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How To Backup Sage 100 and Sage 100cloud

March 21, 2019 by Wayne Schulz

A common question that we hear from users of Sage 100 or Sage 100cloud is “How should we backup our accounting data?”.

For Sage 100 / Sage 100cloud Standard and Advanced, you can expect your underlying data to be stored under a top-level \MAS90 folder.

This \MAS90 folder is set by Sage and cannot be renamed. The folder name refers to the prior brand name of Sage 100 which was MAS90.

Tip: If you are not sure where your server is located, navigate within Sage 100 to the File menu. Select run and type *INFO.

This will provide you with a list of information which includes the installation path of your Sage 100 as well as any subscription info related to your payroll module.

Underneath the \MAS90 folder you will see the following data structure for both the Standard and Advanced versions of Sage 100 and Sage 100cloud.

In most cases, you’ll be protected if you take a full backup of the \MAS90 folder and all subfolders. This is the most popular method for backing up Sage data.

If you are using the Premium (SQL) version of Sage 100cloud then you’ll want to backup your Sage 100 as per these instructions PLUS also backup your Microsoft SQL Server Sage tables including the MAS_SYSTEM and MAS_XXX (where XXX is equal to each company code setup in Sage 100).

Some companies make use of alternate directories and securely store their data in a folder other than one beneath the \MAS90 folder.

How To Know If Your Sage 100 or Sage 100cloud Uses Alternate Directories

If you’ve been using Sage 100 for many years you may not be the original person who configured the system and therefore you may not know if your Sage 100 data is stored in an alternate directory.

Here’s how you can tell where your Sage 100 data is stored – including if it’s been custom configured to use an alternate directory.

From within Sage 100 Library Master navigate to company maintenance, enter your company code then click the preferences tab. The resulting screen will display a path to both your main Sage data as well as your payroll data (if any).

If your data location is outside the installed directory path (as shown by the *INFO command above) you will need to separately backup the data location as well.

In most cases Sage users are not using alternate directories. However, it is an option so before you plan your backup process please ensure alternate directories are not in use at your company.

How To Find The Path To Paperless Office Files

Paperless Office is a feature within Sage 100 which, when enabled, will print certain documents to a PDF file. These files are stored in user-defined locations which most likely will NOT be under the \MAS90 folder.

You can verify if Paperless Office is enabled by navigating to Sage 100 – Paperless Office – Setup – Paperless Office Options.

If any of the four options in the upper left are checked, then you are likely using (and storing) paperless office documents.

If you see that Paperless Office is enabled, you will need to review each of the four types of documents to see where each are stored as the path for each is completely user configurable.

To review the location of where paperless forms are stored, navigate to Paperless Office – Setup – Form Maintenance.

You’ll need to collect a list of all the PDF Directory paths shown for each type of paperless document your company is saving.

Most frequently you’ll find these documents are stored under a common folder and once you find the folder you can backup the entire contents.

Should You Perform a Full or Selective Backup of Sage 100 or Sage 100cloud?

Whether you backup all data files (full) or just files that have changed (selective) is up to your IT department.

In most cases we advocate for a full system backup since this can make your system restore much easier.

When restoring data files you generally cannot restore just one module due to the integrated nature of the accounting system.

If you are in the situation where you need to restore data please consult with your IT or Sage partner for guidance on best practices.

Backup and Disaster Recovery for ERP Users

February 25, 2014 by Wayne Schulz

How are you backing up your important accounting data? If you’re making informal backups without a real plan of how you’d managed operations in the case of a disaster (think extended power outage due to hurricane, flood , earthquake) then you may be leaving your business exposed.

At a recent conference one of my colleagues presented a short overview of an interesting data recovery solution which not only backs up your accounting data but utilizes some specialized hardware that would allow you to be up and running shortly after a disaster.

No power in your main location? This system allows another location to remotely connect and run your server data which has been uploaded and mirrored to a remote data center (one on each coast of North America).

It’s easy to ignore disaster recovery planning. Most companies don’t do any planning until they experience a serious loss of data. In come cases this loss of data is enough to cause the company to go out of business.

More information on disaster recovery services

How to backup MAS 90 or MAS 200

July 2, 2009 by Wayne Schulz

We’re frequently asked which Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200 data files should be backed up to ensure that to ensure that there is a completely restorable set of program and data files.

While you can attempt to backup files in any number of ways (only those that change or incremental as well as full backup) the only method we recommend is a full backup of all data files.

All versions of Sage MAS 90 and 200 are installed to a folder \MAS90 (note that this folder name is NOT different for Sage MAS 200).

To Find Where MAS 90 Is Installed – All Levels:

To discover the exact path where your Sage MAS 90 is installed (note that this procedure is different for anyone using MAS 200) – start the MAS 90 program and select File and Run from the menu.

In the sample image above your Sage MAS 90 program and data is all stored within the network drive h:\acct\v4.2\mas90.

In order to backup you’d specify that all of the data in the \mas90 folder and all subfolders should be saved.

While you technically may be able to only back up files that have changed we recommend that you take the entire folder (and all subfolders).

This will back up the core MAS 90 program and data files.

If you are using third party programs such as FRX you also should be sure to backup the SYSDATA folder (locatable via the FRX – Administration panel).

Be sure to backup any paperless office files (PDF) – the location of which can be stored nearly anywhere on your network (review the Paperless Office setup menu for Journals and Registers, Period End, Report, and Form in order to see where you’ve specified the Paperless documents should be stored. These are NOT automatically inside the \MAS90 folder so you should take care to locate their custom location).

To Find Where MAS 200 Is Installed – All Levels:

The procedure for MAS 200 backup is essentially the same as above except you cannot normally use the *INFO solution to find where MAS 200 is installed because it provides the location of your local workstation configuration file — when what you want is the location of the network data.

One way to discover where MAS 200 is installed on the server is to work directly on the server and look under the Administrative options and check the MAS 200 service which should display the location that MAS 200 is installed on the server.

TIPS:

Have everyone out of Sage MAS 90 or 200 when you backup. If there is someone in the system you run the chance of a data file (or files) not transferring properly because they are in use.

Before finalizing a backup policy – double check that you have located the correct folder containing current Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200 data. It is a good idea to check the data file dates to be sure they are current and display the date of the last time you performed data entry in the system. Your MAS 90 and MAS 200 data files are stored in the MAS90\MAS_xxx folder where xxx is your 3 character Sage MAS 90 or 200 company code.

Always test your backups to be sure that you can restore the data. After you’ve made a test restore – go into the data and be sure it is current and complete. Test your restore to a separate server so as not to over-write existing data.

Keep as many copies of your backups as you have space for. At a minimum we recommend two weeks of daily backups and 12 monthly and 1 yearly backup. Where backups are concerned – always err on the side of having too many.

Remember – proper backup procedures are one of your most important responsibilities to safeguard against loss of data. The information here is general in nature and cannot possibly cover every user situation. You are advised to test all backups by performing a full restore to a test location to verify that your procedure is working.

How To Know If Your Sage 100 or Sage 100cloud Uses Alternate Directories

How To Find The Path To Paperless Office Files

Should You Perform a Full or Selective Backup of Sage 100 or Sage 100cloud?

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