How to Backup Windows Server 2008

This document discusses the two most common methods used to backup a Windows Server and walks you through setting up two backup programs, Backup for Workgroups and Windows Server Backup.

The best practice for backing up a Windows Server 2008 computer is to use two backup approaches.  The two most common approaches are:

• File Based Backup - With file based backup, the goal is to backup the files on the Windows Server.  The point of view in this method is at the file level.
• Disk Image Backup - With disk image backup, the goal is to backup the disk drives on the Windows Server.  The point of view in this method is whole drive level backup.

File Based Backup is intended to provide flexibility that is lacking in most image based backups.  The file based backup process runs through the drives and looks for files that change.  Since this process only backs up the files that change, the backups run more frequently and normally complete the backup process very quickly.  File based backup programs tend to have flexible schedulers and more restore options than disk image programs.

Disk Image Backup is great for making drive copies.  The disk images are usually performed to make an image of a drive in a Windows server with the goal that if the drive were to fail, it can be quickly restored to a replacement drive.  The disk image approach effectively makes a copy of an entire disk drive as a whole, in other words, it replicates the drive. Restorations performed with disk image software are generally whole drive restorations.  Some programs allow you to restore the entire drive or to restore selective files, but the goal is complete drive backup and complete drive restore.  Because disk image software looks at drive backup from the entire drive's point of view, many people run a disk image backup infrequently as compared to file based backup. 

Brief Comparison of File and Disk Image Backup Methods - Both backup methods ultimately backup the entire server and both can restore a complete server.  Disk Image backup can usually recreate a disk drive faster than file based backup, but file based backup is generally more flexible.  Most disk image software is designed to restore an entire hard drive.  If you only need to restore a few files they can be limiting.  For example Windows Server Backup can only restore files in a single folder, it does not allow you to pick files from several locations to restore.

File based backup programs offer more restoration options that may be very helpful when you are in a crisis.  For example, Backup for Workgroups offers different restore options based on what type of problem needs resolving.  If you need a complete disaster recovery, that is one button.  But if you just need to restore the Exchange Mailbox store, that process is a selectable task to perform.  Should you delete a file or folder, Backup for Workgroups scans the server and it will tell you what files were recently deleted, which makes the selection process simple.  These features typically do not exist in image based backup software.

So the best solution is to use both backup methods - you get the best of both worlds.

Storage Considerations - The next item to consider is the storage equipment you are going to use and whether you want your data stored onsite or offsite.

• Onsite Backup -  Files that are backed up are stored locally with onsite backup.  The advantages are speed and control.  The backup process occurs at the speeds of the local network and local drives.  You are also in control of your own data backup storage. 
• Offsite Backup  - Files that are backed up are stored at a remote location, using an Internet based / Cloud storage provider.  The benefit of offsite storage is separation between the original files and the backup data.  The disadvantage is Cloud backups are very slow and the restoration process may take days or weeks to rebuild a server.  Another consideration to take into account is that Internet based storage companies have had a history of suddenly going out of business, which may leave you without access to your own backup data.

The best solution is a blended solution.  The blended solution starts with onsite backup and facilitates offsite backup, which you can setup with Backup for Workgroups.

This document will show you how to setup both an image based backup and a file based backup of your Windows Server that uses onsite storage as the primary backup and offsite storage as the secondary backup.

Step 1 - Hardware Setup for your Windows Server 2008

Step 2 - Configure File Based Backup Software - How to setup Backup for Workgroups

Step 3 - Configure Disk Image Backup Software - How to setup the built in image backup in Windows Server 2008

Comparison of Backup for Workgroups and Windows Server Backup

Hardware Setup for your Windows Server 2008

Since we are following a best practice recommendation to use both disk image backup and file based backup software, we will need to dedicate one storage drive for each backup method.  You may be tempted to use one storage drive to hold the backup data for both backup methods, but that is not advisable because should the backup drive fail, you would lose all of your backup data.  Also when you use the built in image backup in Windows, it will take complete control of the backup drive in such a way that no other application can use the backup drive!  As a result, it makes sense to use two backup drives, one for disk images and one for file based backups.  With inexpensive hard drives readily available, this is a low cost solution.

