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Data Protection Software: Options Page: Backup Tab
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The settings of the Backup page allow you to adjust the behavior of the backup engine.
Use these settings to fine tune performance, configure open file backup (VSS enabled) advanced settings,
configured actions to happen before and after the backup (or before and after the volume snapshots are
taken), and to adjust the management of log files.
· Shutdown/Restart Behavior:
· Backup on Logoff or Shutdown:
If this is checked, if you try to logoff or shutdown the computer and the Data Protection Software is running then it will cancel the logoff or shutdown, run a backup, and then re-initiate the logoff or shutdown.
If this is checked, if you try to logoff or shutdown the computer and the Data Protection Software is running then it will cancel the logoff or shutdown, run a backup, and then re-initiate the logoff or shutdown.
· Delay Shutdown to Finish Backup:
Whether or not to delay a shutdown or reboot of the computer. If this is set to Yes then if the backup is running when the system tries to logoff, shutdown, or reboot, it will delay this until the backup finishes. If this is set to No or Auto then the backup will instead be immediately canceled and it will automatically schedule a one-time backup job 10 minutes in the future, so that the backup can continue where it left off as soon as the system is back to a normal state.
Whether or not to delay a shutdown or reboot of the computer. If this is set to Yes then if the backup is running when the system tries to logoff, shutdown, or reboot, it will delay this until the backup finishes. If this is set to No or Auto then the backup will instead be immediately canceled and it will automatically schedule a one-time backup job 10 minutes in the future, so that the backup can continue where it left off as soon as the system is back to a normal state.
· Exchange Server:
· Full Path to eseutil.exe:
If you are backing up Exchange information stores then Data Protection can use the eseutil Exchange program to verify the integrity of your information store before it backs it up. (This is recommended by Microsoft and is helpful in catching silent data corruption on your local hard disk.) Normally the location of eseutil.exe can be found automatically, but sometimes you have to manually specify where it can be found.
If you don't see the Verify Database Files option on the folder properties page, then you need to manually specify the path to eseutil.exe using this setting.
If you are backing up Exchange information stores then Data Protection can use the eseutil Exchange program to verify the integrity of your information store before it backs it up. (This is recommended by Microsoft and is helpful in catching silent data corruption on your local hard disk.) Normally the location of eseutil.exe can be found automatically, but sometimes you have to manually specify where it can be found.
If you don't see the Verify Database Files option on the folder properties page, then you need to manually specify the path to eseutil.exe using this setting.
· ShadowProtect:
· Full Path to sbrun.exe:
If you are backing up StorageCraft ShadowProtect bare-metal backup images, Data Protection can verify the correctness, integrity, and completeness of these backups. To do this, it needs to know where ShadowProtect is installed. If you have installed it within a standard location, it will be automatically detected. Otherwise, you will need to use this setting to indicate the directory that contains the sbrun.exe file that is installed as part of ShadowProtect. Once the location of ShadowProtect is identified, new integration options will become available in the properties for folders on the Folders page.
If you are backing up StorageCraft ShadowProtect bare-metal backup images, Data Protection can verify the correctness, integrity, and completeness of these backups. To do this, it needs to know where ShadowProtect is installed. If you have installed it within a standard location, it will be automatically detected. Otherwise, you will need to use this setting to indicate the directory that contains the sbrun.exe file that is installed as part of ShadowProtect. Once the location of ShadowProtect is identified, new integration options will become available in the properties for folders on the Folders page.
· Backup Session:
· Number of Retries for Entire Operation:
If a transient error (such as a network failure) is experienced during the backup, the backup will continue to try up to this many times before giving up and logging a failure. In this way, the backup jobs will do their best to overcome any temporary conditions and always complete a fully successful backup.
If a transient error (such as a network failure) is experienced during the backup, the backup will continue to try up to this many times before giving up and logging a failure. In this way, the backup jobs will do their best to overcome any temporary conditions and always complete a fully successful backup.
· Number of Retries for Individual Files:
This is the number of times an operation should be retried for transient errors that are specific to individual files (such as an open or locked file when not using open file backup).
This is the number of times an operation should be retried for transient errors that are specific to individual files (such as an open or locked file when not using open file backup).
· Number of Resume Retries:
This is the number of times that the backup will attempt to resume an operation after experiencing a transient error in the middle of backing up a file. If you are backing up really large files, we recommend setting this value to be the same as the Number of Retries for Entire Operation setting.
This is the number of times that the backup will attempt to resume an operation after experiencing a transient error in the middle of backing up a file. If you are backing up really large files, we recommend setting this value to be the same as the Number of Retries for Entire Operation setting.
· Delay Between Retry Attempts:
After a transient failure (network failure, etc.), the software will wait this many seconds before retrying the last command.
After a transient failure (network failure, etc.), the software will wait this many seconds before retrying the last command.
· Worker Thread Priority:
This is the process priority that should be used for backup jobs. We highly recommend keeping this set to Below Normal or Low, as it does not significantly affect backup performance but it does help with system responsiveness.
