How to manually backup and restore the ADSelfService Plus database in the same application instance?
Objective
This article provides detailed step-by-step instructions on how to manually backup and restore the ADSelfService Plus database within the same application instance. This process is essential for:
- Creating secure copies of the database for disaster recovery
- Restoring data after accidental deletion or corruption
- Maintaining periodic backups for compliance purposes
Prerequisite
- Administrator privileges on the ADSelfService Plus server.
- Before restoring the database, you must stop the ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus service. Failure to do so can result in a corrupted database.
Steps to backup and restore the database
Part 1: Backup the database
Follow these steps to create a manual backup of your application's database.
- On the server hosting ADSelfService Plus, open Command Prompt as an administrator.
- Navigate to the \bin directory within the ADSelfService Plus installation folder using the cd command. The default path is C:\Program Files\ManageEngine\ADSelfService Plus\bin.
- Execute the backup script:
backupDB.bat - The script will run and create a Backup folder inside the main installation directory (e.g., C:\Program Files\ManageEngine\ADSelfService Plus\Backup). Inside this folder, you will find the database backup stored as a compressed .ezip file (e.g., OfflineBackup_20250813160300.ezip).
Part 2: Manually restore the database
Follow these steps to restore the database from a previously created backup file.
Note: This action will overwrite your current database with the data from the backup file. - Stop the ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus service. You can do this via the services.msc console.
- Open Command Prompt as an administrator.
- Navigate to the \bin directory using the cd command. The default path is C:\Program Files\ManageEngine\ADSelfService Plus\bin.
- Execute the restoreDB.bat script using the following command format. You must provide the full path to the backup file.
restoreDB.bat "C:\Program Files\ManageEngine\ADSelfService Plus\Backup\your_backup_filename.ezip" -p <password> Example: restoreDB.bat "C:\Program Files\ManageEngine\ADSelfService Plus\Backup\OfflineBackup_20250813160300.ezip" -p <YourBackupPassword>
The password required for the restore command (-p <password>) depends on how your environment was configured when the backup was made.
Default password: If no custom password was set, the password is the reverse string of the backup filename excluding the .ezip extension. For a file named OfflineBackup_20250813160300, the password would be 00306131805202_pukcaBenilffO.
Admin-configured password: If a password was configured in the admin portal, you must use that password. This setting is located under Admin > Product Settings > Security and Privacy > Privacy Settings in the Encrypt database backup files field.
What if I forgot the password? If you have forgotten the admin-configured password, you can find it in the customer-config.xml file located in the <Installation_Dir>\conf folder. Please contact the ADSelfService Plus support team to decrypt the file and retrieve the password. Without the password or access to this file, the backup is unusable.
- Once the restoration is complete, start the ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus service and log in to the portal to verify that the data has been restored correctly.