Backup Configuration

Backup settings can be found in a tab titled 'Backup' under the Preferences option in the File menu.

You can see that there are four main selections and then another series of selections under tabs. Configure each selection as described below.

Selection	Description	Instruction
Removable Media Backup Drive	The letter of the drive to which backups should be written to.	Set this selection to the backup device you've installed on your computer. If the backup device does not appear as a drive letter selectable through the browse button, then the device is installed incorrectly, is not working properly, or is not supported by Visual Practice.
Include Vault Data in Backup	Includes patient MERV module (vault) data in your backups.	Check this selection if you have purchased the MERV module and store, or vault, files in the vault section of the patient registry. Please note the vault data should be backed up if you have it, you may have to move to a larger backup media, as vault data can be very large, and the amount of backup space it can take is unpredictable. Backups that exceed the size of backup media will trigger media spanning. While Backup and Restore can span backups, it is not an optimal backup solution.
Include SmartCharts MD Data in Backup	Includes SmartCharts MD module data in your backups.	Check this selection if you have purchased and are using the SmartCharts MD module. Similar to MERV/vault data, SmartCharts MD module data can be very large and you may have to move to larger backup media to accomodate it without media spanning.
FTP All Backups	Forces every backup to be copied to an FTP server as specified in the "Client" tab.	FTP Backup copies your regular backup to the FTP server specified in the "Client" tab of the Backup configuration. FTP Backup is described earlier in this document.
Store the Last 30 Backups	Sets the number of internal backups to store on the local hard disk. The default is 30.	Prior to copying a backup to removable media, Visual Practice creates an internal backup. This internal backup is stored on the local hard disk in the vp\backups\ folder. Depending on the amount of disk space available, you may need to decrease this number. ACSL recommends you keep a minimum of 14 backups on your local drive. Visual Practice automatically removes the older backups as they accumulate.
Client Tab: Address	The IP or domain name of the FTP Server to copy backups to.	If you own your own FTP Server, copy the IP address or the fully qualified domain name in this field.
Client Tab: Userid	The Userid of the FTP Server Visual Practice should use when logging into the FTP Server to deposit backups.	Enter the Userid of the user set up on the FTP server for backup purposes. At minimum this user id must have write privileges to the root or home directory upon login. There is no provision for pathing with an FTP login. This is by design. Userid's are case sensitive.
Client Tab: Password	The Password of the Userid of the FTP Server Visual Practice should use when logging into the FTP Server to deposit backups.	Enter the Password of the Userid set up on the FTP Server for backup purposes. Passwords are case sensitive.

The Internet Tab contains settings used to help Visual Practice connect to the internet. Visual Practice can provide email notification to an email address of backup statues and can FTP Backups across the internet to remote FTP servers.

Selection	Description	Instruction
Connect through a local area network (LAN)	Sets Visual Practice to use a LAN gateway internet connection.	Set this on if you have an internet gateway attached to your local area network and don't use a modem in your computer to connect to the internet.
Connect through a Dialup Modem Connection	Sets Visual Practice to use dialup for your internet connection.	Set this on if you use your modem to connect to the internet.
RAS Name	The Dialup Networking name of your connection.	Set this to the dial up networking name of your internet connection when you use a modem to connect to the internet.
Userid	The userid your dialup connection uses to connect to the internet.	Enter the userid assigned to you by your ISP.
Password	The password your dialup connection uses to connect to the internet.	Enter the password assigned to you by your ISP.

Notification enables you to set Visual Practice to send an email notification to an internet email address which contains the status of the backup performed. This is useful for system administrators for monitoring backup compliance. The notification system indicates the date and time of a backup, who performed it, on what computer, and if the backup was successful or not. Backup failures should be investigated.

Selection	Description	Instruction
None	Turn off email notification entirely.	Select this option when you don't wish to have Visual Practice send email notifications.
All Backups	Notify when any backups are done.	Select this option when you want Visual Practice to send email notifications for every backup.
FTP Backups Only	Notify only when FTP Backups are done.	Select this option when you only want Visual Practice to send email notifications when FTP Backups are done.
Email Address	Email address to which backup notification should be sent.	Enter the email address you wish email to be sent to by Visual Practice for notification. Note that it must be a valid internet email address such as user@domain.com
Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)	The SMTP server of your local email provider.	Your internet provider should supply you with this information, and if you use email on your local machine, you can check there for this setting, as it is already in your system.
Sender Email Address	The address of the sender of the email. Must be a valid email address.	When emails are sent they must originate from a valid address. Enter your email address or the email address of the administrator here.
Sender Name	The name of the email sender.	Enter the name of the person the sender email address belongs to.