# Maintenance and backup

### Keeping Parallels RAS up to date

By default, Parallels RAS checks for updates each time the RAS Console is started. If you wish to change this behavior:

1. Select the **Administration** category and click the **Settings** tab.
2. Select or clear the **Check for updates when launching Parallels RAS Console** option according to your needs.
3. Select or clear the **Automatically update RAS Session Host Agents** option according to your needs.
4. To check for updates manually, click the **Check Now** button.

### Backing up the Parallels RAS Farm configuration

To backup the Parallels RAS Farm configuration:

1. Select the **Administration** category and then click the **Settings** tab.
2. Click the **Export Settings** button.
3. You'll see a message box saying that all sites will be synchronized. Click **Yes** to continue with export or click **No** to abort it.
4. Specify the file name and target folder and click **Save**.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Note:** The export procedure only exports the Parallels RAS Farm configuration data. Unrelated objects, such as downloaded OS, etc. are not included in the exported file.
{% endhint %}

To restore a Parallels RAS Farm configuration from a backup file, click the **Import Settings** button and select a backup file (the default file extension is `.dat2`). When you import a configuration from a file, your existing Farm configuration will be completely replaced with it.

You can also export and import a Parallels RAS Farm configuration from the command line. For complete instructions, please read on.


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