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Simple Windows Server Backup Script – Part 2 2008
In the first part I gave you an example of automating backup on windows 2003 server using batch files and scheduled tasks. In this second part, I will give another example on automating backup using the same technique but on windows 2008.
Windows 2008 already comes with a predefined template for scheduling backup using task scheduler but using this simple method will only have the option of backing up the whole disk (taking an image of the disk), but fortunately there is an ability to select what to backup using the wbadmincommand through the command prompt.
You must run wbadminfrom an elevated command prompt. Click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
First we have to prepare the backup destination, in our example here it will be a shared folder, as if you will backup to another disk, wbadmin will format it to place the image. For example the share path will be \\server01\winbackup
Create a batch file “DailyBackup.bat” which will have the following commands:
set backupshare=\\server01\winbackup << This will assign the share name to the a variable to be used in backup script
Specify the volumes to be included in the backup, remember in windows 2008 you can only select the entire volume (C: D: …) but you cannot select individual files or folders. If you use 2008 R2 you can do so and I will explain it in Part 3.
set include=c:,d: <<volume names separated by comma, volume drive letters, volume mount points, or GUID-based volume names
Make sure that you have created the three empty folders inside share1 (Today, Yesterday and Old) and rotate backup among them. Please refer to part 1 to understand why I used these three folders.
del %backupshare%\old\*.* /q
rd %backupshare%\old
ren %backupshare%\yesterday old
ren %backupshare%\today yesterday
md %backupshare%\today
Executing the wbadmin command:
wbadmin start backup -backuptarget:%backupshare%\today -include:%include% -allCritical –quiet
This will execute the image backup of the selected drives. Remember as you must take backup of the entire volume and you can not select certain items, but you can restore individual files and folders or selected items. Each time you execute this batch file will delete the oldest backup and will rename today & yesterday’s back then create new backup in today’s folder.
Scheduling the Backup operation:
Open the Task Scheduler: Control Panel > Administrator tools > Task Scheduler
From the menu select Create Task.
In the General Tab give a name to the task and select Run whether the user is logged on or not
![clip_image002[5]](https://techzico.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/clip_image0025.gif "clip_image002[5]")
In the Triggers tab, click New, then Select the daily time to execute the task, make sure it is enabled.
On Actions tab, click new, then select the batch file you created (DailyBackup.bat)
Click OK. A new window will open to enter the username & password of the user the task will use when executed. (e.g. username member of the backup operators and permitted to access the backup share folder)
About Restoring Backup in windows 2008:
You have to restore the backup using wbadmin, below are steps to consider:
1- Get the version number of the backup you will restore from:
wbadmin get versions -backupTarget:\\server01\winbackup\today -machine:server01
The output of the command is something similar to the following:
wbadmin 1.0 – Backup command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corp.
Backup time: 8/12/2011 3:44 PM
Backup target: Network Share labeled \\server01\winbackup\Today
Version identifier: 08/12/2011-13:44 ß this is the version number you need
Can Recover: Volume(s), File(s), Application(s), Bare Metal Recovery, System State
2-Get the Items that you can restore:
wbadmin get items -version:08/12/2011-13:44 -backupTarget:\\server01\winbackup\today -machine:server01
The output of the command is something similar to the following:
wbadmin 1.0 – Backup command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corp.
Volume Id = {f711229f-b5cb-11e0-a3f1-806e6f6e6963}
Volume ‘<Unlabeled Volume>’, mounted at C:
Application = FRS
Component = 8C0936D1-A5B0-4F05-99E7-A79FC7873694-C018CBC4-8D91-4BAD-B92A-6E91D97AA640 (SYSVOL\8C0936D1-A5B0-4F05-99E7-A79FC7873694-C018CBC4-8D91-4BAD-B92A-6E91D97AA640)
Application = AD
Component = ntds (C:_Windows_NTDS\ntds)
Application = Registry
Component = Registry (\Registry)
3- Now you can perform one of the following tasks:
Restore the entire drive:
wbadmin start recovery -version:08/12/2011-13:44 -BackupTarget:\\server01\winbackup\today -itemType:Volume -items:c: -machine:server01
Restore System Recovery (Bare Metal)
wbadmin start sysrecovery -version:08/12/2011-13:44 -BackupTarget:\\server01\winbackup\today -machine:server01
Restore System State Recovery
wbadmin start systemstaterecovery -version:08/12/2011-13:44 -BackupTarget:\\server01\winbackup\today -authsysvol -machine:server01
Restore Registry
wbadmin start recovery -version:08/12/2011-13:44 -BackupTarget:\\server01\winbackup\today -itemType:App -items:Registry -machine:server01
Restore Files or Folders (e.g. folder1)
wbadmin start recovery -version:08/12/2011-13:44 -BackupTarget:\\server01\winbackup\today -itemType:File -items:c:\folder -recursive
Remember
- In most cases you will recover the system (restore the backup) from a connected media (volume) such as a hard Disk, DVD drive, USB drive and so on… Usually when recovering a system it rearly to restore a backup from a shared foler. Accordingly, your -backuptarget option will be a volume (e.g. -backuptarget:F:). In that case the backup folder ” WindowsImageBackup ” should be on the root of that volume.