To begin, we are starting with a Dell PowerEdge Server.  We have already installed Windows Server 2008 R2 on this computer.

Next, we opened the computer case.  The server originally had one 1TB drive and we have decided to add 2 additional 1 TB drives as marked by the arrows below, showing that we now have 3 drives.

In the picture above, you can see 3 arrows pointing to the three drives in this server.  The top drive (Drive 0) is the original drive that contains Windows Server 2008.  The middle drive will be dedicated to the drive image software and the bottom drive will be dedicated to the file based backup software - Backup for Workgroups.  The benefit of placing your backup storage drives inside the Windows Server is AVAILABILITY.  Internal drives are always available so that if we need to perform a restore, the backup data is immediately available and accessible.  This can be very important if you remotely administer the Windows Server. Making your backup data immediately available can save a trip to the server.

Another advantage to internal disk storage is SPEED.  The backup process can run at full disk drive speeds.  This can be critical should you need to restore a large amount of data.  When you compare the speed of internal drives to Internet/Cloud storage drives, you can restore large amounts of data quickly from LOCAL drives as opposed to spending days or weeks retrieving files from Internet or Cloud-based hosted storage.

Now that we have our backup storage drives in place, we are ready to close the computer case and install and configure the backup software.

Configure File Based Backup Software - How to Setup Backup for Workgroups

File based backup programs have the greatest flexibility when it comes to backing up and restoring files on a Windows Server. 

In our example, we will use Backup for Workgroups to backup the Windows Server 2008 computer.  Backup for Workgroups is a disk based backup program, it will backup the files on the Windows Server and store the backup data to disk based storage.  By using an internal hard drive for backup storage, you will have the fastest backup time.  Also, using an internal drive keeps the backup data always available.  If you should need to restore a file, the backup files are immediately available, you do not need to physically go to the server to restore files, and you can perform file and folder based restores using standard Remote Desktop access. 

Backup for Workgroups also supports onsite and offsite storage where you can backup to the local hard drive and then mirror to an external drive that can be stored offsite.  We will start our setup by backing up to an internal drive and then adding the external mirror.  The internal drive provides us with the advantages of backup SPEED and data AVAILABILITY and the external mirror provides us with REDUNDANCY and OFF-SITE data storage.

Step 1 - Format the backup drive

In this example, we are using a Dell PowerEdge server.  The original server had one drive that has been setup with the Windows Server 2008 operating system on Drive C:.  We added 2 additional hard drives.  One of the additional drives will be dedicated to Backup for Workgroups and other additional drive will be dedicated to the Windows built in backup software.  With the relatively low prices of drive, this is a very cost effective solution.

Before we download and install Backup for Workgroups, we will format the backup drive that will be used to hold the backup data.

At the Windows Server, open the Server Manager.  When you open the Server Manager, expand Storage in the left hand panel and select Disk Management. 

Server Manager will show the 3 hard drives listed as Disk 0, Disk 1 and Disk 2.  The first disk is the drive that is holding the operating system.  The second disk we will use for the built in Windows Backup so we will ignore that disk at this time. The third drive we will dedicate to Backup for Workgroups.

Since our drives are brand new, they will need to be formatted, right click on the section labeled "Unallocated" for Disk 2 and choose "New Simple Volume...".  Windows will display a wizard to walk you through the process of formatting the drive:

Press Next to start the wizard.

The New simple volume wizard will show the size of the drive and allows you to include the entire drive or a portion of the drive.  Since we want to dedicate the entire drive to holding backup data, choose the default size, which is the entire drive.  Press Next to continue.

The New Simple Volume wizard will now ask if you would like to assign a drive letter to the drive when it is formatted.  We recommend assigning a drive letter that is high in the alphabet such as drive X:. This helps visually separate the drive from the operating system drive.  After selecting the drive letter you want to use, press Next.

