Note to Professional Edition (PE) Users: BULK API is not supported by Salesforce in Professional Edition, therefore this module will not work for PE users.
Allows the user to create an automatic backup of their Salesforce data on their local computer. Expanding the capabilities of MassBackup, BulkBackup uses the Salesforce Bulk API to export the data and save to .mdb (32bit only) or .accdb, or csv files. Backup scenarios can also be saved and scheduled, allowing all objects or only a specific subset of objects to be backed up regularly.
If creating an Access file, limitations will apply to the number of fields for a particular object and overall size limits. A few specific limitations are noted below.
- Access will not allow more than 255 fields to be defined for a particular object
- Therefore, if any object has a lot of custom fields, such that the overall number of fields exceeds the 255 field limit the backup will fail for that particular object with the error "too many fields defined" reported in the logfile.
- The overall size of the resulting file cannot exceed 2GB
- If the data in your Salesforce exceeds this limit, the access file will be created but will only contain data for objects up until the point where the 2GB limit was exceeded, so a complete backup may not have been done.
For a complete list of limitations consult the following link or similar: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access-help/access-2010-specifications-HA010341462.aspx. Customers with very large objects (e.g. objects with over 400K records) should ideally use CSV as the output file type to ensure that all records are written.
Capabilities & Features
- User friendly interface
- Backup all or just selected Salesforce objects to the local drive
- Backup Salesforce data anytime and as often as needed
- Can be scheduled through Windows Task Scheduler and/or DemandTools JobBuilder
Common Uses
- Maintain a Hot backup of Salesforce data
- Backup data before implementing major changes
- Backup data for analytic purposes with the use of 3rd party software (Cognos, Crystal Reports, Business Objects)
- Scheduled Backups
Compatible Data Sources (output)
- .mdb (32bit only)
- .accdb
- .csv
Executing the Backup
1. Export All Tables(Objects) or Specific Tables(Objects)
- To export all tables check Export All Tables
- To select specific tables (Export All Tables must be unchecked)
- Choose the objects manually by selecting the checkbox next to the object name
- Click Select All and manually deselect the objects to not backup
- Click Select None to clear all selections
Notes:
1. Attachments and Documents are NOT included in the backup.
2. Archived Tasks/Events and deleted items are also not included as they are not accessible using Salesforce's Bulk export capability.
3. Bulk API does not support all objects, therefore some objects will fail.
2. Control
Select the radio button to specify the creation of either an Access Database file, or individual CSV files. Checkboxes available to optionally append the current date/time to the end of the supplied access filename or to create a sub-directory within the specified csv directory selected in item 3 below.
When saving as CSV will be prompted to specify the desired encoding and separator:
- Encoding options include: PC's "Default" encoding, UTF8, Unicode, ASCII, BigEndian Unicode, UTF32, UTF7
- CSV separator can be Comma (default), Tab or type in another desired character as the separator, (e.g. |)
3. Select File/Directory
- Saving as Access Database
- Click Select File, specify the desired file name and type (.mdb or .accdb)
- .mdb ONLY available in 32bit DemandTools
- If the selected file already exists, will get a pop-up warning that it already exists with an option to replace
- Saving as CSV
- Click Select Directory and browse/select where the csv files should be created
- Make New Folder: Option to create a new folder and select that folder for the backup
- If the selected directory already contains files, will get a pop-up warning stating that some of the files could be deleted during the backup
- Files with the SAME name will be OVERWRITTEN with the latest data for that object
- Any new objects will be appended to the existing tables
- For example, if the folder contains a file for the Account object, and the latest backup is for Accounts, Contacts and Leads, the Account file will be overwritten with the latest Account data and new files will be created and added to the folder for Contacts and Leads.
- Click Select Directory and browse/select where the csv files should be created
4. Export
- Click Export to begin the export
- The amount of time the export will take is dependent upon a number of factors including database size, speed of the Salesforce API servers, internet connection speed and general internet traffic
- Upon completion a pop up window will appear with a link to the .mdb or .accdb database, or the directory where the CSV files were saved
5. Status
Shows the progress of the export.
6. Scenarios
Backup scenarios can also be saved and scheduled, allowing all objects or only a specific subset of objects to be backed up regularly. The selected object, and output types are saved as part of the scenario. When saving as CSV the encoding and separator options are also saved. After loading a saved scenario the user will need to specify either the file name or desired directory then select Export to execute the backup.
Scenarios can be scheduled via DemandTools JobBuilder.
MassEffect can also be used to export data from any individual table. MassEffect allows for only specific records to be exported, as well as provides the ability to choose which fields should be exported. MassEffect exports can also be scheduled.
