In this section I will look at the backup and restore utility included with Windows
server 2008. This utility not only allows you to backup your files but also restore
your server in the event of a hard disk crash. Windows server backup is a new utility shipped
with Windows server 2008. This utility replaces Windows NTBackup found in previous versions
of Windows server. If you have any old NTBackup files that you need to access, Microsoft has
made NTBackup available for download from the Microsoft web site.
Bear in mind that NTBackup for windows server 2008 can only be used to read previous NTBackups
files. You cannot use it to back up your data. If you are running windows Server 2008, Windows
server backup will backup volumes only. However, if you are running Windows Server 2008 R2
Microsoft have add support to backup folders and individual files.
If you are upgrading from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008, make sure you are
aware that tape drives are no longer supported. This does seem an unusual move from Microsoft,
but support has been added for backup to hard disk, U S B, optical and network.
One trend that has been increasing in the work place is backing up to disk. Tape drives
have seen less favor in the modern work place with the cost of hard disks decreasing. In
the office here, are backups are done to hard disk and anther backup is then done to optical.
When we last looked at upgrading our systems we looked at price of tape drives and tape
media. We found it was cheaper to back up our data to optical. With Windows Server Backup,
if you use a hard disk and you are using windows server 2008, the hard disk is reformatted
for use solely with Windows Server Backup. Once the drive is formatted it will no longer
appear in windows explorer with a drive letter. If you are using Windows Server 2008 R2 and
if you back up to a hard disk, the hard disk will not be reformatted and instead the backup
will be store in a folder. This hard disk could be removed later on or
even swap with anther hard disk. Some companies back up their data only to hard disks and
the hard disks are taken off site for storage like tapes were previously. With the speed
of networks today, some companies simply back up their data over the network to another
site. Regardless of which solution you use in your
company, know that there are a more alterative to tapes than ever before and this does effect
the decisions by companies on how to back up their data. Windows Server backup also
supports complete pc restore which is a bare metal recovery system.
Bare metal means you can recovery you system to anther computer with completely different
hardware. Lastly Windows Server Backup has excellent incremental backup support. You
no longer have to decide when to perform a full back up and when to perform a incremental
backup. Windows Server Backup is blocked based, which
means it looks at what parts of the file have changed and backs that up. Because of this,
block backups work best when the hard disk has been defragged before the backup is first
run. The first backup will always be the longest since everything needs to be copied, the backup
following are very fast. Depending on how often your data changes, you may be able to
backup your server several times a day. Let’s have a look at how to install Windows Server
Backup. To install Windows Server Backup, first of
all open server manager. Windows Server backup is a feature of windows server. To install
it, select features from the left hand side and then select add feature from the right
hand side. Towards the bottom of the list of features
you will see "Windows Server Backup Features", also notice that option below that command
line tools. If you want to run backups from the command line or from scripts you will
need to ensure command line tools is also selected.
Once you press install Windows Server backup will install, the install is quiet fast and
depending on the speed of your computer may be completed in less than 30 seconds. Once
installed, to run Windows Server Backup, open the start menu and select windows server backup
under administrative tools. You will notice at the top of the screen a
warning telling you that no back up has been performed on this computer as yet. You can
either use the schedule backup function or press the backup once button.
Since I would like a back up to be performed now I will press the backup once button. You
will notice that the scheduled backup option is grayed out. If I had set up a schedule
backup, I could use this option. Even if I had configured options already in
scheduled backup, I could select the second option to use different options for the backup.
One the next screen I have the option to back up the full server or perform a custom backup.
If you want to ensure all your data and operating system files are backed up, select the first
option. In this case I will select custom so you can see all the different options.
If you were running Windows Server 2008 this screen would be different.
On Windows Server 2008 you can only select and deselect which volumes you want to back
up on this screen. Since this computer is running windows server 2008 R2, I can select
the option add items and choose which items I want to backup up.
To ensure you can restore you system even on different hard ware, make sure you have
all the options ticked. In this case I can leave volume D un ticked because this hard
disk will only contain backups and will not contain any data.
Notice also if I expand the C drive, I can individually tick and un tick folders and
files that I want to back up. This feature is only available in Windows Server 2008 R2.
Once I have decided on the options for the backup, I can move onto the next screen and
determine where the backup will be stored. If I wanted to store the backup on a remote
share I could select the second option. Companies that are connected by high speed links often
store backup at other offices. This protects the company from data lost if the server is
lost in a fire or other disaster. In this example I will select the first option
since I want to back up to a hard disk. Notice also you could back up to optical if you wished.
On the next screen I need to decide where to store the back up.
In this case I will select D drive. If you were using windows Server 2008 and not windows
Server 2008 R2, make sure you are aware that Windows Server 2008 will format the drive
before the backup is started. You will lose all data the hard disk and the
hard disk will not be available in windows explorer. With Windows Server 2008 R2, the
hard disk will not be formatted and the data will be stored on a folder on the hard disk.