Now the New Simple Volume wizard will ask for several pieces of information.  The first is the File System, you will want to use NTFS.  NTFS allows for the storage of large files, where the older format FAT32 was limited to files up to 4GB.

The allocation size can be anything you want, default is the most common.

Backup for Workgroups does not use the volume label, this a comment to you.  You should use a volume label that you would recognize in the future as a backup drive.  You can change this at anytime and it will have no effect on your backup.

Lastly you will want to Check / Tick the option to "Perform a quick format".  For drives of 1 TB or larger a standard format can take hours.

Press Next to continue.

The New Simple Volume Wizard is now ready to format the drive.  Press Finish to exit the Wizard and the formatting process will begin.

After Windows formats the new drive you will be returned back to the Server Manager.  From our screen shot we can see the new drive is formatted NTFS with the drive letter X:.  You are now ready to install Backup for Workgroups.

Step 2 - Download the Backup for Workgroups Setup Program

You are ready to download the Backup for Workgroups setup program.

Click on the Download Now button below.  Enter your contact information then return to this page to continue.

Step 3 - Run the Backup for Workgroups Setup Program

You are now ready to run the setup program. 

1.  Run the bfwsetup program. 

2.  Press the button to agree to the license agreement.  The setup program will now install Backup for Workgroups. When the installation process is complete, the welcome screen appears.

3.  At the Welcome screen choose the top item to indicate that you want to backup this computer.  Backup for Workgroups will setup one backup client account for this Windows Server.  Press Next.

4.  On the Backup Storage Location dialog, you inform Backup for Workgroups of the location of the backup storage device. 

Backup for Workgroups will default to selecting the largest drive on your computer that has most free space.  The setup program should automatically select the drive we added to the computer because in our example, it is the drive with the most free space.  As seen above, Backup for Workgroups is going to store your backup data on the X: drive, under the "BFW Backup Data" directory.  If the Setup program does not automatically select the correct storage location, then use the drop down box to select the drive. 

If your choose to use an external drive instead of an internal drive and that external drive does not show up in the drop-down list, make sure the drive is powered on, formatted in NTFS, and assigned a drive letter and is accessible to Windows.  Then, press the Refresh button to tell the Setup program to rescan your computer for the available drives. 

5.  Press Finish to complete the setup.  Now the Backup for Workgroups main program screen appears, as seen below.

Backup for Workgroups has a built in backup set that is defined to backup all local drives on the Windows server at 11:00 pm.  Backup for Workgroups also has a built in open file add-on that allows the backup process to backup locked files on the server, this includes Exchange, SQL Server, and Domain Controller Active Directory databases.

You can press the "Backup Now..." button to start your baseline backup now, or you can let the default, scheduled backup execute at 11pm.  Please note that your computer must be powered on at 11pm in order to perform the backup.  If this time is inconvenient or you prefer another time, you can go to Tools>Manage Backup Sets to change the run time on the All Local Drives backup set.

We have decided to go ahead and perform the backup now of our Windows Server. Press the Backup Now button... Backup for Workgroups will backup the Windows Server and store the backup files on the X: Storage drive.  This first run of the backup is commonly called the "baseline backup." 

When this backup completes, Backup for Workgroups shows the results of the backup process.

As you can see the backup of the Windows Server took 9 minutes and backed up at the rate of about 1GB per minute.  We bring attention to this backup speed to make note that Backup for Workgroups is a FAST backup program when provided with the optimum backup configuration using internal, local drives for backup storage.

Setup offsite storage using a USB drive Mirror

You are have now completed the setup of Backup for Workgroups to backup the Windows Server and store the backup data to one of the computer's internal hard drives.  If you would like, you can add an external USB drive to use as a mirror drive.  This drive can be stored offsite and periodically brought in and connected to this server.  When you connect the USB drive, Backup for Workgroups will bring the mirror drive up-to-date with the primary backup storage drive.  The goal of using a USB drive to hold offsite data is for load.  Most servers simply have too much data to push through an Internet connection.  It is common to find that the size of a typical Exchange Server's Mailbox Store is so large that it would take over 24 hours to push it through an Internet connection. As a result it cannot be backed up offsite using cloud based storage.  Using a USB Mirror drive can be very effective on these large files.  Backup for Workgroups can backup the Exchange Server data, then replicate the backup data to your USB drive in a matter of minutes or in hours, depending upon network load and size of files. This USB Mirror drive can then be carried offsite and stored.

