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Getting Your Cherwell Data

Cortex Archive connects to a Cherwell database as one of its archive data sources. It connects directly with read-only access over its normal connection model — we don't need you to send us a database backup.

Whether you can connect Cortex directly to your live database depends on where your Cherwell environment is hosted — Ivanti-hosted or self-managed.


Hosted by Ivanti​

If Cherwell is hosted by Ivanti, Cortex cannot connect to the underlying SQL Server directly (Ivanti controls the infrastructure). To give Cortex a database to read from, request a SQL backup of your hosted environment from Ivanti and restore it to a SQL Server Cortex can reach.

Ivanti provides this help article which covers the full request process. A few important notes before you start:

  1. You want the full database backup so you have everything to restore from. This is the most important thing to confirm when making your request.
  2. These files are large and can arrive corrupted. If anything looks wrong, contact Ivanti support immediately for a fresh copy - do not spend time troubleshooting a potentially corrupt file.
  3. Ivanti retains backups for 30 days, even after your license expires.
  4. If you run into delays or difficulties, let us know. We may be able to help route your request to the right people.

Once you have the backup, restore it to a SQL Server instance that's reachable from Cortex, and give us a read-only SQL login.


Self-hosted​

Cortex connects directly to your Cherwell SQL Server database with read-only access — no database backup or BAK file is needed. All you need to do is give us a SQL login with read-only access to the Cherwell database and make sure the SQL Server is reachable from the Cortex server. See How Cortex Archives Work for the connection model.

If you cannot grant direct access to your own SQL Server, take a standard backup using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or a backup script, then restore it to the SQL Server instance you'll connect Cortex to.


Send us an export for troubleshooting​

Need to share schema or lookup table data with us during support? See Send Us Your Cherwell Export for the CZAR options and how to transfer the files.