Administration

Updates, backups & maintenance

Keeping SwanDesk healthy — updating in place, automatic database migrations, and backups you can rely on.

Updating SwanDesk

To update, download the latest SwanDesk-Setup.exe and run it over your existing install. It upgrades in place and keeps all your data and settings. When a newer version is published, administrators see an update-available banner in the app so you know it’s time.

Schema updates

When the version changes, SwanDesk brings the database structure up to date by itself at startup — safely and additively, without touching your data. If you deploy by copying the program instead of running the installer, run Settings → Update schema once afterwards. Change-control shops can opt out and run it manually.

The data folder & backups

All of your data lives in the SwanDesk data folder on the server. Back it up on a schedule the way you would any important folder — and you can restore SwanDesk by reinstalling and dropping that folder back in place.

Switching from SQLite to MySQLProfessional

SwanDesk starts on its built-in SQLite database, which needs no setup. If you’d rather run on MySQL or MariaDB — for a larger team, or to use a database server you already run — a built-in wizard copies everything across for you. It’s available on the paid editions, and only while you’re still on SQLite.

  1. Create an empty MySQL/MariaDB database and a user with rights on it. It must be empty — the wizard won’t touch a database that already has application tables, so nothing gets overwritten.
  2. In SwanDesk, open Settings and click Migrate to MySQL.
  3. Enter the connection details — host (default 127.0.0.1), port (3306), the empty database name, and the username and password — then click Run migration.
  4. SwanDesk copies every table across and verifies it, showing a report with each table’s source and target row counts. Nothing switches over yet, and your SQLite database is left untouched.
  5. If every table checks out, click Switch to MySQL. SwanDesk points itself at the new database (keeping your web port and SSL settings) and restarts — reconnect at the same address a few seconds later.

It’s safe to try. The copy is verified before you can cut over — if any row counts don’t match, the switch is blocked. Your original SQLite file stays on disk as a rollback, so you can always point back to it.

Do it during a quiet moment. This is a one-time copy-and-switch, not an ongoing sync — anything written to SQLite after the copy wouldn’t be carried over, so migrate when the help desk is idle.

Encrypted backup & moving serversEnterprise

The Enterprise edition adds an automated, encrypted daily backup you turn on in Settings, plus a one-step export / import for moving SwanDesk to a new server or recovering after a failure — secrets and the Vault included.

HTTPS & certificates

SwanDesk can serve HTTPS itself — no IIS or other web server needed. The OpenSSL libraries it uses ship with the installer, so you only need to supply a certificate and switch it on. (Prefer to sit SwanDesk behind IIS instead? That’s covered in Getting started.)

What you need

A TLS certificate and its matching private key, as two files:

  • the certificate in PEM or CRT form (include the full chain if your CA gives you intermediate certificates), and
  • the private key (a .key file).

Use a certificate from a public authority (such as Let’s Encrypt or a commercial CA) for a browser-trusted public address, or one from your organization’s internal CA for internal use.

Turn on HTTPS

  1. Copy the certificate and key onto the SwanDesk server — for example into the SwanDesk data folder.
  2. Open Settings → Site Configuration → Advanced.
  3. Set the Web server port to 443 — the standard HTTPS port, so people don’t have to type a port number.
  4. Tick Enable built-in web server SSL, then enter the paths to your Certificate file and Private key file. Fill in Key password only if your key file is encrypted.
  5. Save, then restart SwanDesk — the port and SSL settings take effect when the service starts.

Your team can now reach SwanDesk at https://your-server-name/. Make sure inbound port 443 is open in the server’s firewall.

Renewing a certificate. When your certificate is reissued, replace the certificate and key files (keep the same file names and paths) and restart SwanDesk to load them.

Port already in use? If something else on the server owns port 443 — IIS, say — either free it for SwanDesk, choose a different HTTPS port, or leave IIS in front as a reverse proxy instead.