Issue Description
If your on-premises BIMcloud (BIMcloud or BIMcloud Basic) experiences an environment failure, consult this article to know how to restore BIMcloud projects, using both PLN and Automatic Backup file recovery.
If you are unable to restore your on-premises BIMcloud server after the failure, you will need to back up your Project data, uninstall and reinstall BIMcloud, then re-share projects.
IMPORTANT! Before proceeding with the steps below, first find out if you can restore projects from local copies on Archicad workstations, since this is an easier process. Click here to see how to restore projects from local copies.
Solution
Locate the backup files and determine whether there is an up to date PLN or if you need to restore from an automatic backup.
Locating the Backup files
On the computer hosting the BIMcloud server, move the Project folders to a safe location so that they are not deleted during the next step.
Navigate to the Projects folder, then open each project folder individually.
Inside each project you will find a Backups folder. Each project will likely have a list of .archive files and possibly .PLN files.
Additional Information: The accuracy of PLN Backups, is dependent upon how consistently the users submitted PLN Snapshots when prompted on a daily basis. Since it is possible to Skip saving a PLN you might not see any PLNs or only a few PLN files. Check the date of the PLN file - If it matches the latest date on the .archive file, likely this PLN is the latest version of the project file and you can recover it from here. This PLN may be opened in Archicad and re-shared.
Restoring an Automatic Backup
Automatic Backups are typically more reliable but require more steps to restore. Continue to next section if you need to restore from an Automatic Backup copy.
- Locate the latest Automatic Backup file, which should be the latest copy of the project file. It may look something like "2018.04.18 08-53 Automatic Backup.archive".
- Make a copy of this file and rename the extension from .archive to .BIMProject2# (Replace 2# with whichever version you are using. Also the extension is case sensitive; be sure the BIMP are capital).
- Now launch the BIMcloud Manager in a web browser.
- Go to the Projects page and click Import.
- Browse to the newly renamed back up file from step 2 and import it, renaming as desired.
- Once the project is successfully imported, launch Archicad and connect to the BIMcloud.
- Join the project.
Note: At this stage, it is recommended that you save a PLN copy to have, even if just for an archive. Plus it is a good practice to save PLNs periodically. Go to File > Save As... Format/File Type: Archicad Solo Project (PLN).
Why Not Restore the Project.db File?
It is possible to restore the Project.db but it requires many more complicated steps than what is listed above.
Automatic Backup files have a higher chance of being stable copies.