(Issues not applicable to AX-3.8) When making backups of Niagara stations to restore a station back to its current state, you have the option of either the Station Copier or the BackupService tools.
| Using Station Copier | Using BackupService and Distribution File Installer |
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| User passwords are usable, but client (account) passwords are not. | Both User passwords and client passwords are usable, but encryption keys are identical. |
| NOTE: Issues do not apply to AX-3.8. See Improvements and changes in AX-3.8. | |
Now, you must keep in mind if the original source host (JACE hardware) needs to be replaced, the backup files archived using
the Station Copier (above left) do not contain the key used for encrypting “client passwords”. So those passwords will not be usable after the
copy is restored back to the new hardware. (You could, however, copy that station back to the original source host without
issues—providing a “clean dist” (cleaning) file has not been installed beforehand. A clean dist removes the !security folder from the host, and new set of encryption keys are generated upon station startup).
Whereas, the backup .dist file made using the BackupService tools (above right) does contain the host’s security (encryption) key. If needed, you could successfully install that dist file to new JACE hardware.
So, a backup .dist is a more reliable way to ensure that the system can be recovered.