How to create Windows Server backup in Backup Exec 20

Lets check how to create a windows backup in Backup Exec 20 and schedule it.

There are multiple ways of creating backup and restore jobs in Veritas Backup Exec. We’ll discuss all the methods here.

Go to Backup and Restore tab > right click on the server where you want to create the backup job > choose first option > Backup > choose storage device from > drop down disk / tape / Cloud etc, whatever is configured in Backup Exec

Then it opens the backup job wizard. If the windows server is a virtual machine then you get below option to choose. You can choose any as per your backup method. I would prefer Agent-based backup. If it is a physical server then you don’g get this option.

Then it shows you two panels > left panel is to create your backup selection and right panel is job property to chose several custom options. By default it selects entire server and turns on the green light as highlighted below which means that complete server can be restored in future in case of hardware failure.

If you modify the backup selection list then the green light goes off and it does not Simplified Disaster Recovery.

You can also modify the backup selection list by clicking Edit

If you want to add multiple server in this same backup job then you can click the + sign and add any server

Now you can customize the backup choosing below option. By default Backup Exec creates Full and Incremental backups

First option is to schedule the backup job where you can decide when both Full and Incremental backups should run.

You can modify dates, days, week, month etc. You can also include / exclude date and time for full backup and same for incremental backup. Full backups are the primary backups to schedule and run and later incremental or differential backups can run.

If you want to add another Full / Incremental or Differential backup, you can add by clicking > Add a Backup Job and you can schedule them as well

Now you can choose Storage device for Full and Incremental backups. It is advisable to use same storage device for both Full and Incremental backups for smooth restore in future

Now you can choose the retention period which is Keep for. You can choose different retention period for Full and Incremental backups depending upon the type of data

Now you can choose IPv4 or IPv6 or any specified network you may want Backup Exec to use for backup. Click > Network and choose

Next option is to choose the recipient for backup job status notification where it failed or succeeded. You can add or choose by clicking Manage recipient for both Full and Incremental backup or any one.

Test Run can be enable as well which is just to run a quick check if backup is going to be successful. There is any failure it will notify. Test run is used for long backups with huge amount of data which may run for 3 – 4 days or weekend jobs to ensure job is going to be successful

Verify is a job which runs at the end of every backup and restore job in Backup Exec. This is to check the health of the backed up data to any storage device. Sometimes some backups fail during verify state. In this case verify job can be configured and run separately. It could be configured for Full or Incremental or any backup which fails during verify.

Advanced Open File is used while starting the backup job which helps to take the snapshot of the backup list before running the backup job. By default Automatic is selected. If backup job fails during snapshot process then choose > System – Use Microsoft shadow copy provider. Usually this is not required.

Offhost backup is specific type of backup which is used to improve the Backup server performance.

Pre/Post Commands option is used to run some custom script most on linux server. User prefers to run some script before and after backup jobs. Not required normally unless specific reason from user end

Files and Folders option is used to customize the way backup runs internally. You can also modify backup methods if the user environment has some restriction. Usually this option is not needed to configure anything.