Backup Central

Hello,

Have just finished setting up Bacula 5.2.3 for
fifteen machines and it's working terrifically.

However I've encountered some mysterious behavior
backuping-up a Windows Server 2008 system that I
attribute to VSS since backups are run with VSS
active and verifies run with VSS off.

When a DiskToCatalog verify is run for this
system, close to 500 files are reported as "new"
in the verify even though the last incremental ran
immediately before the verify.

The files all seem to be related to Windows
Update. In particular I ran a WU on the client in
question before the last backup. In that WU, all
patches not requiring a reboot were run (.NET,
Office, etc.) and the kernel and core Windows
patches were left unapplied.

A quick run of the "restore" file tree browser
confirms that the files are not in the backups,
and Windows Explorer confirms that they do indeed
exist.

A list of the files is attached.

If anyone is familiar with this behavior and can
shed further light on, it would be much
appreciated.

Thanks for the awesome product.

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Dug into this a bit. Most of the files
appear in the C:/Windows/SoftwareDistribution
tree. Apparently this subtree can be entirely
deleted after stopping the 'wuauserv' service.
When 'wuauserv' is restarted the tree is rebuilt
from scratch and the next time Windows Update
is run the subtree fills-out.

I presume that MS decided there is no point
in having systems backup these files and
therefore caused VSS to disappear them.

I have excluded the entire SoftwareDistribution
tree from backups not only on the W2K8 system
but on the W2K3R2 and XP systems as well
as the tree has no persistent value and
is in a state of constant churn, thus wasting
space on the backup hard drive.

VSS does not exclude the entire tree. But the
main thing retained in this case is DataStore.edb
which contains the history of WU updates.
I find this information of no value and it's
a big file that burns much backup storage.
The Windows Update settings are stored somewhere
else (probably the registry) and are not
impacted by deleting SoftwareDistribution.

The other area excluded by VSS is
C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/RAC. Don't know
what it is but presumably the same logic that
applies to SoftwareDistribution applies here.
RAC has few files and is small, so I didn't
bother excluding it explicitly.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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infrastructure or vast IT resources to deliver seamless, secure access to
virtual desktops. With this all-in-one solution, easily deploy virtual
desktops for less than the cost of PCs and save 60% on VDI infrastructure
costs. Try it free! http://p.sf.net/sfu/Citrix-VDIinabox
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Found where it lives:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSnapshot

OutlookOAB $UserProfile$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\*.oab
OutlookOST $UserProfile$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\*.ost
RAC %ProgramData%\Microsoft\RAC\*
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\RAC\StateData\*
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\RAC\PublishedData\*
WUA %windir%\softwaredistribution\*.* /s

Additional rules in

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore tree.

Much detail at

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee923636%28WS.10%29.aspx


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Most excellent. I am going to research the actual necessity of the ost a little more. This is great to know, since it could be useful in the future to exclude some really large or unneeded files.


Thanks Again


On Jan 10, 2012, at 11:42 AM, <starlight < at > binnacle.cx>
wrote:

Found where it lives:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSnapshot

OutlookOAB $UserProfile$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\*.oab
OutlookOST $UserProfile$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\*.ost
RAC %ProgramData%\Microsoft\RAC\*
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\RAC\StateData\*
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\RAC\PublishedData\*
WUA %windir%\softwaredistribution\*.* /s

Additional rules in

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore tree.

Much detail at

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee923636%28WS.10%29.aspx


Jim Summers
University of Oklahoma
jsummers < at > ou.edu




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Here fileset rules I just finished putting
together. One is for W2K8 etc (NT kernel 6.x)
and the other is for WXP etc (NT kernel 5.x).

Registry backup files are excluded because the
in-place registry hives are guaranteed to be
consistent by the VSS "Registry Writer" service
(I have verfied this is true) per

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa384595(v=vs.85).aspx

To the extent a registry roll-back is needed,
successive generations of the entire system
image will IMO suffice.


At 06:04 PM 1/10/2012 +0000, Summers, James B. II wrote:

Most excellent. I am going to research the actual necessity of
the ost a little more. This is great to know, since it could be
useful in the future to exclude some really large or unneeded
files.


Thanks Again


On Jan 10, 2012, at 11:42 AM, <starlight < at > binnacle.cx>
wrote:

Found where it lives:


HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSn
apshot

OutlookOAB
$UserProfile$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\*.oab
OutlookOST
$UserProfile$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\*.ost
RAC %ProgramData%\Microsoft\RAC\*
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\RAC\StateData\*
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\RAC\PublishedData\*
WUA %windir%\softwaredistribution\*.* /s

Additional rules in

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore tree.

Much detail at


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee923636%28WS.10%29.a
spx

Jim Summers
University of Oklahoma
jsummers < at > ou.edu




----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
Write once. Port to many.
Get the SDK and tools to simplify cross-platform app
development. Create
new or port existing apps to sell to consumers worldwide.
Explore the
Intel AppUpSM program developer opportunity.
appdeveloper.intel.com/join
http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-appdev
_______________________________________________
Bacula-users mailing list
Bacula-users < at > lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-users
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Write once. Port to many.
Get the SDK and tools to simplify cross-platform app development. Create
new or port existing apps to sell to consumers worldwide. Explore the
Intel AppUpSM program developer opportunity. appdeveloper.intel.com/join
http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-appdev
_______________________________________________
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https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-users