To automate the backup process, you can create a scheduled task that runs Windows Server Backup for you. Task creation and scheduling processes are integrated into Windows
Server Backup. You can schedule automated backups using Windows Server
Backup. Select the Local Backup node and then tap or click Backup
Schedule on the Action menu or in the actions pane to start the Backup
Schedule Wizard. After scanning the available disks, Windows Server
Backup starts the Backup Schedule Wizard. Tap or click Next.
On the Select Backup Configuration page, shown in Figure 3, note the backup size listed under the Full Server option. This is the storage
space required to back up the server data, applications, and the system
state. To back up all volumes on the server, choose the Full Server
option and then tap or click Next. To back up selected volumes on the
server, choose Custom and then tap or click Next.
If you chose Custom, the Select Items For Backup page is displayed. Tap or click Add Items. As shown in Figure 4, select the check boxes for the volumes that you want to back up and clear the check boxes for the volumes that you want to exclude. Only locally attached disks can be included in scheduled backups.
Volumes that contain boot files, operating system files, or
applications are included in the backup by default and cannot be
excluded. Choose the Bare Metal Recovery option if you want to be able
to fully recover the operating system. If the server
is a Hyper-V host, you can select individual virtual servers to back up
using their saved state as well as the host component.
Next, tap or click Advanced Settings to display the Advanced Settings dialog box. You can now do the following:
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Use the options on the Exclusions
tab to exclude files by folder and type. To define an exclusion, tap or
click Add Exclusion, use the Select Items To Exclude dialog box to
select a folder that should be excluded, and then tap or click OK. This
adds the folder to the Excluded File Types list in the Advanced Settings
dialog box. By default, all files and subfolders in the specified
folder are excluded. To exclude specific types of files in the selected
folder, tap or click in the File Type column and enter the file types to
exclude in a comma-separated list, such as .tmp, .temp, .htm, and
.html. To include only the selected folder and not its subfolders, tap
or click in the Subfolders column and then select No.
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Use the options on the VSS Settings tab to specify the type of backup
to create. The default backup type is a copy backup, which retains
application log files and doesn’t clear the archive attribute on file to
maintain compatibility with other products you might use to back up
applications that are on volumes included in the backup. If you don’t
use other products to back up applications, you can use a full backup
instead, which clears the archive attribute and doesn’t retain
application logs.
On the Specify Backup Time page, shown in Figure 5, you can specify how often and when you want to run backups.
To perform backups daily at a specific time, choose Once A Day and then
select the time to start running the daily backup. To perform backups
multiple times each day, choose More Than Once A Day. Next, tap or click
a start time under Available Time and then tap or click Add to move the
time under Scheduled Time. Repeat for each start time that you want to
add. Tap or click Next when you are ready to continue.
On the Specify Destination Type page, shown in Figure 6, you have these options:
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Back Up To A Hard Disk That Is Dedicated For Backups
Use this option to specify a dedicated hard disk for backups. Each
external disk can store up to 512 backups, depending on the amount of
data contained in each backup. If you select multiple disks, Windows
Server Backup will rotate between them. Any selected disks will be
formatted and then dedicated only to backups. This option is recommended
because you’ll get the best performance. If you choose this option, tap
or click Next, select the disk or disks to use, and then tap or click
Next again.
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Back Up To A Volume
Use this option to write backups to individual volumes on a hard disk.
Because any volume you select is not dedicated to backups, it can be
used for other purposes. However, the performance of any of the selected
volumes is reduced while backups are being written. If you choose this
option, tap or click Next, use the Add and Remove options to select the
volumes to use, and then tap or click Next again.
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Back Up To A Shared Network Folder
Use this option to specify a shared network folder for backups. With
this option, you can have only one backup at a time because each new
backup overwrites the previous backup. If you choose this option, tap or
click Next. When prompted, tap or click OK. Type the UNC path to the
network share, such as \\DataServer18\Backups\Servers.
If you want the backup to be accessible to everyone who has access to
the shared folder, select Inherit under Access Control. If you want to
restrict access to the shared folder to the current user and members of
the Administrators and Backup Operators groups, select Do Not Inherit
under Access Control. Tap or click Next. When prompted to provide access
credentials, type the user name and password for an account authorized
to access and write to the shared folder. This account should also be an
administrator or backup operator on the server you are backing up.
On the Confirmation page, review the details and then tap or click
Finish. With dedicated backup disks, the wizard will then format the
disks. The formatting process might take several minutes or considerably
longer, depending on the size of the disk. When this process finishes,
the Summary page should show that you successfully created the backup
schedule. Tap or click Close. Your backups
are now scheduled for the selected server. You need to check
periodically to ensure that backups are being performed as expected and
that the backup schedule meets current needs.
After you configure scheduled backups on a server, you can modify or stop the scheduled backups using the Backup
Schedule Wizard. Select Backup Schedule on the Action menu or in the
Actions pane. On the Modify Scheduled Backup Settings page, Modify
Backup is selected by default. Use this option if you want to add or
remove backup items, times, or targets.
If you want to stop the scheduled backups from running, select Stop
Backup instead, tap or click Next, and then tap or click Finish. When
prompted to confirm, tap or click Yes and then tap or click Close. Keep
in mind that stopping backups
releases dedicated backup disks for normal use. Backup archives are not
deleted from the backup disks and remain available for use in recovery.
