Beta release 10.3.0 introduces image-level protection for Windows assets. With image-level protection, Windows assets are backed up at the disk and volume level. Image-level protection yields faster backup performance than file-level protection, especially for servers that have many small files. For a comparison of image-level and file-level protection, see Features of Windows image-level and file-level protection.
For details on using this feature, see Setting up Windows image-level protection.
Features of image-level and file-level protection are given here:
Feature |
Image-level backup |
File-level backup |
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Data protected |
The following apply to image-level protection:
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The following apply to file-level protection:
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Backup options |
Options to exclude volumes or run pre- or post- backup commands are not supported for this Beta release. |
File-level backups support these options:
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Backup and recovery job performance |
Image-level jobs yield faster backup and recovery:
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File-level jobs yield slower backup and recovery:
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Backup size |
Image-level full backups may be larger than file-level fulls of the same asset. Smaller deduplication ratio than with file-level backups. (Fewer duplicate blocks found, more unique blocks stored.) This may result in decreased on-appliance retention. |
File-level full backups may be smaller than image-level fulls of the same asset. Greater deduplication ratio than with image-level backups. (More duplicate blocks found, fewer unique blocks stored.) This may result in greater on-appliance retention. |
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Recovery |
These recovery procedures are supported for image-level backups:
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These recovery procedures are supported for file-level backups:
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Hosted applications |
Image-level backups are taken with VSS copy-only snapshots. Full image-level backups do not truncate application logs. Run Unitrends application backups along with image-level backups to protect hosted applications. (See Application backups below for details.) |
File-level backups are taken with VSS full snapshots. Full file-level backups do not truncate application logs. Active Exchange databases and active SQL user databases are automatically excluded from backup. SQL system databases are always included to support Windows replicas. Run Unitrends application backups along with file-level backups to protect hosted applications. (See Application backups below for details.) |
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Unitrends application backups provide these benefits:
For more on application protection, see this topic in the Administrator Guide for Recovery Series, Recovery MAX, and Unitrends Backup: Application Backups Overview. |
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SLA policies |
SLA policies are not supported for image-level backups. You must manually create backup and backup copy schedules for image-level backups. |
SLA policies are supported for file-level backups. |
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Copy Data Management |
Image-level backups can be included in data copy access jobs. See Copy Data Management for details.
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File-level backups can be used to create Windows replicas. Windows replicas that reside on a VMware or Hyper-V host can be used with the Copy Data Management feature. See Copy Data Management for details. |
To start protecting your Windows assets with image-level backups:
Step 1: | Review the Requirements and considerations for Windows image-level protection |
Step 2: | Review the Beta restrictions and known issues |
Step 3: | Add the Windows asset |
Step 4: | (Optional) Edit asset retention settings |
Note: Retention can also be managed via the new long-term data management feature, which is the default retention scheme for new 10.3.0 Beta appliances. For details, see
Step 5: | Run image-level backups |
Step 6: | Next Steps |
Review the information in these topics before implementing Windows image-level protection:
Follow these best practices to protect your Windows assets with image-level backups:
• | Adhere to Microsoft best practices. |
• | Full and incremental backups are supported for image-level backups. |
• | A new full backup is required if the disk or volume configuration has changed since the last backup. This includes any change to the number, size, or properties of the disks or to the number, size, or properties of the volumes on a disk. |
If the disk or volume configuration has changed since the last backup, the next incremental fails. After this failure, the appliance promotes the next scheduled backup to a full (or displays a message indicating a full is required if an on-demand incremental is attempted). Once a full backup succeeds, subsequent incrementals run as scheduled.
• | In some cases, you may want or need to use file-level backups. To protect a Windows asset with both image-level and file-level backups, ensure that the image-level and file-level jobs do not overlap. Running both simultaneously may lead to undesirable results. See Features of Windows image-level and file-level protection for a comparison of these backup methods. |
The following requirements must be met for image-level protection of Windows assets:
Item |
Description |
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Unitrends appliance |
These requirements apply to the Unitrends backup appliance:
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Windows agent |
The Windows asset must be running Unitrends agent version 10.3.0 with the Volume CBT driver. During agent installation, you have the option to install the Volume CBT driver. The Volume CBT driver is needed to run image-level incremental backups. After you install the Windows agent and Volume CBT driver, you must reboot the Windows asset to enable the driver. For details, see To install the 10.3.0 Windows agent. Note: If the Volume CBT driver has not been installed or has not been enabled, image-level incrementals are not supported. Any scheduled incremental is automatically promoted to a full backup. If you attempt to run an on-demand incremental, you receive a message indicating that only full backups are supported. |
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Windows asset |
See these rows below for Windows requirements: Note: Additional Windows requirements apply for instant recovery. For details, see Windows asset requirements for IR.