To facilitate offsite storage, we have selected a USB drive and attached it to the Windows Server.  This USB drive will be used as the mirror drive.

When you attach the USB drive for the first time, Windows will assign it the next available drive letter.  We prefer to specify a drive letter to avoid with other USB devices.  To avoid USB drive letter conflicts, let's assign the drive the letter M: for Mirror Drive.

At the "Server Management" screen, expand the Storage section and select 'Disk Management."

In the center section of the Server Manager Screen, right click on the USB drive and choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths."

Select the drive letter M: (or any letter that is high in the alphabet) and save your changes.

Finally take a look at the drive and see if it is formatted as NTFS. If the drive is not formatted as NTFS, follow the steps above to format the drive as NTFS.

Now, we need to tell Backup for Workgroups to use the USB drive as the Mirror Drive.  To do so, open Backup for Workgroups and go to the Storage Panel:

We currently see that Backup for Workgroups is configured to use the X: drive for its primary backup storage, which is seen in the upper portion of this dialog.  The lower portion of the storage panel shows the mirror drive(s).  Press the Add button to define a mirror storage location.

The drop down list will show all the local drives and it pre-selects the largest drive that is not already in use by Backup for Workgroups, in this case we can see that it selected our USB drive M:.  If the default is not the USB drive, then click on the drop down list to select the appropriate drive.  If the drive is not in the list, then make sure the USB drive is powered on and accessible by Windows, then press the Refresh button.  Now select the USB drive and press Ok.

Backup for Workgroups now shows that the folder X:\BFW Backup Data is used for the primary storage and the folder M:\BFW Mirror Data is the duplicate copy of the backup data.  Backup for Workgroups will now replicate the backup storage to the mirror drive.  As files change in the primary storage they will be automatically copied to the mirror drive.

We recommend that once the mirror drive is up to date, remove the USB drive and store it offsite.  Periodically bring the mirror drive in and attach the drive to the server.  Backup for Workgroups will keep a watch on the drive and when it sees the drive has returned it will scan the primary storage drive and the mirror drive and it will copy the files that are out of sync to bring the mirror up to date.  Since the process only copies changed files the mirror will be in sync within a few hours.

Step 3 - Configure Disk Image Backup Software -
How to setup the built in Backup in Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 comes with a built-in Disk Image backup utility.  This utility in Windows is a good way to supplement a file based backup program such as Backup for Workgroups to comply with data protection best practices.  The disk image software within Windows can create whole disk images of your Windows Server.  The benefit of Disk Image backup software is that it can create complete snapshots of each hard drive on your computer.  The problem with disk-image backup is that it provides few options when it comes time to restore your data.  The built in Windows Server backup can restore the entire computer, a drive, the Registry or just a few files or folders. Keep in mind that although you can restore a few selected files, this disk-image backup program is designed for restoring complete drives.  If you want to restore groups of files of groups of folders, you typically have to go through the restore process repeatedly per file or per folder making the restore SLOW and TEDIOUS.  Also, the built in Windows Backup does not support restoring Exchange data as a simple process; the general intention is that if you need to restore Exchange data just recreate the entire drive holding Exchange.  Granular restore such as just the mailbox store is very difficult.  This why we recommend using Disk Image backup to supplement file based backup.  Disk image backup is designed for simple whole drive backup and whole drive restore.

To setup the built in Windows Server 2008 backup utility, the first item is to make sure your hardware is in place.  In our example we have added a dedicated drive to use with the Windows Backup utility.  This drive does not need to be formatted and if it is, Windows will reformat it and strip the drive letter from the drive, so the best process is to just install the bare drive to the Windows Server and leave it unallocated as seen in Disk Manager.

