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How to configure automatic preferences backups on the GMS 8.4 and above
03/26/2020 
1025 
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DESCRIPTION:
How to configure automatic preferences backups on the GMS 8.4 and above
RESOLUTION:
Feature/Application:
This article describes the procedure how to configure automatic preferences backups on the GMS 8.6.
Procedure:
SonicWall GMS enables to save the SonicWall appliances settings which can be used for the restoration purposes.
By default GMS saves two types of the files containing firewall's configuration:
- addunit.xml files - containing preferences of all the firewalls and SRA products in the system. This file can be used to import the configuration of all managed devices to the new installation of the GMS
- .exp files - containing preferences for each particular unit which can be imported directly to the device in order to restore the previous configuration.
In order to configure the automatic preferences backup follow the steps below:
Step 1: Login to https://x.x.x.x/sgms. Navigate to the Console/Management/Settings and under "Automatically save settings file & addUnit.xml:" configure the schedule of when the backups should be saved (never, daily or weekly) - addunit.xml will be saved accordingly to the schedule configuration. In order to auto save settings (.exp) files proceed to the step 2.
Step 2: Navigate to the Firewall tab, choose a firewall or a group from the Tree control, Go to Manage-->System-->Settings
Step 3: Saved Settings - in this section you can either save the the particular settings file to the local disc or permanently delete them from the GMS.
Step 4: Store New Settings - you can use this section to save the firewall's preferences independently of the previously configured schedule.
Step 3: Settings File Backup - make sure that under this section Enable Settings File Backup option is checked.
Step 6: "Number of newest Setting Files to be preserved:" specify the number of the previous backup files to be stored - the default value is 5. 0 means that older prefs files will not be deleted.