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The operating systems listed below are supported. (Additional version limitations apply. See the Compatibility and Interoperability Matrix for details.) Supported client operating systems:
Supported server operating systems:
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Image-level protection is supported for BIOS- and UEFI-based assets.
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Image-level protection is supported for GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitions and Master Boot Record (MBR) primary partitions. (MBR extended partitions will be supported in a future release.) |
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Image-level protection is supported for these file systems: NTFS, FAT, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS. Note: Due to a Microsoft limitation, VSS snapshots cannot be taken of these volumes: FAT, FAT32, and exFAT. Backups of these volumes may contain data that is not in a consistent state if data changes during the backup job. |
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Image-level protection is not supported for the following features. Use file-level protection instead:
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The following limitations and known issues apply to this Beta release:
Beta Limitation |
Description |
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Agent push installation |
Push installation of the Unitrends Windows agent is not supported. You must install the Windows agent manually, as described in To install the 10.3.0 Windows agent. |
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Hyper-V CBT driver installation |
There is a known issue where the Hyper-V CBT driver cannot be installed on Hyper-V servers that are running a pre-10.1.0-3 agent. In this case, you must manually uninstall the older Windows agent before installing the 10.3.0 agent. For details, see To uninstall the Windows agent. |
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Backup schedules |
The following are not supported when creating image-level backup schedules:
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Recovering files from image-level backups |
You must log in to the backup appliance directly to recover files. Logging in to an appliance that is managing the backup appliance is not supported. |
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Appliance disaster recovery |
Performing appliance disaster recovery from an image-level backup copy is not supported in this Beta release. |
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Hot backup copy to the Unitrends Cloud |
Important! If you are currently copying backups to the Unitrends Cloud in your production environment, do not upgrade the source backup appliance to the Beta 10.3.0 release. Copying backups to the production Unitrends Cloud is not supported for source appliances running the Beta 10.3.0 release. Backup copy to the Unitrends Cloud is supported for newly configured Beta Cloud targets only. To use this feature, contact Unitrends Support for assistance. The following requirements and considerations apply:
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Hot backup copy to another Unitrends appliance |
Hot backup copy to your own Unitrends target appliance is supported. To use this feature, deploy or upgrade two Unitrends Backup appliances (as described in Deploy or upgrade appliances). Use one to run image-level backups and the other as the backup copy target appliance. To configure the hot backup copy target, see this topic in the Administrator Guide for Recovery Series, Recovery MAX, and Unitrends Backup: Adding a Unitrends appliance backup copy target. |
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SLA policies |
SLA policies are not supported for this Beta release. You must manually create backup schedules for image-level backups. |
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Locally mounted VHD/VHDX files |
Image-level protection is not supported for VHD or VHDX files that are mounted as local volumes. For details, see VHD or VHDX files that are mounted as local volumes. |
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Read-only volumes |
Image-level protection is not supported for read-only volumes. |
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Offline disks |
Offline disks are included in image-level backups. |
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Disk configuration |
Image-level protection is supported for Windows machines configured with basic disks only. |
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MBR extended partitions |
Master Boot Record (MBR) extended partitions are not supported. (MBR primary partitions are supported.) |
Image-level protection is not supported for VHD or VHDX files that are mounted as local volumes.
If you include one of these locally mounted volumes in an image-level backup, recovery from the backup yields undesired results.
Protecting unmounted VHD or VHDX files is supported. For example:
Protecting a volume that was created by mounting a local VHD(X) file is not supported. For example:
To protect a Windows machine, it must be added as an agent-based asset to the Unitrends backup appliance. If you have already added the Windows assets, proceed to Run image-level backups.