This is the process priority that should be used for backup jobs. We highly recommend keeping this set to Below Normal or Low, as it does not significantly affect backup performance but it does help with system responsiveness.
· Use Low Priority I/O:
On Vista (or better) and Server 2008 (or better) the OS can treat IO from different processes with different levels of priority. If you are using a laptop and prefer system responsiveness instead of maximum backup speed, try enabling this option.
On Vista (or better) and Server 2008 (or better) the OS can treat IO from different processes with different levels of priority. If you are using a laptop and prefer system responsiveness instead of maximum backup speed, try enabling this option.
· Open File Backup:
· Restrict Concurrent Backups:
If this option is checked, if a remote backup starts while a local backup is running (or vice versa), then the backup that started second will wait until the backup that was already running to finish before processing. You must enable this option if you are backing up a Microsoft Exchange information store to more than one destination, because Exchange only supports one backup at a time.
If this option is checked, if a remote backup starts while a local backup is running (or vice versa), then the backup that started second will wait until the backup that was already running to finish before processing. You must enable this option if you are backing up a Microsoft Exchange information store to more than one destination, because Exchange only supports one backup at a time.
· Volume Shadow Copy Mode:
Supported values for this option are either Off or Auto. If you are having trouble with VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Services) or do not need to use open file backup then you can disable the use of VSS with this option.
Supported values for this option are either Off or Auto. If you are having trouble with VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Services) or do not need to use open file backup then you can disable the use of VSS with this option.
· Volume Shadow Backup Type:
Data Protection works as a VSS requestor and cooperates with the VSS writers on your system (such as the Exchange VSS writer and the SQL Server VSS writer) in order to capture a good snapshot of your server applications, as well as to perform routine maintenance at the end of a good backup.
If you do not want Data Protection to rotate/cleanup transaction logs (such as Exchange transaction logs) at the end of the backup (e.g., because some other backup is relying on them), then change this setting to Copy and Data Protection will not ask the VSS writers to cleanup transaction logs.
Data Protection works as a VSS requestor and cooperates with the VSS writers on your system (such as the Exchange VSS writer and the SQL Server VSS writer) in order to capture a good snapshot of your server applications, as well as to perform routine maintenance at the end of a good backup.
If you do not want Data Protection to rotate/cleanup transaction logs (such as Exchange transaction logs) at the end of the backup (e.g., because some other backup is relying on them), then change this setting to Copy and Data Protection will not ask the VSS writers to cleanup transaction logs.
· Volume Shadow Copy Exclusions:
If you do not need to use open file backup on certain volumes, then you can list the drive letters of these volumes here, separated by commas. (e.g., C:, D:)
If you do not need to use open file backup on certain volumes, then you can list the drive letters of these volumes here, separated by commas. (e.g., C:, D:)
· Volume Shadow Copy Writer Exclusions:
Data Protection automatically determines which VSS writers to involve in the backup by examining the set of files in your backup set. If you want to explicitly exclude a VSS writer from the backup, you may list them in this setting. Separate multiple writers by commas.
To get a list of VSS writers on your system, run the 'vssadmin list writers' command inside of a command prompt.
Data Protection automatically determines which VSS writers to involve in the backup by examining the set of files in your backup set. If you want to explicitly exclude a VSS writer from the backup, you may list them in this setting. Separate multiple writers by commas.
To get a list of VSS writers on your system, run the 'vssadmin list writers' command inside of a command prompt.
· Volume Shadow Copy Provider:
VSS providers are responsible for cooperating with your disk and filesystem drivers in actually taking a snapshot of your volumes. All systems come with the default Microsoft provider. Certain SAN vendors may provide a special provider that works with hardware snapshots on the SAN. Also, certain 3rd party backup vendors will also install a custom VSS provider.
Use this setting to customize which VSS provider should be used for taking snapshots of particular volumes. Specify the names or GUIDs of the VSS providers that should be used, separated by commas. Each provider should have the volume name (or *) followed by an equal sign, followed by the partial name of the provider to use.
For example:
*=Microsoft, D:=EqualLogic
This example indicates that the Microsoft provider should be used by default, except that for D: the EqualLogic VSS provider should be used.
VSS providers are responsible for cooperating with your disk and filesystem drivers in actually taking a snapshot of your volumes. All systems come with the default Microsoft provider. Certain SAN vendors may provide a special provider that works with hardware snapshots on the SAN. Also, certain 3rd party backup vendors will also install a custom VSS provider.
Use this setting to customize which VSS provider should be used for taking snapshots of particular volumes. Specify the names or GUIDs of the VSS providers that should be used, separated by commas. Each provider should have the volume name (or *) followed by an equal sign, followed by the partial name of the provider to use.
For example:
*=Microsoft, D:=EqualLogic
This example indicates that the Microsoft provider should be used by default, except that for D: the EqualLogic VSS provider should be used.
· Volume Shadow Copy Logging:
Change this at the direction of technical support in order to diagnose rare VSS issues.
