Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed (245 page)

Windows Server Backup Features. Check both boxes to ensure that the command-

line tools are also selected, as shown in Figure 30.1. Click Next to continue.

5. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, review the summary, and click Install

to continue.

6. On the Installation Results page, review the results, and click Close to complete the

installation.

Installing Windows Server Backup Using Windows PowerShell ServerManager Module

In many cases, administrators might choose to use the Windows PowerShell environment

to manage a server and as a preference when installing roles, role services, or features.

When a particular feature or role is installed using the Windows PowerShell

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ServerManager module, all features, role services, and role dependencies are also added. To

install the Windows Server Backup features, including the Windows Server Backup

PowerShell cmdlets using Windows PowerShell, perform the following steps:

1. Log on to the Windows Server 2008 R2 system with an account with administrator

privileges.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and click the Windows PowerShell

folder to reveal the application shortcuts.

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FIGURE 30.1

Selecting the Windows Server Backup features.

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3. Right-click Windows PowerShell and select Run As Administrator. If a User Account

Control window opens, click Continue to open the PowerShell window.

4. Type cd \ and press Enter.

5. Type Import-Module ServerManager and press Enter.

6. Type Add-WindowsFeature Backup-Tools and press Enter. After the installation

completes, the results will be listed in the window, as shown in Figure 30.2.

FIGURE 30.2

Installing Windows Server Backup using Windows PowerShell.

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7. Type Get-WindowsFeature |More and press Enter to get a list of the installed roles,

role services, and features. Review the list to verify that Windows Server Backup and

Windows Server Backup command-line tools are now installed.

8. Type exit in the PowerShell window and press Enter.

Installing Windows Server Backup on Server Core Installations

On a Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core deployment, if the Windows Server Backup

feature is not installed, it can be installed by performing the following steps:

1. Log on to the Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core system with an account with

administrator privileges.

2. In the Command Prompt window, type cd \ and press Enter.

3. Type in Start /w ocsetup.exe WindowsServerBackup and press Enter.

4. Log on to a different Windows Server 2008 R2, Enterprise Edition system with an

account with administrator privileges on the local system as well as the Server Core

system. It is assumed that both systems are part of the same domain and the Server

Core system can access other resources on the network from the Server Core system.

5. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and select Windows

Server Backup.

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6. In the Actions pane, click the Connect to Another Computer link.

7. In the Computer Chooser window, select the Another Computer option button, type

in the name of the Server Core system, and click OK.

8. If you can connect to the Server Core system, the installation is successful. If the

connection fails, either the Server Core firewall is preventing connectivity or

Windows Server Backup has not been installed. Troubleshoot as necessary.

Scheduling a Backup Using Windows Server Backup and Allocating

Disks

After Windows Server Backup has been installed, no backups will be automatically sched-

uled. The fastest way to get a backup configured and define any dedicated disks for

backups is to run the Backup Schedule Wizard. This wizard enables administrators to not

only select and exclude which backup items will be contained within a backup, but it also

allows the administrator to configure a recurring backup schedule and allocate a dedicated

disk for scheduled backups if used. One thing to keep in mind is that if the configuration

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will support backing up to multiple dedicated disks, to provide some level of backup

media rotation, it is recommended that all of the disks be available during the running of

the wizard.

When dedicated disks will be used for Windows Server Backup jobs, these disks will be

erased, reformatted, and from there on, assigned and managed by Windows Server

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Backup. The disk allocation process will create a single NTFS formatted volume that spans

the entire disk and will set the disk volume label to include the server name, the date and

time the disk is allocated, and the disk number for each disk. For example, if disk 1 is

assigned to the backup of SERVER10 on October 8, 2009 at 6:10 p.m., the label will be

SERVER10 2009_10_08 18:10 DISK_01. To allocate disks for Windows Server Backup,

perform the following steps:

1. Log on to the Windows Server 2008 R2 system with an account with administrator

privileges.

2. Click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and select Windows

Server Backup.

3. In the Actions pane, click on the Backup Schedule link to start the Backup Schedule

Wizard. Selecting the Backup Schedule link is the only way multiple disks can be

allocated to Windows Server Backup in one process.

4. Click Next on the Getting Started page.

5. Select the Full Server (Recommended) option button, and click Next to continue.

6. On the Specify Backup Time page, select the time to run the scheduled backup from

the Once a Day or the More Than Once a Day selections, and click Next to continue.

Figure 30.3 details a backup that will run every day at 9:00 p.m.

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FIGURE 30.3

Setting the scheduled backup to run every day at 9:00 p.m.

7. On the Specify Destination Type page, select the Back Up to a Hard Disk That Is

Dedicated for Backups (Recommended) option button and click Next. On this page,

a backup to a nonsystem volume or a shared network folder could have been

selected. When utilizing volumes for backup, performance might be degraded

severely during an active backup process if the disk hosting the backup volume is

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also used to store production data. Storing scheduled backups on a shared network

folder results in backups being overwritten during each backup cycle.

8. Because we selected to use dedicated backup disks, the next page is the Select

Destination Disk page. Click the Show All Available Disks button to select the

desired disks.

9. In the Show All Available Disks window, check each of the disks that will be dedicated

to the scheduled backup, and click OK to save the settings, as shown in Figure 30.4.

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FIGURE 30.4

Selecting local disks to be used for scheduled backups.

NOTE

When multiple disks are assigned to a single scheduled backup, any of the disks will

be used and that is not in the control of the administrator. If a disk is removed for off-

site storage, the remaining disks will be used for the next scheduled backup.

10. Back on the Select Destination Disk page, check all of the disks that have been

added, and click Next to continue.

11. A Windows Server Backup warning window opens requiring confirmation that the

selected disks will be reformatted and used by Windows Server Backup exclusively;

click Yes to assign the disks for backup.

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12. On the Confirmation page, verify the settings, and click Finish to save the new

scheduled backup and backup settings and to reformat and label each of the

assigned disks.

13. On the Summary page, review the results, and click Close to complete the process.

Creating a scheduled backup using Windows Server Backup enables an administrator to

automate the backup process, and with the backup and VSS managing the dedicated disks,

the administrator only needs to verify that backups have been run successfully.

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Manually Running a Scheduled Backup

After the scheduled backup is created for a server, an administrator can let the backup run

as scheduled or the backup can be run manually using the Backup Once link. To manually

run a scheduled backup, simply use the Backup Once link and select the Scheduled

Backup Options option button on the Backup Options page. Click Next and click Backup

on the Confirmation page to start the backup. One important point to note is that if

multiple disks are allocated to a scheduled backup, running a manual backup does not

allow the administrator to select which disk to use. The only way to control which disk is

used for scheduled backup is to either remove all the other allocated disks from the system

or mark the disks as offline using Disk Management or Diskpart.exe.

Running a Backup to a Shared Network Folder

Starting with Windows Server 2008 R2, both manual and scheduled backups can use dedi-

cated backup disks, a specific folder on a local volume, or a shared network folder as a

backup destination. When a shared network folder is chosen as the backup destination, a

system administrator can store full backups on alternate locations to allow for different

recovery scenarios. Also, something important to consider is that if a dedicated disk or