Entire Machine Backup Exclusions
Hello,
We are currently trying to evaluate Acronis Backup so we are running a few test backups.
The server we are trying to backup is a Domain Controller but also has a file server installed. We are trying to do an entire machine backup so it includes the Active Directory backup, but we don't want to backup all the file share data.
We have created a job and added the following exclusions
D:\*
E:\*
F:\*
H:\*
When we run the backup the job still tries to backup the excluded drives (See Log Attached)
Are these exclusions correct?
We would do a file/device backup but want to be able to backup active directory
Thanks
Oliver
Thanks for the response.
The reason i choose full machine backup was because i wanted to backup Active Directory which only seems possible when using a full machine backup.
My plan was to run a full machine backup to backup C:\, System State, AD, etc and then use disk/partition backup to backup the data drives.
Hi Oliver,
Application-aware processing assumes that entire machine will be backed up, to avoid cases when you exclude volumes which contain actual application data (hence limitation on UI).
Still, since you have only Active Directory running on the machine (no SQL or Exchange), the solution using "Disks/volumes" backup instead of "Entire machine" should be the best choice. This would let you achieve the main goal: exclude unnecessary data from the backup. The Active Directory will still be protected as long as "Volume Shadow Copy" backup option is enabled - this ensures AD DB consistency inside the backup and ensures proper recovery of the domain controller without running into "USN rollback" issue. The application-aware processing adds to this process only checking of corresponding Active Directory VSS writer that it is correctly used during VSS snapshot. This check is giving additional level of protection which however can be skipped as long as VSS is working correctly on the system (no errors in "vssadmin list writers" outputs after VSS snapshot).
Thank you.
OK then, thanks.
I was hoping that Acronis would have the ability to restore individual active directory items, but this doesn't seem to be the case.
I saw a thread which stated that this was coming in a future release. Any update as to when this may be?
Hi Oliver,
Granular recovery for Active Directory objects is pending for future releases indeed. It may happen by the end of next year however there is no exact timeline which we can commit to yet.
Thank you.
Hi Vasily,
just for me to have a proper understanding:
If I execute
- "only" a "disk/volume" backup (and therefore cannot select the "Active Directory" in the Application Backup)
- set "Use VSS when taking snapshots" to YES in the options
the result is a backup that protects the machine and has a ful recoverable AD without running into USN rollback?
Did I get this right?
Is this also valid for virtual machines where I backup the virtual machine running the AD server by the agent for Hyper-V (so no agent inside the VM) ?
I set the option "Take a quiesced snapshot (apply VSS inside a virtual machine by using VMware Tools or Hyper-V Integration Services)" to "YES".
How can I check whether VSS is working properly ?
Regards
Sven
Hi Sven,
>> If I execute
>> - "only" a "disk/volume" backup (and therefore cannot select the "Active Directory" in the Application Backup)
>> - set "Use VSS when taking snapshots" to YES in the options
>> the result is a backup that protects the machine and has a ful recoverable AD without running into USN rollback?
>> Did I get this right?
Yes, your understanding is correct. Small note: the USN rollback may still occur if the Active Director VSS writer (NTDS) inside the guest was missing at the moment of backup. This should be the only potential issue here if application-aware backup (which checks this writer presence and state inside guest) is not enabled.
>> Is this also valid for virtual machines where I backup the virtual machine running the AD server by the agent for Hyper-V (so no agent inside the VM) ?
Yes, it's valid for both host-level (agent-less) and guest-level (agent-based) backups.
>> I set the option "Take a quiesced snapshot (apply VSS inside a virtual machine by using VMware Tools or Hyper-V Integration Services)" to "YES".
Yes, this is the main option to trigger VSS quiescing inside the guest VMs. If this option is disabled then the guest VM system state will be crash-consistent.
>> How can I check whether VSS is working properly ?
After backup (in the very beginning of it) there should be VSS-related events in Windows Event Log inside the guest (VM or physical). For example for Windows VM running SQL server inside there will be events in "Backup" category which show the DB processing results (result from VSS snapshot):
Thank you.
Hi Vasily,
I think that there is a typo if you write
>> Yes, this is the main option to trigger VSS quiescing inside the guest VMs. If this option is disabled then the guest VM system state will be crash-consistent.
I think it should be:
-- If this option is ENABLED.....
Am I right?
Sven
Hi Sven,
"Crash-consistent" state = state where there is no guarantee that all the required applications data is flushed to the disk. Opposed to it, "application-consistent" corresponds the state where all required applications data is commited to disk - VSS enabling guarantees achieving this state in the snapshot for VSS-aware applications (which have corresponding VSS writer in place). So this option must be left "Enabled" to guarantee application consistency inside the backup - if it's disabled then you'll get "crash-consistent" state in the backup. When you restore from this "crash-consistent" backup - the system will be first booting as if it was hard reset before. It might not be a big problem, since most modern applications and OSes can sustain hard resets, but still there is a possibility of partial data corruption.
Thank you.