Most VSS issues can be diagnosed by looking for vss, volsnap, and other events in the Windows application and system event log. Also, make sure that the Volume Shadow Copy service is running, as well as the MS Shadow Copy Provider service. It is also helpful to run the following commands at the command prompt to see if they run successfully:
vssadmin list providers
vssadmin list writers
If these commands fail, search the Microsoft knowledge base for information about the failure. Rebooting often fixes the problem.
Please contact us if you have trouble diagnosing and resolving issues with Volume Shadow Copy Services on your system and we will be glad to assist you.
Change this at the direction of technical support in order to diagnose rare VSS issues.
Most VSS issues can be diagnosed by looking for vss, volsnap, and other events in the Windows application and system event log. Also, make sure that the Volume Shadow Copy service is running, as well as the MS Shadow Copy Provider service. It is also helpful to run the following commands at the command prompt to see if they run successfully:
vssadmin list providers
vssadmin list writers
If these commands fail, search the Microsoft knowledge base for information about the failure. Rebooting often fixes the problem.
Please contact us if you have trouble diagnosing and resolving issues with Volume Shadow Copy Services on your system and we will be glad to assist you.
· Scripted Actions:
· Action Trigger:
The backup can be configured to run commands and stop/start services either before and after the entire backup or before and after the volume snapshots are taken.
This can be useful to backup certain legacy applications that either don't support being backed up while in an open state or have offline backup procedures.
This setting determines when the services and scripts in this settings sub-category are stopped and started -- either when the backup itself begins and ends, or right before and after the VSS volume snapshot is taken. This is called the trigger action.
The backup can be configured to run commands and stop/start services either before and after the entire backup or before and after the volume snapshots are taken.
This can be useful to backup certain legacy applications that either don't support being backed up while in an open state or have offline backup procedures.
This setting determines when the services and scripts in this settings sub-category are stopped and started -- either when the backup itself begins and ends, or right before and after the VSS volume snapshot is taken. This is called the trigger action.
· Preinit Stop Scripts:
At the start of the backup or right before the VSS snapshot, Data Protection will execute this set of scripts and programs. You can list .bat files (batch files) here. Separate multiple scripts with semicolons.
At the start of the backup or right before the VSS snapshot, Data Protection will execute this set of scripts and programs. You can list .bat files (batch files) here. Separate multiple scripts with semicolons.
· Preinit Stop Services:
At the start of the backup or right before the VSS snapshot, these Windows services will be stopped. Separate multiple services with semicolons.
At the start of the backup or right before the VSS snapshot, these Windows services will be stopped. Separate multiple services with semicolons.
· Preinit Fail Action:
If the backup fails to start some of the scripts of stop some of the services listed above, this determines how the backup should proceed (either fail immediately or warn and continue).
If the backup fails to start some of the scripts of stop some of the services listed above, this determines how the backup should proceed (either fail immediately or warn and continue).
· Postinit Start Services:
After the end of the backup or after the VSS snapshot is taken, these Windows services will be started. Separate multiple services with semicolons.
After the end of the backup or after the VSS snapshot is taken, these Windows services will be started. Separate multiple services with semicolons.
· Postinit Start Scripts:
After the end of the backup or after the VSS snapshot is taken, this set of scripts and programs will be executed. You can list .bat files (batch files) here. Separate multiple scripts with semicolons.
After the end of the backup or after the VSS snapshot is taken, this set of scripts and programs will be executed. You can list .bat files (batch files) here. Separate multiple scripts with semicolons.
· Logging:
· Number of Days Before Zipping Log Files:
All log files are stored in the Logs subdirectory of the directory where the program was installed. To save space, log files older than this number of days will automatically be zipped. Zipped log files are recognized as valid log files on the System Status page, and the log viewer is also able to open zip files directly.
For these reasons, there is no disadvantage to zipping log files after a few days, and it can save you a lot of disk space, especially for backups that scan millions of files.
All log files are stored in the Logs subdirectory of the directory where the program was installed. To save space, log files older than this number of days will automatically be zipped. Zipped log files are recognized as valid log files on the System Status page, and the log viewer is also able to open zip files directly.
For these reasons, there is no disadvantage to zipping log files after a few days, and it can save you a lot of disk space, especially for backups that scan millions of files.
· Number of Days to Retain Log Files:
Log files older than this number of days will automatically be placed into the Windows recycle bin.
Log files older than this number of days will automatically be placed into the Windows recycle bin.
· Diagnostics Logging:
Technical support may direct you to change this setting to aid in diagnosing and resolving errors in your backups.
Technical support may direct you to change this setting to aid in diagnosing and resolving errors in your backups.
· Performance Logging:
If local backups are performing slowly, enable this setting to help technical support understand the cause.
If local backups are performing slowly, enable this setting to help technical support understand the cause.
· Slow Event Timer:
If performance logging is enabled, then any internal process that takes longer than this many milliseconds will be logged. Normally you would set it to a value close to 10000 (10 seconds).
If performance logging is enabled, then any internal process that takes longer than this many milliseconds will be logged. Normally you would set it to a value close to 10000 (10 seconds).