Backing up your WebCT Course

Transcription

1 Backing up your WebCT Page 1/6

2 BACKING UP YOUR WEBCT COURSE This document provides WebCT designers with a step-by-step guide to creating archive backups of the WebCT courses for which they have responsibility. Please refer to the WebCT Archival Policy document and the C&ITS website for further information on the server backup policy. Introduction - Why create a Backup? WebCT Designers should ensure that their courses are frequently backed-up. This will ensure that vital and Student information is retained for archiving purposes. material is the Designer s responsibility, and backing-up will save time having to re-write the. It is recommended that a clean back-up be taken (one where the has been designed but no students added) as well as periodic backups throughout and at the end of the. WebCT contains a built-in process for backing up a course and the following instructions provide a step-by-step guide to its use. 1) Creating the backup 2) Downloading the backup from the server to a PC 3) Deleting older backups from the server WebCT Server Own PC CD/DVD WebCT Step 1 Backup file Step 2 Copy of Backup File Step 3 WebCT Server WebCT Backup file Page 2/6

3 1) How to create a WebCT Backup Login to WebCT, and go to the course you want to backup. (NB If you already have 3 or more backup files in this WebCT course, you will need to download and then delete at least some of the existing backup files before you can create a new one as the system has now been set to allow no more than 3 backup files per course to exist on the server. See Parts 2 and 3, later in this document for instructions on how to do download and delete backup files. When you have 2 or fewer existing backup files, you will be able to create a new one as described in the following steps.) 1. Click to open the Control Panel (on the top-left of the course screen) 2. Click on Expanded Control Panel. 3. From the Manage menu, click on Backup 4. In the Backup s screen, click on Create Backup as displayed in the Actions Menu on the right-hand side of the screen. 5. Type a short, informative description for the backup e.g. June 05 backup then click the Create button. Page 3/6

4 6. Click on Continue to return to the Backup s screen 7. WebCT will then create the backup and will list it as shown: Up to 3 of these backup zip files per course can be kept on the server. It is strongly recommended that copies of all backups should be downloaded to your local PC s hard disk drive and/or CD, as described below. (NB Do not attempt to unzip these backup files other than via the WebCT Restore options as described in the companion document Reusing your WebCT course content ). 2) How to Download a WebCT Backup to your PC Login to WebCT, and go to the course you want to Download. (NB You will need to have created a Backup file, as previously described, to be able to Download it to a PC. If you have already done so and are in the Backup Screen already, you can skip ahead to step 4.) 1. Click to open the Control Panel (on the top-left of the course screen) 2. Click on Expanded Control Panel. 3. From the Manage menu, click on Backup 4. Select the appropriate backup file(s) from the list by clicking in the radio button to the left of the file listing. Page 4/6

5 5. Click on Download in the Actions Menu 6. Click on the Save button in the File Download dialog box. 7. Choose the location into which you want to save your backup file (e.g. a folder in My Documents called WebCT Backup-files as in this example; or you may prefer to copy straight to a CD) 8. According to the settings on your PC, the Download Complete dialog may or may not appear. Just click on Close if it does. 3) Deleting Backup files from the Server. WebCT stores the course backup file on the server but, in order to conserve valuable space, there is a limit of 3 backups per course that can be held on the server at any one time. It is important, therefore, to download copies of the backup files to your local hard disk (and/or Page 5/6

6 CD) before deleting older backups from the server. Do not delete a backup file from the server, unless you have already downloaded a copy to your local PC or are absolutely confident that you will not need this backup file again. Login to WebCT, and go to the appropriate course. (NB If you have already downloaded and are in the Backup s Screen, you may skip ahead to Step 4 in the instructions below). 1. Click to open the Control Panel (on the top-left of the course screen) 2. Click on Expanded Control Panel. 3. From the Manage menu, click on Backup 4. Select the backup file to be deleted by clicking on the radio button to the left of the filename (NB ensure you have already downloaded a copy to PC, if required) 5. In the Actions menu, on the Right-hand side of the screen, click on Delete. 6. Confirm the delete action by clicking the OK button. 7. Once the deletion is complete, the deleted file will no longer be listed on the WebCT server. Page 6/6