Device Backups

The Backups view provides a complete historical record of all backups captured for a specific device. This page view centralizes operational visibility, allowing automation engineers and technicians to audit backup activity, confirm device protection, and initiate new backups directly from the device’s detail view.

Overview

Each backup entry includes detailed metadata—such as execution time, status, pipeline type, and originating source—so users can quickly verify whether a device is being backed up according to policy or identify any failed or missing backups. This history serves as the authoritative audit trail for device-level backup operations in the SDA Platform.

Key Capabilities

Backup History

The page displays a chronological list of all backups performed on the device, including:

• Timestamp of when the backup completed

• Backup type (Project Backup, FTP Backup, SMB Backup, Device Snapshot, etc.)

• Source (pipeline, scheduled rule, manual execution, or external trigger)

• Status (Successful, Failed, Running, Queued)

• Retention status if applicable

This allows users to validate backup coverage and detect any gaps or recurring issues.

Execute Backup

Users can initiate a new backup directly from the Backups view or via a Pipeline. Supported backup types may vary by vendor and device capabilities, but typically include:

• Project Backup

• FTP Backup

• SMB Backup

• Device Snapshot

Initiating a backup triggers a pipeline execution, leveraging the SDA Gateway for secure communication with the device.

Backup Details & Logs

Each backup entry links to a detailed job page where users can:

• View pipeline logs

• Review runtime details and device responses

• Troubleshoot backup failures

• Confirm what was captured in the backup

Logs provide complete transparency into the backup process, including communication steps with the device, file operations, and any vendor-specific IDE or protocol interactions.

By selecting icon on a backup, you can find information about the backup, including differences between the backup and the target version, detailed logs and job details as shown below.

Backup Differences

Detailed Logs

Job Details

Source Tracking

Every backup includes an explicit source field, allowing users to understand how and why a backup occurred—for example:

• Manual execution by a user

• Scheduled pipeline

• Triggered by a project deployment rule

• Automated password rotation workflow

This ensures clear attribution and compliance visibility.

How It Fits Into the SDA Platform

The Backups view integrates with other SDA capabilities, including:

• Pipelines (backup, snapshot, FTP/SMB actions)

• Audit Logs (tracking user-initiated backup events)

• Device Snapshots (side-by-side history)

• Projects (linking backups to specific project versions or changes)

Together, these capabilities support robust disaster recovery, device lifecycle management, and compliance with industrial change-management standards.

Find out More

Backups

To find out how configue a backup pipeline, ples see the Using Pipelines page.

Vendor Support

For specific vendor support for Pipeline, please see the Pipeline Capability Matrix by Vendor page.