Logo
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows Azure
Windows Server
Windows Phone
World Cup news
 
 
Windows Server

Backing Up Windows Server 2008 (part 1) - Full Server Backup

3/24/2011 4:06:17 PM
The tools that you have available to you out of the box, the targets that are of interest, and the major considerations related to backup planning have all been discussed. It is time to integrate each of these topics and actually carry out some backup operations.

Full Server Backup

This section takes you through the process of establishing a daily full server backup schedule that targets a remote shared folder. This backup scenario is a relatively common one, and it addresses many of the basic requirements that exist for disaster recovery scenarios involving server recovery from a catastrophic event.

Before attempting the following series of steps, you must address the following prerequisites:

  1. Ensure that Windows Server Backup Features are enabled.

  2. Make sure your account is a member of either the Administrators group or Backup Operators group on the local server being backed up.

  3. Create a service account that is used when executing the backup jobs that are created. This account should also be a member of either the Administrators group or the Backup Operators group on the local server.

  4. Have a remote shared folder that is online, possesses sufficient free space for your backup data, and is accessible via UNC path for reading and writing by both your account and the service account created in step 3.

  5. Ensure that clustered shared volumes (distributed-access file system volumes that are new to failover clustering in Windows Server 2008 R2) are neither the source nor the destination for backup data.

If you have addressed these concerns, you are ready to proceed.

  1. Log on to the server that is to be backed up using your account credentials.

  2. Click the Start button and navigate to Administrative Tools, Windows Server Backup. Doing so brings up the Windows Server Backup MMC snap-in, as shown in Figure 1.

    Figure 1. The Windows Server Backup MMC snap-in.
  3. Click the Backup Schedule link under the Actions menu on the right side of the menu to launch the Backup Schedule Wizard. After a few moments with a progress bar, the Getting Started page of the Backup Schedule Wizard appears with some basic information about the wizard. Click the Next button to continue.

  4. The Select Backup Configuration page appears. As shown in Figure 2, you should select the Full Server (Recommended) option to capture all data on the server within the backup.

    Figure 2. Selecting the server’s entire contents for backup.

    Selecting the Full Server (Recommended) option affords you a great deal of flexibility in the event of a disaster. With a full server backup, you could choose to recover the entire server, only certain volumes on the server, system state information, or any combination of these items and more. Click the Next button to continue to the next wizard page.

  5. On the Specify Backup Time page, you select the time or times at which you want Windows Server Backup to launch a backup operation. Figure 3 demonstrates configuring a single daily backup that is executed at 2 a.m. each day.

    Figure 3. Establishing a 2 a.m. daily backup schedule.

    If Windows Server Backup represents the primary mechanism through which server data protection is achieved, RPO targets that have been established for the server environment should directly drive the frequency with which you perform backups. You can typically use a single daily backup to meet a 24-hour RPO target for server data, two evenly spaced daily backups to meet a 12-hour RPO target, three evenly spaced daily backups to meet an 8-hour RPO target, and so on.

    Of course, you must balance the frequency with which you take backups against the impact of running such backups. Conducting backups during normal business hours can adversely impact server availability and network utilization, so many organizations choose to run backups during nonbusiness hours.

    In addition, backups do not complete instantaneously; they may take hours to run. You must consider this backup run time when determining the frequency with which to perform backups to avoid overlap between adjacent backups.

    Click the Next button to continue once you have specified your backup frequency and execution time(s).

  6. The Specify Destination Type page appears and prompts you to select the storage location type used to store your backups. Because this walk-through places backups on a shared network folder, the Back Up to a Shared Network Folder option is selected, as shown in Figure 4.

    Figure 4. Selecting a shared network folder for backups.

    Note

    As shown in Figure 4, the wizard recommends that a dedicated hard disk, either internal or external, be utilized as a storage location for backups. Dedicating a disk permits multiple backup versions and removes the dependency of a functioning network, but it does not offer a built-in mechanism for offloading or migrating backup data in the event of a catastrophic server failure. If you elect to take the dedicated disk route, your implementation should also include a custom script or migration strategy to transfer backups to a safe location in accordance with your disaster recovery strategy and larger business continuity plan (BCP).


  7. Once you have specified the destination type, click the Next button to continue. A message box appears to warn you that each backup to a remote shared folder erases any that were previously present. Click the OK button to continue.

  8. The Specify Remote Shared Folder page appears and prompts you for the UNC path of the remote shared folder to create backups. It is here that you supply the predetermined file share location, as shown in Figure 5.

    Figure 5. Specifying the backup location.

    Tip

    Because the backup is performed to a remote share, the only Access Control option is Inherit. This means that anyone with access to the file share where the backup data is written can see the data, work with it, and even delete it. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that the backup destination location be locked down to just a select group of administrators and the service account under which the backup jobs are executed.


  9. Once you have specified the backup location, click the Next button. The Register Backup Schedule dialog box appears to prompt you for the credentials under which the backup jobs should be run. It is here that the service account credentials, which were created in prerequisite step 3, are supplied.

    Once you have supplied the backup service account credentials, click the OK button to continue.

  10. The Confirmation page of the wizard appears, as seen in Figure 6. Confirm that the details are correct, and click the Finish button.

    Figure 6. Confirming the backup schedule parameters.
  11. The Summary page appears, and the wizard establishes and schedules a recurring backup job according to the parameters supplied. When it has finished its actions, click the Close button to close the wizard.

