Vista is a load-balanced, multi-server installation which includes hot backups of the entire database. Full archives of each Vista section are completed every several days, and at the end of each semester. However, you may still want to back up your own Vista course periodically:
- Immediately before adding students to your course, to capture a 'pristine' snapshot of the course before it's delivered;
- When your course is completed, so you'll have an archive of all student work and records.
Be sure to download a copy of these two backups to your local machine, provided there's sufficient hard drive space.
To back up your course in Vista, follow these procedures:
- Select Manage Course.
- Select Backup.
- Select the Back Up Course button.
- Your course will be added to the backup queue. Click OK.
- When the backup is complete, use the ActionLink (drop-down menu) next to the backup title and select Save as File.
- Save the file in either your Class Files area, or in My Files.
- To save a copy of the backup to your own computer, use File Manager to navigate to the location where you saved the backup as a file, and use the file's ActionLink to select Download.
The Archiving tutorial goes into more detail on how to back up a course.
Last updated: Jun 16, 2011
