[aklug] Re: [NUGA] Windows VSS 101

From: Peter Barclay PCNI <admin@pcni.us>
Date: Fri Apr 01 2016 - 10:31:21 AKDT

I would like to point you to Veeam.

You can back up the entire server (for free I believe if they still offer it) while the server is in operation, and restore it (bare metal) at a later date.

We prefer to use Storagecraft as it's been more flexible, but it's not free.

You don't want just the files, I expect, but the ACLs, user database, Active Directory schema (I expect), blah blah blah... Making a copy of an Active Directory server at a point in time is great - but it will be stale after 60 days (I believe) - leaving you with a 'Tombstoned' server, unable to operate normally.

If you don't care about the Active Directory, etc... you may be ok running a straight up image copy via GParted, CloneZilla, etc...

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Howard [mailto:christopher@alaskasi.com]
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2016 10:27 AM
To: Peter Barclay PCNI; Nuga
Cc: Alaska Linux Users
Subject: Re: [NUGA] Windows VSS 101

We run our network off a WS2008 system. What I /want/ is to have a whole disk image handy so that at a moments notice I can throw that image onto a new hard disk and a new server. (Might even do that in advance for disaster prep.) This is quite a straightforward process using the FOSS software I already know, but then I've got to take the WS offline for like two hours to get the image, and be physically present to start the process, which is kind of a bother. (The long delay is mostly due to slow transfer times on the transfer media I have available.) If VSS could produce some kind of image I could use without having to depend on Windows for the rest of the recovery process, and without having to shut
WS2008 down, that would be helpful.

I inherited all of this setup... but it is what it is and I want to be prepared so recovery time is as quick as possible.

On 04/01/2016 10:09 AM, Peter Barclay PCNI wrote:
> Yes you can use VSS (and yes it's special - but Windows Backup can use it).
>
> What's the goal here? Making a volume copy to another disc? Copying the volume to a file? Copying this file back to a volume?
>
> I've used GParted in the past for this operation. Be aware that moving the OS image to a new disc will likely break activation - so have your product key handy.
>
> This comes from a Windows wonk.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nuga-bounce@lib.uaa.alaska.edu
> [mailto:nuga-bounce@lib.uaa.alaska.edu] On Behalf Of Christopher
> Howard
> Sent: Friday, April 01, 2016 10:06 AM
> To: Nuga
> Subject: [NUGA] Windows VSS 101
>
> I'm sure by now it is painfully obvious to you all that Windows is not my native OS... So I had this out-of-the-gate question: Can you use VSS to produce raw block images of a partition? (I.e., that you could use to reproduce a partition using OS agnostic tools?) Or does it produce some kind of special image format?
>

--
Christopher Howard, Computer Assistant
Alaska Satellite Internet
3239 La Ree Way, Fairbanks, AK 99709
907-451-0088 or 888-396-5623 (toll free)
fax: 888-260-3584
mailto:christopher@alaskasi.com
http://www.alaskasatelliteinternet.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-howard-9429ab52

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Received on Fri Apr 1 08:49:03 2016

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