# Back up your Content Central database

Take a verified backup of the Content Central SQL database in two commands — and know the four other things a complete restore point needs.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: system-administrator · Time: 10 minutes · Last verified: 2026-08-30

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/back-up-your-content-central-database

**At the end of this guide you'll have a verified `.bak` file of your Content Central database — the backup you should take before any upgrade, migration, or major change, and on a regular schedule always.**

> **NOTE:** Backups run while Content Central is online. You do not need to stop services or kick users out — SQL Server backs up a live database safely.

## Before you start

You need to know two things, both visible in the **Configuration Manager** (Start menu > Ademero) on the Content Central server:

- **Your SQL Server instance.** If Content Central installed its own SQL Server, it's `localhost\ADEMERO`. If your organization uses its own SQL Server, use that name.
- **Your database name.** The default is `ContentCentral`.

## Steps

1. On the Content Central server (or any machine with SQL tools), open an **administrator Command Prompt**.

2. Take the backup — one command (adjust instance, database name, and destination):
   
   ```
   sqlcmd -S localhost\ADEMERO -E -Q "BACKUP DATABASE [ContentCentral] TO DISK='D:\Backups\ContentCentral.bak' WITH COPY_ONLY, CHECKSUM, INIT"
   ```
   
   > note: `COPY_ONLY` means this backup won't interfere with any backup schedule your IT team already runs. `CHECKSUM` makes SQL Server validate every page as it writes — a corrupt backup that fails on restore day is worse than no backup.

3. **Verify it** — never trust an unverified backup:
   
   ```
   sqlcmd -S localhost\ADEMERO -E -Q "RESTORE VERIFYONLY FROM DISK='D:\Backups\ContentCentral.bak' WITH CHECKSUM"
   ```
   
   **What you should see:** `The backup set on file 1 is valid.`

4. Copy the `.bak` file somewhere that is **not the Content Central server** — another server, a NAS, or offline media. A backup that lives only on the machine it protects disappears with it.

> **NOTE:** Prefer clicking? In SQL Server Management Studio: right-click the database > **Tasks > Back Up…**, Backup type **Full**, check **Copy-only backup**, and under Media Options check **Perform checksum before writing to media**. Same result.

## A database backup is not a complete restore point

Your documents are **files on disk, not rows in the database** — the database holds everything *about* them. A complete restore point is the database **plus**:

| What | Where |
| --- | --- |
| **Document files** | Your storage folders (default under `C:\ProgramData\Ademero\Content Central\`; check **Configuration Manager > System Folders** for relocated ones) |
| **Search indexes** | The Indexes system folder (rebuildable, but rebuilding a large system takes hours — backing up is cheaper) |
| **Configuration** | `C:\ProgramData\Ademero\Content Central\ConnectionInfo.xml` |
| **Web settings** | `web.config` in the Content Central website folder (only matters if your IT team customized it, e.g. for single sign-on) |

> **IMPORTANT:** Back up the database and the document folders in the **same window**. A database restored from Monday pointing at files copied Thursday produces missing-document errors that are painful to reconcile.

## How often?

At minimum: **nightly** database backups, document-folder backups on your organization's standard file-backup schedule, and an **extra verified backup immediately before any upgrade or server change** — kept until you've been stable on the new version for a comfortable period. If you already have an IT backup platform (Veeam, etc.), include the database and the storage folders in it and keep the pre-upgrade `COPY_ONLY` backup as your explicit restore point.

## What's next

- [Upgrade Content Central](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/upgrade-content-central)
- [What to know before moving Content Central to a new server](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/before-you-move-content-central)