties are deprecated in SWG 13.0. A direct restore of an unoptimized SWG 12.x or earlier version backup fails. To avoid this, identify and remove all deprecated properties from your SWG 12.x or earlier policies before creating the final backup.

NOTE: Deprecated properties are not removed automatically. Review the script output and manually update your policies to ensure the intended security posture.

To identify deprecated properties, download the scan_deprecated.rb script from the Content Security Portal to your SWG 12.x or earlier system, grant execute permissions using chmod +x scan_deprecated.rb, and run ./scan_deprecated.rb to generate the report.

The script lists:

The ruleset (including nested levels) where deprecated properties exist
The associated rules using those properties

Remove all deprecated properties identified in the report. Then create a new backup from the updated SWG 12.x or earlier system, install SWG 13.0, and restore the backup. The restore process completes successfully after cleanup.

Back Up Data on SWG 12.x or earlier

NOTE: Make sure to back up your policy, configuration, lists, & settings data by generating a .backup file.

To back up data on SWG 12.x or earlier:

Log on to the Web UI.
Navigate to Troubleshooting > <appliance name> > Backup/Restore.
Click Back up to file...

The file is saved in the selected folder.

NOTE: It is recommended to enable the SWG appliance Scheduled Backups all the time.

To generate a feedback file, refer the Create a Feedback File section. This ensures the recording of historical troubleshooting data.
Make sure to back up all the log files to external storage, as you will lose access post-migration.
To view the existing log files, refer the View Log Files section.
If you have configured external log file storage using Syslog or CSR, make sure it has run recently.
If you prefer to back up other log files as archives, which are not configured through CSR or Syslog, navigate to the backend directory /opt/mwg/log and manually export logs to external storage.
Continue with VM or appliance reimaging using the SWG 13.0 ISO Media.

Restore Data on SWG 13.0

To restore the backup data after SWG 13.0 installation:

Log in to the Management UI.
Go to Troubleshooting > Backup/Restore > Restore from File, and select the file to be restored to trigger the policy restore. For complete restoration, refer to the Restore a Backup after Replacing Hardware section.

NOTE: After reimaging and restoring the backup, Skyhigh recommends recreating the clusters by adding/joining nodes to the cluster.