Recovery Manager for AD Disaster Recovery Edition 10.0.1 - User Guide

Creating backups

Recovery Manager for Active Directory allows you to create backups of system-specific data known as the System State and BMR backups. Note that Recovery Manager for Active Directory creates System State backups for Active Directory domain controllers only.

You can use Computer Collections to create backups for multiple computers. For more information, see Using Computer Collections. You can specify what components of the System State are to be backed up. It is recommended to back up all System State components. For more information, see Selecting components to back up.

To create backups of all computers in a Computer Collection

1. In the console tree, select a Computer Collection, and then click Create Backup on the Action menu.
2. If prompted, confirm the operation.

You can also use the Backup Wizard to start a backup job:

1. In the console tree, click the root node, and then click Create Backup on the Action menu.
2. Follow the instructions in the Backup Wizard.
3. On the When to Back Up page click Now, and then click Next.
4. Click Advanced to view backup options. You can modify the options as needed. When finished, click OK to close the Properties dialog box.
5. Click Finish to start the backup job.

With the Backup Wizard, backup jobs can be scheduled to run at a specific time. For more information, see Scheduling backup creation subsection of Task scheduler overview and Using the Backup Wizard subsection in Selecting components to back up.

While a backup job is running, you can examine the progress of the operation and, if needed, stop the backup job. After a backup job is completed, you can view backup creation results:

1. In the console tree, click Sessions.
2. In the details pane, click the backup-creation session, and then click Properties on the Action menu.
3. In the Properties dialog box, click the Progress tab, and examine the displayed information.
4. By clicking Abort on the Progress tab, you can stop the selected session.

To create a BMR backup

1. Create a computer collection.
   
2. Right-click the computer collection, and then click Properties to open the Computer Collection Properties dialog box.
3. On the Agent Settings tab, select the option Use the following account to access Backup Agent and specify account credentials. In Recovery Manager for Active Directory Disaster Recovery Edition, this account is used both to connect to the Backup Agent and to access the backup storage if you do not specify a separate account for the backup share on the DC Storage tab. For more details, see Usage of backup access credentials.
   
   
4. On the DC Storage tab, select the option Save backups on the DC being backed up or a UNC share and enter the backup path. You need to specify path to the SMB share in the following format (%DATETIME% variable is required ): \\<share name>\<backup folder>\%COMPUTERNAME%\%DATETIME%.
   
   
5. On the Backup tab, select the Create Bare Metal Recovery Backup option. Now only system critical volumes are included in the backup.
   Select the Encrypt and protect backups with password option to encrypt BMR backups and protect them with a password (Recommended). This password is used to generate a passphrase with which the backup is encrypted. The password cannot be used directly to unlock the backup container *.vhd(x) file.
   
   

   IMPORTANT: If a customer restores encrypted volumes from a backup, the volumes are restored as unencrypted.

   
   

6. Right-click the collection node and click Create Backup.

Including additional volumes in a BMR backup

To include additional volume on several domain controllers

1. Create the following registry key on the selected domain controller, or check if the key already exists in the directory:
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Quest\Recovery Manager for Active Directory
2. Add the following string value under this registry key:
   Name: WindowsBackupCommandLine
   Data: wbadmin start backup -allcritical -quiet -backuptarget:"%s" -include:E:,G:
   
   Where "E:,G:" - drives that will be included into the BMR backup.

To include additional volume on all domain controllers

On the Recovery Manager Console machine, add the new string value under both these registry keys:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Quest\Recovery Manager for Active Directory
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Quest\Recovery Manager for Active Directory
  
  Name: WindowsBackupCommandLine
  Data: wbadmin start backup -allcritical -quiet -backuptarget:"%s" -include:E:,G:
  
  Where "E:,G:" - drives that will be included into the BMR backup.
  

Usage of backup access credentials

Recovery Manager for Active Directory Disaster Recovery Edition uses the same credentials to access backup files on the remote share and to connect to Backup Agent. These credentials are specified on the Agent Settings tab of the collection properties (option "Use the following account to access Backup Agent").

If you need to specify a separate account to access the backup storage, use the option Use the following account to access the backup storage on the DC Storage tab.

When no credentials are specified in the collection properties, the Recovery Manager Console uses the account under which it is running to access the backup storage and Backup Agent.

To specify separate credentials to access the remote backup location and Backup Agent

1. Create a computer collection in Recovery Manager for Active Directory Console.
   
2. Right-click the computer collection, and then click Properties to open the Computer Collection Properties dialog box.
3. On the Agent Settings tab, select the option Use the following account to access Backup Agent and specify account credentials.
   
   
   
4. On the DC Storage tab, select the option Save backups on the DC being backed up or a UNC share and enter the backup path. You need to specify path to the remote share in the following format (%DATETIME% variable is required ): \\<share name>\<backup folder>\%COMPUTERNAME%\%DATETIME%.
5. To specify a separate account for the backup storage, select .the option Use the following account to access the backup storage and specify account credentials.
   
   

Selecting components to back up

When creating a backup, Recovery Manager for Active Directory queries its configuration settings about what components of the System State to be backed up. You specify configuration settings in the Defaults dialog box for the Computer Collections node or a Computer Collection (Computer Collection properties). You can also view and modify the settings being used by the Backup Wizard.

To select components to back up

1. Do one of the following:
   • Right-click the Computer Collections node, and then click Collection Defaults.
   • Right-click the Computer Collection node, and then click Properties.
   • Click Advanced on the Completing the Backup Wizard page.

2. In the Properties dialog box, click the Components tab.
3. Under Back up the following components, select the check boxes next to the components you want to back up.

Default settings are also used for newly created Computer Collections. By changing the properties of a Computer Collection, you define the settings specific to that collection. Different Computer Collections may have differing settings. The Backup Wizard uses default settings when creating a new Computer Collection unless other settings are specified using the Advanced button on the Completing the Backup Wizard page.

Using the Backup Wizard

You can start the Backup Wizard by selecting the console tree root, and then clicking Create Backup on the Action menu.

On the What to Back Up page, the wizard prompts you to specify what domain controllers or AD LDS (ADAM) hosts you want to back up. You can back up specific domain controllers or all computers that are in a specific container, such as an Active Directory domain or organizational unit.

On the Where to Store Backups page, the wizard prompts you to specify the path and name format for backup files. You can type the path and name manually, click Browse to locate a folder, and use the Expression button to have the path and name include macros enabling the automatic creation of separate subfolders and files for different backups.

On the When to Back Up page, the wizard asks you whether you want to schedule the backup creation operation. You can click Now if you want to start the operation immediately. Otherwise, you click Later and configure backup scheduling. If you choose to create backups without scheduling, you can optionally have the wizard create and retain a Computer Collection for the computers and containers you have selected. Later, you may use that collection to schedule backups. If you choose to schedule backups, the wizard creates a Computer Collection for the computers and containers you have selected, and schedules a backup creation task for that collection.

On the Computer Collection Name page, you can specify a name and description for the Computer Collection to be created.

By clicking the Advanced button on the Completed the Backup Wizard window, you can display the Properties dialog box to make changes to backup options. If you do not modify those options, the defaults are used. Default options are specified using the Collection Defaults command, which appears on the Action menu when you select the Computer Collections node in the console tree.