Now that we have verified that the new drive is installed and Windows can see it in Device Manager, we need to install the Windows Backup Utility.  At the Windows Server Manager, click on Server Manager at the top of the left hand column.  This will return you to the main server manager screen.

Click on Add Features to display a list of features that you can add to your server.

Expand "Windows Server Backup Features" and select "Windows Server Backup" so that there is a checkmark next to that feature.  If you plan to run backups through automated scripts you can add the Command-line Tools.  Press Next to continue.

Windows will display the options you have selected, press "Install" to begin the process of adding Windows Backup to your server.  When the installation is complete you will return to the main Server Manager Window.

You can see on the Server Manager screen under Feature Summary, that Windows Server Backup is installed.  Now to configure the backup, you will want to expand Storage in the left hand column and select Windows Server Backup.

Now you need to define a backup schedule.  Right click on Windows Server Backup and select Backup Schedule...

The Windows backup utility will present a Wizard that will walk you through the process of setting up the backup schedule.  Press Next.

If you want to backup all drives on this server select "Full Server".  Since we have added a drive that is dedicated to the Windows backup and another drive that is dedicated to Backup for Workgroups we do not want to the Windows backup utility to backup the data files from Backup for Workgroups.  As a result we have selected "Custom", so we can include the Windows drives and exclude certain backup drives.

The backup wizard now shows a blank screen indicating that nothing has been selected to be backed up.  Press the "Add Items" button to specify what to backup.

At the Select Items screen, check / tick the items you wan to backup.  In our example we want to backup everything except the drive that we have dedicated to Backup for Workgroups.  Press OK to save your selections.

The Backup Schedule Wizard now shows the items you have selected to include in the backup, press Next to continue.

Now the Backup Schedule Wizard allows you to define the backup schedule.  The default is to backup the computer once a day at 9:00pm.  Since we have both Backup for Workgroups and Windows Server Backup installed to backup this computer, we do not want to have both backups run at the same time.  So the key item is to select a time that is unlikely to interrupt your users on the server and also would not overlap with Backup for Workgroups.  Since Backup for Workgroups is set to backup at 11:00 pm, we will use the default of 9:00 pm - creating a separation between the 2 backup processes of 2 hours. 

The next item the Backup Schedule Wizard will ask is where you do want to store the backup data.  You can choose a dedicated drive, a folder on a drive or a network share. Since we want the fastest backup and have already pre-installed a dedicated drive, we have selected the default which is the dedicated drive.

The Backup Schedule Wizard will now ask you to specify which drive you want to use to store the backup files.  Press the Show All Available Disks... button.

At the Show All Available Disks dialog, select the drive that we have installed and dedicated to Windows Backup.  Note that we leave the X: Drive, which is to be used for Backup for Workgroups unselected.  Press OK.

The drive now appears in the Backup Scheduler Wizard.  Note that we never assigned a drive letter to this new drive nor have we formatted the drive.  That is because if you do assign a drive letter Windows will remove the drive letter once you specify that the drive is dedicated.  Press Next.

The Backup Schedule Wizard will now verify that this drive is the drive you intended to use.  Since Windows will format the drive, all data on the drive would be deleted.  Choose Yes to confirm your selection.

The Backup Schedule Wizard now shows the drive that is selected to use for backup, press Finish.

The Backup Schedule Wizard will now format the drive.  If the drive had a drive letter, the letter will be removed, so that the drive will effectively disappear from your access and will be dedicated to Windows Backup.

Press Close to close the Backup Schedule Wizard.

You should now be back to the Windows Server Manager - Windows Server Backup screen.  Since we have not performed a backup, the screen shows the last back up as empty.  It is a good idea to perform the first backup now so that you can observe the results in real time.

How to start a manual backup of the Windows Server backup

To perform a manual run of the Windows Server Backup program, you will want to start at the Windows Server Manager. 

