MSE only supports data backup from Cisco PRIME/NCS.
If mse is down and after troubleshooting there is no way to get it back then you lost the data, no way around it.
Also this is not Cisco official process but I have seen clients recovering from VM snapshots pretty well. Understanding VM snapshots <http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1015180>
The MSE backup file format is "lsbackup" for those asking if there is a way to back up from the MSE itself answer is no.
MSE backup to external FTP ( external so you dont consume PI disk):
access PI via SSH and point the backup to an external FTP server, note that from 7.5 and higher ( you should be on 8.0.120.0 or higher ) you can send the MSE backup file out to an external server so you don't use PRIME hard disk for this.
Prime-1/admin# conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
Prime-1/admin(config)# repository <give a name to the server>
Prime-1/admin(config)# repository ftp-external-server
Prime-1/admin(config-Repository)# url
cdrom: Local CD-ROM drive (read only)
disk: Local hard disk storage
ftp: URL using a FTP server
http: URL using a HTTP server (read only)
https: URL using a HTTPS server (read only)
nfs: URL using a NFS server
sftp: URL using a SFTP server
tftp: URL using a TFTP server
**I used FTP for this sample:**
Prime/admin(config-Repository)# url ftp://192.168.10.20
**enter the ftp username and password:**
Prime/admin(config-Repository)# user <username> password plain <ftp_password>
Prime/admin(config-Repository)# exit
go back to PRIME GUI> Services tab> click on the MSE you want to run the backup for> look for backup > click on Backup Repository and select the FTP server you just configure > hit Submit
Devices used for this document:
MSE 8.0.X
PI 2.2.X
cheers!
Felix Arrieta
