Critical Data

SQL Data

There are two SQL databases that contain critical data for MinistryPlatform: The MinistryPlatform database and the ReportServer database. Both databases are backed up on a regular basis through SQL Maintenance Plan. The Maintenance Plan stores a backup of the database on the local server. You should back up these files (particularly the .bak files) to alternate media every night.

File Storage

On your web server, there is a folder in the root of your data partition named _MinistryPlatformFileStorage (or something similar). This folder contains all of the images in MinistryPlatform, including photos, scans, and icons. You should back up this folder to alternate media every night.

Custom Themes and Skins

You should back up church-specific theme customizations in the MinistryPlatform applications every time you change them. These include the wwwroot\Portal\churchname\_DomainData folder under Portal and the Themes and Nametags folders in wwwroot\Checkin\churchname\_DomainData folder.

SSRS Encryption Key

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) uses encryption to protect sensitive data with an encryption key. The encryption key the SSRS uses is separate from the database, and you must back it up separately. If you move the ReportServer database, you must restore the encryption key before SSRS will work. You only need to back up the encryption key once unless you manually change the encryption key or make major changes to the system.

SSL Certificate

MinistryPlatform relies on SSL encryption to secure traffic between client and web servers. A stored SSL certificate provides the key used to encrypt and decrypt the traffic. Publicly-trusted Certificate Authorities issue SSL certificates for a set period of time, and you must renew them before they expire. Certificates usually have one-, two-, or three-year terms. Most Certificate Authorities re-issue a certificate at little or no cost if you lose a certificate due to hardware failure, but it can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days to re-issue a certificate. To avoid the hassle of requesting a re-issue, back up your SSL certificate every time you renew. You only need to back up an SSL certificate once.

Tip: Save SSRS encryption key and SSL Certificate backups in your Database Backups folder so they automatically back up to alternate media as part of your scheduled nightly job.

Custom Apps

If you have custom development or installed apps written by other churches, make sure you have those application files as part of your backup plan. We can't help you put custom applications back together, and third-party developers may not be able to help you reinstall applications in case of a disaster. Most third-party and custom applications store in wwwroot alongside the default MinistryPlatform applications.

Important Files to speed up your restore

MinistryPlatform Web Application Files

The wwwroot folder on your web server's data partition contains the web application files that make up the MinistryPlatform ecosystem.

The _MinistryPlatformTools folder on your web server's data partition provides scheduled services outside of the MinistryPlatform web application, like email delivery. You should back up these files at least every time you install an update.

Self-hosted vs. Cloud-hosted

We configure some backups for all customers when we initially install MinistryPlatform. To learn more, see SQL Maintenance Plans.

Self-hosted customers receive the following:

• A full database backup runs nightly.
• Transaction log backups run every 15 minutes.

Cloud customers enjoy additional data protection services:

• Shared Cloud server backups run nightly and store on a separate infrastructure.
• Shared Cloud servers replicate every five minutes to separate physical hardware.
• We create nightly databases and application file backups and replicate them to an off-site data center. These also back up to tape.