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Backup and Recovery Overview for Windows Server 2008

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 contains new and updated features to help you create backups and, if needed, perform a recovery of your operating system, applications, and data. By using these features appropriately and implementing good operational practices, you can improve your organization's ability to recover from damaged or lost data, hardware failures, and disasters.

This topic contains the following sections:

  • Backup and recovery technologies

  • Shadow Copies of Shared Folders overview

  • Windows Server Backup overview

  • Windows Recovery Environment overview

Backup and recovery technologies

There are several features in Windows Server 2008 that you can use together to create backups and perform recoveries of your server systems and data. These include the following:

  • Shadow Copies of Shared Folders

  • Windows Server Backup tools (including the Windows Server Backup Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in, the Wbadmin command-line tool, and the Windows PowerShell commands for Windows Server Backup)

  • Windows Recovery Environment (including Windows Complete PC Restore, Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, and Command Prompt)

You can use these tools to perform the following backup or recovery tasks for your computers running Windows Server 2008:

Tool Backup or recovery tasks

Shadow Copies of Shared Folders (in the Shared Folders snap-in)

Create shadow copies of files or folders on a shared resource

Backup Schedule Wizard (in the Windows Server Backup snap-in)

Create schedule for backups to be run automatically

Backup Once Wizard (in the Windows Server Backup snap-in)

Create a one-time supplemental backup

Wbadmin start systemstatebackup command

Create a backup of the system state

Recovery Wizard (in the Windows Server Backup snap-in)

Recover files, folders, applications, and volumes

A Windows Setup disc to access the Windows Recovery Environment, and a backup created with Windows Server Backup

Recover the operating system (critical volumes) or the full server (all volumes)

Wbadmin start systemstaterecovery command

Recover the system state

Catalog Recovery Wizard (in the Windows Server Backup snap-in)

Note
The Catalog Recovery Wizard is only available from Windows Server Backup when the backup catalog is corrupted.

Recover the backup catalog

Shadow Copies of Shared Folders overview

Shadow Copies of Shared Folders provides point-in-time copies of files that are located on shared resources, such as a file server.

What is Shadow Copies of Shared Folders?

Shadow Copies of Shared Folders is a feature included in the Shared Folders Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in that you or your users can use to view shared files and folders as they existed at points of time in the past. Accessing previous versions of files, or shadow copies, is useful because you can:

  • Recover files that were accidentally deleted. If you accidentally delete a file, you can open a previous version and copy it to a safe location.

  • Recover from accidentally overwriting a file. If you accidentally overwrite a file, you can recover a previous version of the file.

  • Compare versions of a file while working. You can use previous versions when you want to check what has changed between two versions of a file.

However, creating shadow copies is not a replacement for creating regular backups. Also, you can only enable Shadow Copies of Shared Folders on a per-volume basis—that is, you cannot select specific shared folders and files on a volume to be copied or not copied.

Hardware and software considerations for Shadow Copies of Shared Folders

Shadow Copies of Shared Folders is available in all editions of Windows Server 2008 (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions). However, the Shadow Copies of Shared Folders user interface is not available for the Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008.

  • If you plan to defragment the source volume on which Shadow Copies of Shared Folders is enabled, we recommend that you set the cluster allocation unit size to be 16 KB or larger when you initially format the source volume. If you do not, the number of changes caused by defragmentation can cause previous versions of files to be deleted.

If you require NTFS file compression on the source volume, you cannot use an allocation unit size larger than 4 KB. In this case, when you defragment a volume that is very fragmented, you may lose older shadow copies faster than expected.

Additional references for Shadow Copies of Shared Folders

For more information about Shadow Copies of Shared Folders and recovering files and folders for Windows Server 2008, see the following resources on the Microsoft Web site:

Windows Server Backup overview

Windows Server Backup is a feature in Windows Server 2008 that provides a set of wizards and other tools for you to perform basic backup and recovery tasks for your servers running Windows Server 2008. This feature has been redesigned and introduces new technology. The previous backup feature (Ntbackup.exe) that was available with earlier versions of Windows has been removed.

What is Windows Server Backup?

The Windows Server Backup feature in Windows Server 2008 consists of an MMC snap-in and command-line tools that provide a complete solution for your day-to-day backup and recovery needs. You can use four wizards to guide you through running backups and recoveries. You can use Windows Server Backup to back up a full server (all volumes), selected volumes, or the system state. You can recover volumes, folders, files, certain applications, and the system state. And, in case of disasters like hard disk failures, you can perform a system recovery by using a full server backup and the Windows Recovery Environment—this will restore your complete system onto the new hard disk.

