Password Manager Pro | Password Management Solution

Disaster Recovery

In the event of a disaster or data loss, you can restore the backed up data to the PMP database. To restore the data, PMP provides scripts.

Disaster Recovery Steps for PMP with MySQL

Restoring the data

Important Note:

Stop PMP server before trying to restore data. If restoration is done while the server is running, it may lead to data corruption
Data backed up from PMP running on Windows can be restored only in Windows

For Windows

Navigate to <PMP_Installation_Directory>/bin folder
Execute the script "restoreDB.bat <backup file name>" (enter your backup file name in .zip format)
The backed up contents would be restored to the PMP DB
Navigate to <PMP_Installation_Folder>/conf folder, edit manage_key.conf and specify the location of pmp_key.key (AES 256 encryption master key). PMP requires the pmp_key.key file accessible with its full path when it starts up every time. After a successful start-up, it does not need the key anymore and so the device with the key file can be taken offline.

For Linux

Navigate to <PMP_Installation_Directory>/bin folder
Execute the script "sh restoreDB.sh <backup file name>" (enter your backup file name in .zip format)
The backed up contents would be restored to the PMP DB
Navigate to <PMP_Installation_Folder>/conf folder, edit manage_key.conf and specify the location of pmp_key.key (AES 256 encryption master key). PMP requires the pmp_key.key file accessible with its full path when it starts up every time. After a successful start-up, it does not need the key anymore and so the device with the key file can be taken offline.

Disaster Recovery Steps for PMP with MS SQL Server

Prerequisite

PMP uses SQL server's encryption mechanism to encrypt the data. The encryption master key will be stored under <Password Manager Pro Installation Folder>/conf directory with the name master_key.key. For security reasons, during installation of MS SQL, we recommend moving the encryption key from the default location to a secure location. For performing disaster recovery, the master key is required.

Step 1

Install another instance of PMP. Follow the steps for using MS SQL server as the backend (specifying a new instance of MS SQL server where the backup has to be restored). The new instance of MS SQL server should have been configured with SSL. You can do this by carrying out Steps 1, 2, 3 in this document.

Step 2

Copy the PMP backup file from the SQL server. By default, it will be present under <MS SQL Server>/Backup folder and have the name something like pmpbackup_pmpversion_backupdate-time.bak (For example, pmpbackup_6400_110721-1159.bak)

Step 3

Launch "Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio" (in the machine where the backedup data are to be restored - that is, another instance of SQL server) and connect to the Database Engine.

Step 4

Right-click on "Databases" and the click "Restore Database" from the displayed menu.

Step 5

In the "Restore Database" window, choose the option "From device" and click [...] button to browse the PMP backup file

Step 6

In the "Specify Backup" window that opens up, choose the option "File" as the Backup media and click "Add".

Step 7

In the "Locate Backup File" window, select the PMP backup file and click "OK".

Step 8

Now, in the "Restore Database" window, select the database where the backup is to be restored and specify it in the "To database" field.
Under "Select the backup sets to restore", select the required "Restore column".
Click OK to start the restoring the database.
Upon completion of the restoration, a status window pops-up.

Step 9

Now, you need to restore the Master Key. As mentioned in the prerequisite section above, by default, the encryption master key will be stored under <Password Manager Pro Installation Folder>/conf directory in the file named master_key.key. For security reasons, if you have moved the file to some other secure location, identify that. Open the master_key.key file and copy the password.

Step 10

Connect to the SQL server in which you have restored the PMP backup file.

Open "Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio" and connect the database engine.

Execute the following queries:

use write_the_name_of the restored_database;

OPEN MASTER KEY DECRYPTION BY PASSWORD = 'type_the_master_key_password';

alter master key regenerate with encryption by password = 'type_the_master_key_password';

Example:

use passtrix;

OPEN MASTER KEY DECRYPTION BY PASSWORD = 'secret';

alter master key regenerate with encryption by password = 'secret';

Execution of the above queries will help decrypt the data.

Step 11

Navigate to <PMP_Installation_Folder>/conf folder, edit manage_key.conf and specify the location of pmp_key.key (encryption master key). PMP requires the pmp_key.key file accessible with its full path when it starts up every time. After a successful start-up, it does not need the key anymore and so the device with the key file can be taken offline.