  12. Once you have closed the wizard, the Windows Server Backup snap-in updates to reflect that a backup schedule has been created, as shown in Figure 7. Note the addition of the Scheduled Backup pane at the bottom of the main window, as well as the change in status under the Next Backup area in the middle of the window.

    Figure 7. Windows Server Backup snap-in updated to reflect backup schedule.

The completion of step 12 means that your server has been set up to run daily backups on the schedule specified. An actual backup has not yet been run, though. Ideally, you should validate that a backup can be run given all the configuration data that was just supplied to create the scheduled task.

With a scheduled backup, it is a simple matter to go through the Backup Once Wizard within the Windows Server Backup snap-in, indicate that you want to run a single backup using the parameters you just supplied through the Backup Schedule Wizard (as shown if Figure 8), and execute a one-time backup task to perform validation by clicking the Backup button.

Figure 8. Launching a one-time backup using scheduled backup options.

After you have started the one-time backup, the display of the Backup Once Wizard changes to provide a detailed status for monitoring the backup operation, as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Monitoring the backup job from the Backup Once Wizard.

You can close the Backup Once Wizard after the backup is complete or at any point prior to completion. If you close the wizard prior to backup completion, the backup simply continues to run in the background until it is complete.

Independently of the Backup Once Wizard, the Messages window within the Windows Server Backup snap-in updates to reflect both the backup job’s progress and its ultimate success or failure. The Status displays below the Messages window also change to incorporate the status of the most recently attempted backup operation.

Assuming the backup job completes successfully, you have the data needed to fully recover the server in the event of a catastrophic failure.

Top Search -----------------
- Windows Server 2008 R2 : Work with RAID Volumes - Understand RAID Levels & Implement RAID
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Administration : Managing Printers with the Print Management Console
- Configuring Email Settings in Windows Small Business Server 2011
- Windows Server 2008 R2 : Configuring Folder Security, Access, and Replication - Implement Permissions
- Monitoring Exchange Server 2010 : Monitoring Mail Flow
- Windows Server 2008 R2 :Task Scheduler
- Windows Server 2008 R2 : File Server Resource Manager
- Windows Server 2008 R2 : Installing DFS
- Exchange Server 2010 : Managing Anti-Spam and Antivirus Countermeasures
- Windows Server 2008 R2 : Configuring Folder Security, Access, and Replication - Share Folders
Other -----------------
- Exchange Server 2010 : Mailbox Configuration (part 5) - Import, Export and Archive Mailboxes
- Exchange Server 2010 : Mailbox Configuration (part 4) - Moving Mailboxes & Disabling, Removing, and Reconnecting Mailboxes
- Exchange Server 2010 : Mailbox Configuration (part 3) - Configuring Mailbox Properties
- Exchange Server 2010 : Mailbox Configuration (part 2) - Linked Mailboxes
- Exchange Server 2010 : Mailbox Configuration (part 1) - Creating Mailboxes
- Windows Server 2003 : Implementing Secure Network Administration Procedures (part 2)
- Windows Server 2003 : Implementing Secure Network Administration Procedures (part 1) - Introducing Network Security Protocols
- SharePoint 2010 PerformancePoint Services : Analysis Services Data Source
- SharePoint 2010 PerformancePoint Services : Overview of Data Sources
- SharePoint 2010 PerformancePoint Services : Content Migration with Dashboard Designer
 
 
Most view of day
- SharePoint 2010 : Configuring Search Settings and the User Interface - Search Scopes
- Microsoft SharePoint 2013 : Looking at Visio Services (part 3) - Visio Graphics Service service application
- Customizing Windows 7 : Change the Desktop Background
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 : Using Library Items and Server-side Includes (part 4) - Editing a Library Item
- Securing the Workstation : Applying the Castle Defense System (part 6) - Working with external access - Working with the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security
- Windows Phone 8 : Using Sound (part 2) - Recording Sounds
- Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 : Animating Slide Content (part 1) - Choosing an Animation Effect
Top 10
- Microsoft Excel 2010 : Protecting and Securing a Workbook - Avoiding Harmful Attacks, Using the Trust Center
- Microsoft Excel 2010 : Protecting and Securing a Workbook - Adding a Signature Line
- Microsoft Excel 2010 : Protecting and Securing a Workbook - Adding a Digital Signature
- Windows Server 2012 : Configuring IPv6/IPv4 interoperability (part 7) - ISATAP
- Windows Server 2012 : Configuring IPv6/IPv4 interoperability (part 6) - Configuring a DHCPv6 server, IPv6 transition technologies
- Windows Server 2012 : Configuring IPv6/IPv4 interoperability (part 5) - Stateless address autoconfiguration,Stateful address autoconfiguration
- Windows Server 2012 : Configuring IPv6/IPv4 interoperability (part 4) - IPv6 address assignment - Manual address assignment
- Windows Server 2012 : Configuring IPv6/IPv4 interoperability (part 3) - IPv6 address representation
- Windows Server 2012 : Configuring IPv6/IPv4 interoperability (part 2) - Default IPv6 functionality
- Windows Server 2012 : Configuring IPv6/IPv4 interoperability (part 1) - IPv6 concepts and terminology
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows Azure
Windows Server
Windows Phone
Cars Review