You can use Windows Server Backup to create and manage backups for the local computer or a remote computer. Also, you can schedule backups to run automatically.

Windows Server Backup is intended for use by everyone who needs a basic backup solution—from small business owners to IT professionals in large enterprises. However, the design makes it especially well-suited for smaller organizations or individuals who are not IT professionals.

Note

You cannot recover backups that you created with Ntbackup.exe by using Windows Server Backup. However, a version of Ntbackup.exe is available as a download to Windows Server 2008 for users who want to recover data from backups created using Ntbackup.exe. The downloadable version of Ntbackup.exe is only for recovering backups for older versions of Windows and cannot be used to create new backups in Windows Server 2008. To download Ntbackup.exe, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=82917.

Features in Windows Server Backup

  • Windows Server Backup snap-in. This tool contains four wizards to help you perform backups and recoveries of your servers: Schedule Backup Wizard, Backup Once Wizard, Recovery Wizard, and Catalog Recovery Wizard. You can use the main page of the snap-in to view information about any past or future backup or recovery operations. Also, you can use the tool to configure performance options for backups and recoveries.

  • Wbadmin command-line tool. Windows Server Backup includes the Wbadmin command and documentation, which enable you to perform all of the same tasks at the command line that you can perform by using the snap-in. For more information, see the Command Reference (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=93131). You can also automate backup activities through scripting.

  • Windows PowerShell commands for Windows Server Backup. Windows Server 2008 contains a collection of Windows PowerShell commands (cmdlets) for Windows Server Backup that you can use to write scripts to perform backups. For more information, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=93317.

Hardware and software considerations for Windows Server Backup

Windows Server Backup is available in all editions of Windows Server 2008 (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions). However, the Windows Server Backup snap-in is not available for the Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008. To run backups for computers with a Server Core installation, you need to either use the command line or manage backups remotely from another computer. In addition, Windows PowerShell is not available for the Server Core installation option, so the Windows PowerShell cmdlets for Windows Server Backup are also not available on this type of installation.

Windows Server Backup supports external and internal hard disks, optical media drives, and removable media drives. You can no longer back up to tape—however, support of tape storage drivers is still included in Windows Server 2008. To perform a scheduled backup, as a best practice, use an external hard disk that supports either USB 2.0 or IEEE 1394.

Additional references for Windows Server Backup

For more information about Windows Server Backup, see the following resources on the Microsoft Web site:

Windows Recovery Environment overview

Windows Recovery Environment in Windows Server 2008 is a partial version of the operating system and a set of tools that you can use to perform operating system or full server recoveries (along with a backup that you created earlier using Windows Server Backup).

What is Windows Recovery Environment?

You can access the Windows Recovery Environment on the Windows Setup disc or, on some computers, on a recovery partition.

You can also install Windows Recovery Environment locally on your server if you want to configure your servers to fail over to the Windows Recovery Environment if they fail to boot. (For instructions, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=94458.)

Features in Windows Recovery Environment

The tools in Windows Recovery Environment include:

  • Windows Complete PC Restore. You can use this tool and a backup that you created earlier with Windows Server Backup to restore your operating system or full server.

  • Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool. You can use this tool (which is a memory diagnostic schedule) to check your computer's RAM. Doing this requires a restart. In addition, this tool requires a valid Windows Server 2008 (or Windows Vista) installation to function.

  • Command Prompt. This opens a command prompt window with Administrator privileges that provides full access to your file system and volumes. In addition, certain Wbadmin commands are only available from this command window. For information about the Wbadmin command, see the Command Reference (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=93131).

You can access the recovery and troubleshooting tools in Windows Recovery Environment through the System Recovery Options dialog box in the Install Windows Wizard.

Hardware and software considerations for Windows Recovery Environment

Windows Recovery Environment is available in all editions of Windows Server 2008 (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions). However, the processor architecture for a given instance of Windows Recovery Environment and the computer whose system you are trying to restore must match. For example, Windows Recovery Environment for an x86-based version of the operating system only works on an x86-based computer.

In addition, your hardware manufacturer may have installed Windows Recovery Environment on a partition on your server. However, if not, you will need a Windows Server 2008 Setup disc to access Windows Recovery Environment.

Additional references for Windows Recovery Environment

For more information about Windows Recovery Environment and recovering your server running Windows Server 2008, see the following resources on the Microsoft Web site: