Find out for yourself how AuthAnvil marks the new standard in reliability and performance, designed for businesses of all sizes and individuals who demand the most from their authentication experience.

Simply follow the steps below to make sure your authentication server is properly upgraded to the latest version of AuthAnvil.

Step 1 – Backup your existing data by creating a backup (bup) file.

1. Open a command window and navigate to the directory where aabackup.exe is located. (C:Program FilesScorpion SoftwareAuthAnvilTools by default)
2. To run the backup, run the command aabackup.exe followed by the SQL instance name.
   i.e. aabackup.exe SBS2008AUTHANVIL
    
3. Your bup file is created and saved in the same directory. If the backup is successful, the tool will complete silently. If you receive an error, confirm the SQL instance name, and that your user account has privileges to access the database and run the backup again.
4. Confirm that your file is valid by ensuring that it is well-formed XML. It can be moved to a secure location for later restoration.
5. Please write down or note your SQL Instance name as it will be needed for the new version.

Step 2 – Uninstall old version of AuthAnvil

Now that all configuration data has been backed up, you can uninstall the existing product:

1. Click Start, then Control Panel,and finally Add or Remove Programs.
2. If installed, click on any AuthAnvil agents (ie: Windows Logon Agent, RADIUS Server etc) and then click Remove. Follow instructions for removal.
   NOTE: If the AuthAnvil Windows Logon Agent is installed, the system will restart as soon as the uninstall is finished. Be sure to do this when this resource will not be needed.
3. After uninstalling the agents, proceed to uninstall the AuthAnvil Server
4. Click on AuthAnvil, and then Remove. Follow instructions for removal.
5. Uninstall the AuthAnvil Database Management Tool last.

After removing all the agents, the server and the database tool, you are ready to proceed with the AuthAnvil v3.5 install.

Step 3 – Install AuthAnvil Strong Authentication Server

Please refer to the AuthAnvil Installation Guide for instructions on installing AuthAnvil. 

Note: The authentication web service URL has changed from the old /TokenValidator/TokenValidator.asmx to the new /AuthAnvilSAS/SAS.asmx. The new web service URL is at http://localhost/AuthAnvilSAS/SAS.asmx Be sure to use this new URL when configuring agents. 

Step 4 – Test upgraded AuthAnvil install

With all the previous configuration settings now restored, your installation SHOULD be back and fully working.

To test that this is true for AuthAnvil, follow these steps:

1. Using an AuthAnvil account that is a site admin, log in to the AuthAnvil Manager using your AuthAnvil credential.
2. Click the System Test tab. When the system test is complete ensure all users, tokens and settings passed.
3. Click the Users tab, click a user name, then click Manage User and then Test Token. Follow the on screen instructions and ensure you can successfully authenticate that token.

Once AuthAnvil is fully tested to be working, you can turn to upgrade all your AuthAnvil agents.

Step 5 – Backup your new AuthAnvil configuration and settings

You are almost done! Actually… you are. All that is left is to backup your newly configured AuthAnvil system settings.

1. Open a command window and go to C:Program FilesScorpion SoftwareAuthAnvilAuthAnvilTools
2. To run the backup, run the command aabackup.exe followed by the SQL instance name.
   i.e. aabackup.exe SBS2008AUTHANVIL
    
3. Your bup file is created and saved in the same directory. If the backup is successful, the tool will complete silently. If you receive an error, confirm the SQL instance name, and that your user account has privileges to access the database and run the backup again.

Why backing up your AuthAnvil configuration data is important

Besides the traditional answer of data diligence for recovery operations, there is a very practical reason for doing so. The original token import file that you are emailed includes token information at the time that they were programmed. Once a token has been used for a period of time, it has the potential to be “out of sync” with the server if you re-import the token information at a later date from the original file. The solution is to manually resync the token after re-import, which can be tedious if you are managing a lot of tokens and have to manually resync each one. A better solution would be to simply restore the most recent AuthAnvil BUP, which will include the most recent keys used during the last successful authentication challenge.

Automating the backup of AuthAnvil configuration data and audit logs

Using a tasked schedule, you can configure it to routinely backup the data and make it available to your normal server backup sets. Below is a step by step guide on how to do that:

Step 1 – Create a new Scheduled Task

Open the Scheduled Task folder in Control Panel and select “Add Scheduled Task”.

Step 2 – Browse for aabackup.exe

When asked which program to run select “Browse” and browse to aabackup.exe, which is normally stored in the C:Program FilesScorpion SoftwareAuthAnvilAuthAnvilTools folder.

Step 3 – Configure Schedule

You will need to decide when you want to schedule the task. It is recommended you backup daily or weekly to ensure synchronization data and audit logs are securely stowed away on a regular basis. You might also want to give the task a more friendly name, such as “AuthAnvil Backup“.

Once you schedule the frequency and hit next, you will be asked what time of day you want to start the task. It only takes a few moments to run, but should be done at the end of the day, or just before your daily server backup is done to tape or hard disk.

Step 4 – Select the account with privileges to execute the backup

Select the account you would like to use to run the backup. This should be an account with enough privileges to access and read the AuthAnvil data on the SQL Server.

Step 5 – Select to Save and Open Advanced properties

Although normally a scheduled task is now complete, we need to make a slight change to the task. To do so, check the box that says “Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish“.

Step 6 – Update the run line to target your SQL Server

The AuthAnvil Backup Agent takes as a parameter the SQL instance name where the AuthAnvil database resides.

ie: aabackup.exe SOMESQLSERVERSQLEXPRESS.

If you are targeting a standard SQL Server (not express), and are not sure what the instance name is, ask your database administrator. Usually it is just the server name. But you need to confirm with your DB admin.

Below is a screenshot of it configured to our main office’s SQL 2008 server. Notice the SQL-HQ appended to the end.

Once you have made this change in the run field, make sure you hit “Apply”. You will be prompted to re-enter the credentials.

Step 7 – Configure your backup software to backup the AuthAnvil BUP

At this point, the scheduled task will be creating a *.bup file in the base directory of where aabackup.exe resides. You should configure your backup software to include that folder in the nightly backup set, to ensure you properly back it up.

NOTE: A BUP file stores all AuthAnvil configuration and audit data, and should be properly secured. You may wish to copy the aabackup.exe file to a secure location and further tighten NTFS ACLs so permissions will only allow the backup account privileges to read and access the .bup files created, along with the administrative account which needs to execute the aabackup tool. All other access should be explicitly denied.

You will also want to remember to routinely purge the .bup files out of that directory. Over time, this could fill up your hard drive, especially if you have a lot of audit log items being recorded.

Need help?

If you have any problems during your upgrade process, please open a new support case. We would be happy to help.