• Home
• About
• Contact
• Applied Trust

The Barking Seal

• Native Backup in Windows Server 2008

  04Dec
  Author: admin Categories: IT Management Comments: 0

  Those of us that have taken the fateful leap to Windows Server 2008 are starting to notice some of the big differences from Windows Server 2003 and 2000. The difference that I personally have been recently affected by the most involves the change in backup options – specifically, the loss of NTBackup. I never thought I would hear myself say this, but after getting some experience with the new Windows Server Backup features in 2008, I am actually sad to see NTBackup go.

  So what’s the big deal? Well, Windows Server Backup isn’t all bad. Microsoft’s TechNet article for Windows Server Backup shows quite the new feature list, including:

  • Faster Backup Technology
  • Simplified Restoration
  • Automatic Disk Usage Management
  • Improved Scheduling

  These all sound wonderful! Windows Server 2008 even includes a Microsoft Management Console snap-in for backups, along with four wizards to guide your beginning user through the backup and recovery process.

  Well then where’s the problem? I ran into a bit of a technical hiccup when configuring Windows Server Backup to back up the system state on a new Windows Server 2008 box. A similar process on a Windows Server 2000 or 2003 box would involve backing the system state up to the C: drive, and then using another backup solution to back certain parts of the C: drive including the system state backup to tape.

  The problem started when I first configured the system state backup to start from an automated script. After successfully installing the “Windows PowerShell” tool and writing the script, I was dismayed to find out that Windows Server Backup was preventing me from backing the system state up to a “critical volume”. This seemed like a large issue to me right off the bat, especially considering that the C: drive was the only volume on the machine. Quick possible solutions were to back the system state up to a mapped drive or to a direct path on another server on the network. Sadly, Windows Server Backup denied me this by preventing system state backups to mapped drives and UNC paths.

  After some time looking around, I finally found a little piece of information that would solve my problems. Detailed here, the solution involved a quick registry edit. In short, Microsoft was nice enough to publish a KB article explaining how to get around the new “feature” – easily done by editing a registry value. An explanation as to why Microsoft decided to prevent system state backups to any drive in the new and improved Windows Server Backup is beyond me. Implement the quick fix, and move on.

  Quote of the day: “The restriction to target the system state backup to any volume is a new feature in Windows Server 2008.” http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944530

  
  Tags: NTBackup, System State Backup, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server Backup