Note: You must install the Unitrends Windows agent before running this procedure.
1 | Select Configure > Protected Assets. |
2 | Click Add > Asset. |
3 | Enter the asset's hostname. |
4 | Enter the asset's IP address. This is optional in some cases, as described here: |
• | For Windows assets, you can use DNS rather than entering a static IP address. |
• | DNS registration should be used for assets that obtain their network settings through DHCP. It is optional for assets with static IP addresses. |
• | If you do not enter a static IP address, make sure that both the asset and the appliance have DNS entries and that reverse lookup is configured. |
• | If you enter a static IP address, the appliance attempts to connect using this address, but if the attempt fails, it will try to add the asset using DNS. |
5 | Clear the Install Agent box and click Save. |
The asset is added to the appliance:
6 | (If needed) For Exchange assets, additional steps are needed before you can run Exchange application backups. See To allow Exchange application backups for details. |
7 | (If needed) For Hyper-V assets, additional steps are needed to discover hosted virtual machines and to run Windows image-level backups. See To sync inventory for details. |
Retention settings
Retention settings are used to control how long backups are retained on the appliance. See the table below for a description of each setting. See To apply retention settings to one asset to apply settings to individual assets.
Note: Retention can also be managed via the new long-term data management feature, which is the default retention scheme for new 10.3.0 Beta appliances. For details, see
Retention setting |
Description |
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Minimum Retention |
Minimum retention settings. |
Keep backups for N days |
Number of days backups must be retained. Backups that are younger than N days are not purged for any reason, including at the expense of new, incoming backups. The age of a backup is determined by the last backup in the group, e.g., the last incremental before a new full. |
Warn when less than N days of backups remain |
Use this option to receive an email notification if this asset has less than N days of backups stored on the appliance. |
Maximum Retention |
Maximum retention setting. |
Delete backups after N Days |
Number of days after which the appliance will delete backups. Backups are eligible to be deleted once the full has exceeded this limit. At this point, the full and all associated incrementals and differentials in the group are deleted. |
Use this procedure to apply retention settings to one asset.
Note: Because each asset can have only one retention policy, you cannot edit an asset's retention settings if the asset has been added to an SLA policy.
1 | Select Configure > Protected Assets. |
2 | Select the asset and click Edit. |
For Windows assets that are eligible for image-level backups, an image-level sub-node displays. Select the primary node to set retention for file-level backups. Select the image-level sub-node to set retention for image-level backups.
3 | Click Manage Retention. |
4 | Define settings click Save. |
5 | Click Save in the Edit Asset dialog. |
File-level example:
Image-level example:
Use this procedure to create an image-level backup job.
1 | Select Jobs > Active Jobs > Create Job > Backup. |
2 | Select Image Level in the What do you want to backup? list. |
3 | In the Inventory tree, expand assets and check boxes to select the image-level sub-nodes you want to protect. Selected assets display in the Job Inventory Settings area. |
• | Windows assets running agent version 10.3.0 can be selected in the list. |
• | To locate an asset by name, use the Search field below. |
Notes:
• | Do NOT click Edit. Edit is not supported in this Beta release. |
• | If image-level protection is not supported for an asset in the job, the appliance runs a file-level backup instead. |
4 | Click Next. |
5 | Select Now or Create a Schedule to specify when you want this job to run. If you create a schedule, enter a unique job name. |
6 | Set remaining Job Details and Options, then click Save: |
Note: The Custom backup mode is not supported in this Beta release. Choose one of the following from the Select the backup mode list: Incremental Forever, Fulls, or Fulls and Incrementals.
7 | Click OK to close the Success message. |
• | If you created a schedule, the job runs at the date and times specified. |
• | If you chose Now, the job queues immediately. Click Active Jobs to view the running job. |
Once you have created image-level backup jobs, you can opt to do any of the following:
• | Copy image-level backups to a secondary target. For details, see Creating backup copy jobs. |
• | Recover files from image-level backups. For details, see Recovering files from Windows image-level backups. |
• | Set up instant recovery to recover a failed or corrupted Windows machine and access it in minutes. For details, see Instant recovery of Windows image-level backups. |
• | Recover the entire Windows asset in the event of a disaster. For details, see Unified bare metal recovery of image-level backups. |