Recovery Manager for AD 10.3.1 - User Guide

Backup tab

On this tab, you can use the following elements:

• Backup type - There are two backup types available:

  • Active Directory Backup - Select this option to create a standard Active Directory backup.

  • Bare Metal Recovery Backup - Select this option to create Bare Metal Recovery Backup. The storage for BMR backups is specified on the Remote Storage tab. Bare Metal backups require Recovery Manager for Active Directory Disaster Recovery Edition license.

• Encrypt and protect backups with password - Select this option to encrypt backups and protect them with a password. You will be prompted to specify a password for backup protection immediately after you select this check box.

  When restoring data from a password-protected backup, Recovery Manager for Active Directory prompts you to type the corresponding password. The password you specify using this option is case-sensitive and can contain any combination of letters, numerals, spaces, and symbols. If you forget or lose the password, you cannot use the corresponding password-protected backup.

• Set Password - Click this button to modify the password for backup protection.

• Backup description - Provides a space for you to enter an optional description of the backup. The description may include expressions such as %COMPUTERNAME% or %DATETIME%.

Local Storage tab

This tab includes the following elements:

• Save Backups on the Recovery Manager console computer - Select this check box to save backup files on the Recovery Manager for Active Directory (RMAD) computer. Enter the location for backup files in the Primary backup path box. If you specify a UNC share, backup files will be streamed to that share via the RMAD computer.

• Primary backup path: - Use the provided space to specify the format for the paths and name of backup (.bkf) files. The path format may include optional expressions that enable the automatic creation of subfolders. The file name format may also include expressions. For example, you might specify C:\%BACKUPS%\%DOMAIN%\%COMPUTERNAME%-%DATETIME%. As a result, backups for different domains will be saved in separate subfolders. In addition, the file name of each backup will be composed of the computer name and the date and time of the backup creation.

• Expression - Click this button to specify optional path and file name notations in Backup file name format. You can choose the following expressions:

  • Default backup storage (%BACKUPS%) - Path to the default backup storage folder. The default path is as follows: %AllUsersProfile%\Quest\Recovery Manager for Active Directory\Backups.

  • Domain (%DOMAIN%) - Name of the home domain of the computer being backed up.

  • Computer name (%COMPUTERNAME%) - Name of the computer being backed up.

  • Date and Time (%DATETIME%) - Date and time of the backup creation.

  • Browse - Click this button to locate the folder where backups are to be stored.

  Note: The recommended format to use for Expression is %BACKUPS%\%COMPUTERNAME%-%DATETIME% as this allows any backups related to a computer name to have all associate backups in the same folder and be identified by the date and time. Backups are first copied to the Primary Backup path and then to the Additional Backup path. If a backup fails to written to the Primary Backup path, then it will never appear in the Additional Backup path.

• Sample path and file name matching the specified format: - View an example of the path and file name that matches the format string supplied in Primary Backup Path.

• Additional backup path (optional): - Select this checkbox to store a copy of each backup in an additional location.

• Sample path and file name matching the specified format: - View an example of the path and file name that matches the format string supplied in Additional backup path(optional).

  As a result, copies of backups for different computers will be saved in separate subfolders. In addition, the file name of each backup will be composed of the date and time of the backup creation.

• **For each computer, delete all backups except the last: - Select this check box to retain a number of backups for each computer. Specify the number of backups to maintain. It is recommended to configure a backup retention policy to maintain backups created in the last two weeks. If you create backups on a daily basis specify 14 to maintain backups for each domain controller for two weeks.

  This check box can be selected only when RMAD stores backups separately. To ensure that RMAD does so, add the %DATETIME% expression to the path or file name in the Primary backup path: box.

Remote Storage tab

This tab includes the following elements:

• Save backups on the backed up DC or UNC share - Select this check box to save backup files either on the domain controller being backed up or on the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) share you specify. Enter the location for backup files. If you specify a UNC share, backup files will be directly streamed to that share from Backup Agent installed on the DC being backed up. Backup Agent accesses the DC being backed up and/or the specified UNC share under the account specified on the Agent tab.

• Primary Backup path: - Use the provided space to specify format for paths and names of files where to store backups. If you want to store backups on remote computers, the path must include UNC names. The path format may include optional expressions that enable the automatic creation of subfolders. The file name format may also include expressions. For example, you might specify \\RemoteHost\ShareName\%COMPUTERNAME%-%DATETIME%.

• Expression - Click this button to specify path and file name notations in Backup path or Alternative backup path (optional). You can choose the following expressions:

  • Domain (%DOMAIN%) - Name of the home domain of the computer being backed up.

  • Computer name (%COMPUTERNAME%) - Name of the computer being backed up.

  • Date and Time (%DATETIME%) - Date and time of the backup creation.

• Sample path and file name matching the specified format: - View an example of the path and file name that matches the format string supplied in Backup path or Alternative backup path (optional).

• Additional backup path (optional): - Backup Agent copies the backup to both the primary and additional backup path locations independently. This differs from how these paths work on the Local Storage tab.

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• Use the following account to access the backup storage: - Allows you to explicitly specify a user account that will be used to access the backup storage. This option lets you work with network shares from different security realms, such as Azure® Files or Linux shares.

• For each computer, delete all backups except the last: - Select this check box to retain a number of backups for each computer. Specify the number of backups to maintain. It is recommended to configure a backup retention policy to maintain backups created in the last two weeks . If you create backups on a daily basis specify 14 to maintain backups for each domain controller for two weeks.

  This check box can be selected only when RMAD stores backups separately. To ensure that RMAD does so, add the %DATETIME% expression to the path or file name in the Backup file name format box.

Secondary Storage tab

This tab includes the following elements:

• Enable a Secure Storage server - Select this check box to enable a Secure Storage server for a backup. After creation and saving of backup to primary storage locations, a copy of the backup will be saved to the Secure Storage server. Select the drop down box below Enable a Secure Storage server to choose the storage server to copy backup to.

• Enable Cloud Storage and select Cloud Storage locations: - Select this checkbox to enable Cloud Storage. After creation and saving of backup to primary storage locations, a copy of the backup will be made to the configured Cloud storage locations. Select the checkbox for each registered Cloud Storage location to be used for this backup. Computer collections can also be selected in Properties on the Cloud Storage node.

• An account to read data from remote storage location: - Select an account that has read permission to the remote storage location. This account will be used to read the backup from remote storage and copy (upload) to Cloud Storage. If the account is incorrect and does not have the proper permissions, the copy of the backup to Cloud Storage will fail.