2.9 Backup, Restore and Updates
2.9 Backup, Restore and Updates
In this lesson: you will be able to back up a controller program and the whole device, restore, and perform a device-initiated signed OTA update with rollback awareness.
Two kinds of backup
Before you change anything on a live site, back it up. And the gateway itself should stay current.
- A program backup captures a single controller's program — all its blocks and settings — as a file you download from the Programming page. The rule from the manuals: always download before you upload. Before you push any change to a controller, grab its current program first. If a change goes wrong, you can restore exactly what was there. It costs you ten seconds and saves you a site visit.
- A whole-device backup captures the gateway's own state — its database: the controllers, users, trending, settings, and, if the site has Logic Programs, the wiresheets too — as a single backup file from the Backup page. Restore takes such a file and puts the gateway back to that state. Take a whole-device backup after commissioning and after any significant change, and keep it off the device.
Updates — the hard rule
NW8000 updates are device-initiated and signed, and you must never copy a binary onto a gateway by hand. From the Updates tab the gateway checks for a new signed release, downloads it, verifies its cryptographic signature, and only then installs. If the signature does not verify, it refuses — that is the protection against a corrupted or tampered file. A corrupted hand-copied transfer took a production site down once; the signed process exists precisely so that cannot happen.
The safety net: automatic rollback
After installing, the gateway health-checks the new version. If the new binary fails to come up healthy, it rolls back to the previous one on its own. So an update is a low-risk action — but still do it deliberately: back the device up first, and update when you can watch it come back.
So: program backup before every controller change, whole-device backup after commissioning, and updates only ever through the signed on-device Updates flow — never by SCP.
Key points
- Program backup = one controller's program (from Programming); whole-device backup = the gateway's whole database (from Backup).
- Golden rule: always download (back up) a controller's existing program before uploading a change.
- Take a whole-device backup after commissioning and any significant change, and keep it off the device.
- Updates are device-initiated and signature-verified from the Updates tab — never hand-copy a binary (SCP).
- A freshly-installed update that fails its health check automatically rolls back to the previous version.
Check your understanding
- What is the difference between a program backup and a whole-device backup?
- What is the golden rule before uploading a program to a controller?
- How must a gateway be updated, and why never by hand-copying a binary?
- What happens if a freshly-installed update fails its health check?