You need to back up Veritas Operations Manager data in the following situations:

• As a regular backup task to prevent data loss in the event of a failure

• Before you upgrade Management Server to version 5.0

Similarly, you need to restore Veritas Operations Manager data in the following situations:

• When the Veritas Operations Manager 5.0 application fails, to restore the Management Server to the last backed up state

• When the Management Server upgrade to version 5.0 fails, to restore the Management Server for the previous version

Points to remember when you back up or restore Veritas Operations Manager data:

• You must use the script (vom_bkup.pl) of a single version for the backup and restore tasks for that version. For example, use the version 5.0 script to back up data, and use the same script when you need to restore the data.

• You can restore data to a particular version only if the backup was taken for that version. For example, if you back up data for version 4.1, you cannot restore the backup to a version 5.0 Management Server. You can restore a version 4.1 backup only to a version 4.1 Management Server.

• On Linux, you can use the script to back up or restore Management Server data in either the standard configuration, or in the high-availability configuration.

• On Windows, you can use the script to back up Management Server data in either the standard configuration, or in the high-availability configuration. However, you can restore the backup only for a standard configuration. To restore the backed up data for a high-availability configuration, contact Symantec Technical Support.

• The script does not back up the data that is related to the add-ons. If a failure occurs, you need to restore the backed up data and then install the add-ons again.