Is Time Machine suitable for backing up data on the server?

Is Time Machine suitable for backing up data on the server?

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Time Machine is a data backup software from Apple, which has been integrated into the operating system since Mac OX X 10.5. We do not recommend using Time Machine on the server machine for the following reasons:

  1. In Time Machine, no time window can be defined for the data backup. For example, the data backup also starts when all users are logged in and your system is under load. This can slow down the response times of the server.
  2. Time Machine always backs up entire files. The criterion for whether a file is saved is whether the file has been changed in the meantime. 4D Server stores the data in a single large data file, which changes permanently. Thus Time Machine tries to save the 4D database permanently.
  3. The backup of the 4D database via Time Machine is not only unsuccessful because the data file is constantly changing, but also because an active (open) database cannot be backed up in this way. While Time Machine is still struggling with the backup, users have already changed the data again in the meantime. In addition, data is in the cache memory and is not yet on the hard disk.

The 4D database must be backed up with 4D Backup to ensure that this copy is complete. Configure 4D Backup so that the data backup is carried out during the night, e.g. at 2:00 am. Then no users are in the system and the system is not slowed down. This backup is your primary backup and is located on the same computer (but preferably on a different hard drive) as the productive database.
You should then copy the backup files created in this way to an installation outside the office using a tool such as Carbon Copy Cloner. 
It is important that this secondary backup is checked regularly and is in a different location.