Now that I have finished the wizard all I need to do is press back up to start the back
up. If I press close the backup will still run in the back ground. Windows Server backup
if set up correctly can run completely in the back ground with no user interaction.
The backup does take a while to run so I will pause the video and un pause it when it is
finished. Now that the backup is completed let’s open Windows Explorer and have a look
what files were created by the backup process. On the D drive you can see a folder called
Windows image backup which contains a folder called app one which is the name of our sever.
In the folder catalog, Windows keeps an index of all the files and backups that have been
created on this server. You need this catalog file to restore files
but if you were to lose the catalog file you can re-create it from the backup files. Moving
back a directory you can see a directory which contains the backup that I just performed.
Right down the bottom of the screen you can see a virtual hard disk file which contains
all the files for the backup. This file can be read by other software not just Windows
server backup and can even be used in a virtual machine.
If you are running Windows 7 or Windows server 2008 R2, this file can be mounted in the operating
system using disk management. If I now close Windows Explorer and go back into Windows
server backup, let’s have a look at how to create a backup schedule.
To create a backup schedule, select backup schedule from the right-hand side. This will
take you into the backup schedule Wizard. Once you are past the welcome screen I get
the same options as before. I can do a full backup or a custom backup.
Since I performed a custom backup the last time, this time l will accept the defaults
and do a full sever backup. On this screen I can select when the backup will run and
if I wish I can select multiple times during the day to run the backup.
Remember Windows server backup is block-based so it is quite fast at performing backups
assuming there are not too many changes on the hard drive. For this reason you may want
to consider performing more backups than you would normally using more traditional backup
software. On this screen you can select where to store
the backup. The first option will use a dedicated hard disk for the backup and will reformatted
it just for the use of backups. The second option will backup to a folder which is the
same type of backup I performed when I selected backup once.
The last option will backup to a network folder. Backing up to a network folder will be slower
than using a local hard disk, however for disaster recovery reasons it is a good idea
to keep a copy of your data at a remote location. Keep in mind that when backing up to a network
folder, each backup that you perform will replace the last one. This means that you
can only restore files from the day and time the last backup was run. You can’t for example
run the backup every day and pick and choose which day you want to restore from.
In this particular case, I will select the option backup up a volume so I can store the
backup in the same location as the previous backup. Notice that when I press the add button
I can only add hard disk volumes. I cannot add devices like a DVD burner.
Windows server backup does not support scheduled backups to optical media. Notice that when
I go to add my existing hard disk I receive an error message saying that this hard disk
is part of the backup. When I selected full server backup, all hard disks on the server
were selected including the hard disk that I was using to store my backups.
In order to continue, this hard disk must be removed from the backup job. That’s pretty
much it, now all I need to do is finish the wizard and the backup schedule will be created.
The next thing I will look at is how to recover files using Windows server backup.
To do this select recover from the right-hand side which will launch the recovery Wizard.
On the first screen of the recovery Wizard you need to select where the backup is stored.
In this particular case the backup is stored on the local computer.
On the next screen you can select which backup you want to recover from. In this case I only
have one backup so I will move on to the next screen. On this screen you can determine what
you want to restore. You can restore the whole volume, the system state or a particular file
or folder. If you have an application installed on the
server which supports Windows server backup, that application can register itself with
Windows server backup. If this is the case you can use Windows server backup to restore
that application. In this particular case I only want to restore
some files so I will select the default option. On the next screen I can decide what files
or folders I want to restore. For this example I will restore the administrators profile.
On this screen I can decide where I want to restore the files to.
I can restore the files back to their original location, but in this case I will choose a
different location so I can have a look at the files before I overwrite any existing
files. Next I can decide what to do if the file that I am restoring already exists.
The first option will create a duplicate of any restored files that already exist so you
have the old file and the restored file. The next option will override any existing files
that Windows server backup finds. The last option do not overwrite any files is useful
when you delete a couple of files in a directory which may contain thousands of files and you
are not sure which ones you deleted. The last option is used to recover the N T
F S permissions set on the file. In most cases you will want to do this especially if you
are restoring the files back to their original location. Once I press the recover button
Windows server backup will start recovering the files. I have not selected to many files
so it will not take long for the recovery job to complete.
This concludes Windows server backup. Remember that when you backup servers in your organization
you should first create a backup plan and schedule. This should include when you run
your backups and also when you rotate your backup media.
Your backup rotational should include sending your backup media off site or at least placing
your backup media in a fireproof safe. Once you have your backup plan running make sure
that you test your backups. You don't want to find that you have a problem with your
backup media on the same day that you have catastrophic data loss.
Also make sure that important data is stored on the server and not on the local users hard
disks. You can make it easier for your users by redirecting locations like their documents
folder to a folder on your file server. In short having a good backup strategy will not
only give you good peace of mind but also good job security.