- When berforming the backup and your backuptarget is a volume, then the backup program will format that volume and if there were old backups, they will be lost. That’s why the shared folder is used for backups in windows 2008.
In the Part 3 I will explain some differences between 2008 & 2008 R2 in executing the wbadmin.
Simple Windows Server Backup Script – Part 1 2003
“Backup” is a word every system administrator feel shake in his body when
someone mention something wrong about it. Every system , should have its
backup and backup/restore procedure. I will not get more into explain what
backup is and why it is important.
I remember when working with Windows NT 4.0 about 12 years ago how it forced us
to use backup on tapes, and how we must wait till the tape end catalog, and how
it took very long time to backup or restore, unless you had the budget to buy
special backup software. Also I remember how it was great when we found that
we can take an image of the entire disk using programs like Norton Ghost.
Fortunately , things are better now, if you did not get approval for buying
expensive backup software, you still can use automatic scheduled backup wit
archiving of old backup. Here I will present two simple solutions for windows
2003 & 2008 using what we already have in the server like NTBACKUP and WBADMIN.
Here, I will present two scripts to give you an idea about using the command
line backup tools and schedule to run on daily basis and an example of
archiving:
Suppose that you have 2003 server (Server01) and you want to schedule backup for
System Drive C: , System State, and a data folder on Drive D:
1- Make a selection of what to back and save it as a selection file.
Start Windows Backup, or from the command prompt run ntbackup.exe (start
in advanced mode, not the wizard mode). Go to Backup Tab and
select Whole Drive C: and the folder in Drive D: and Do not forget to check the
System State.
2- From Job Menu, save your selection as a .bks file. E.g. D:\Scripts\Winbackup.bks
3- Suppose you will take backup every day to drive X: and you want to keep the
backups of yesterday and the day before yesterday accessible. Example, create
three folders in drive X: (Today, Yesterday, Old).
4- Create a batch file to execute ntbackup with the saved selection into Today
Folder, while keeping the backup of Yesterday and the day before:
cd old
del *.* /q
cd ..
rd old
ren Yesterday Old
ren Today Yesterday
md Today
Then add the command to execute the NTBACKUP:
C:\Windows\system32\NTBACKUP.EXEbackup “@D:\scripts\WinBackup.bks” /n “Server01” /d “Server01 %date% %time%”
/v:yes /r:no /rs:no /hc:off /m normal /j “Server01 Daily Backup” /l:s /f
“X:\Today\Server01_Win.bkf”
5- Save the batch file into your “D:\scripts” folder
as “DailyBackup.bat”.
You can test the script by double click on the .bat file in windows explorer or
by opening the command prompt ( Start > run > cmd > press Enter) then type
“d:\scripts\dailybackup.bat”
You will notice that will create the folder “Today” in
X: then will create the backup file “Server01_Win.bkf”
inside it. After the backup finish, if you execute the batch file again, the “Today” folder
will be renamed to“Yesterday” and
a new Today folder will be created.
If you execute it once more, the “Yesterday” folder
will be renamed to “Old”,
and “Today” folder
will be renamed to “Yesterday”,
and so on….
By Executing this simple script you will have a full backup for the past three
days, you can increase the number of archives as you need by changing the
script. For example by creating folders with the names of week days.
6- Now schedule the DailyBackup.bat to run on daily basis at a specific time,
Let’s say you want it to be automatically executed everyday at 3:00 AM.
In windows 2003, open the Task Scheduler: Control Panel > Add Scheduled
Task
Click Next, Then Click Browse and select the batch file you saved in step #5
Give a name to your scheduled Task, and select Perform this task Daily
Click Next to Select the Time to run the Task automatically
Click Next and Enter the Credentials of and Administrator or Backup Operator
Account, Click Next then Finish.
You can Review the Daily Backup Task report from the Log Viewer in Task
Scheduler, and The Backup Report from The report viewer in NTBACKUP.
Also, it is wise to copy the Created BKF file to an external Storage on Daily
Basis.
In Part 2, I will explain hot to create a batch file with the WBADMIN backup
tool for windows 2008.