 Expand the item labeled "Storage" in the left hand column.  Then Right Click on Windows Server Backup and select "Backup Once..."

Windows Server Backup will open a wizard that will ask you what do you want to backup.  Keep in mind that the Windows Server Backup program only allows for one backup set definition.  So, when you are on the Backup Options screen, you are going to run a backup using the existing backup set definitions, or you are going to make changes to the backup set definitions. 

The Backup Options dialog asks if you want to use the settings that you have ALREADY defined for your scheduled backup or do you want to define something else to backup.  Since we want to test the settings that we have just specified in the scheduled backup, we will choose the default "Scheduled backup options".  This tells the backup run to use the settings from the scheduled backup definition.  If you want to backup a different set of files than those defined in your scheduled backup, then choose the "Different Options".   Press Next.

Since we chose to backup the items that are included in the scheduled backup set, the Backup Utility is ready to use those settings and begin the backup now.  Press the Backup button to start the backup process.

Windows Server Backup will now show a progress display indicating what it is currently backing up and what it has completed.  You can close the dialog and return to other work or you can leave the dialog open to observe the results in real time.

When the backup completes, you can review the results.  We can see from this screen shot that the backup completed just fine, so we can close the Backup Progress screen.

Windows now returns you to the Server Manager window, where you can see the results of the latest backup, when the next scheduled backup will begin and the results of all backup runs.

Comparison of Backup for Workgroups to the built in Windows Server Backup

Backup for Workgroups:

• File based backup - Allows granular backup and restore.  This can greatly speed up the daily backup and allows flexible restore options.
• Goal based Restore - Restoring files are based on what you want to achieve; they are not based on when and how the backup occurred.  You can choose to concentrate your restore on deleted files or on a topic such as Exchange Server.
• Client / Server facilitates multiple computer backup - Backup for Workgroups uses a client / server approach that allows for centralizing the management of backup storage.  Centralized storage allows you to save money since you share the storage across several computers instead of incurring the cost of adding backup storage to each computer you need to backup.
• Backup over the Internet and remote backup - You can setup the Backup for Workgroups Backup Server at one location and the Backup Clients can use a Wide Area Network to backup remote offices or the Internet to transmit the backup data from the Backup Client(s) to the Backup Server.
• Daily Email Reports - Backup for Workgroups can send you daily email reports that use color coded tables and details to show the results of each computer that you are backing up. 
• Easy to setup - As you can see in this document, setting up Backup for Workgroups takes just a few steps.

Windows Server Backup:

• Disk Image Backup - The built in Windows Server Backup is designed to backup the computer by creating a duplicate image of the entire drive.  This is great if you need to replace a hard drive, but it is cumbersome should you need to restore portions of a computer.
• Limited file based restores - Windows Server Backup can restore any single file or any group of files within one folder.  Or you can restore any one folder or groups of folders that all share a common parent folder.  If you need to restore files from several locations you have to repeat the restore per file or per folder.  For example if you have your Exchange Server mailbox store on one drive and the logs on another, the process requires 2 separate runs of the restore process.  The Windows Server Backup does not keep track of what files are part of Exchange, so if you do have to  restore Exchange Data, you have to know where the Exchange files are currently located, stop Exchange, prepare the Exchange folders and data by hand to prepare for restore, perform the restore through several iterations in Windows Server Backup.  With Backup for Workgroups, it knows what is Exchange Data so that Backup for Workgroups can perform all the necessary steps Exchange requires for you.
• Single computer backup - You need to setup, configure and install the Windows Server Backup software on each computer to backup and each computer must use it's own backup storage. 
• Limited setup and schedules.  You can define a single backup schedule to backup the computer.  Since the backup is designed as whole computer backup, the Windows Server Backup utility assumes that one schedule is sufficient.  You cannot define one backup run of the entire computer at night and a separate backup run of critical files throughout the day.   Backup for Workgroups allows for multiple backup schedules as often as you want.
• Does not support on-site and off-site backup.