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Creating a Bare Metal Image Backup

  • This article is for Windows only

A Bare Metal Image backup allows for the restore of an entire system to similar or dissimilar hardware. They are highly useful for migrations and disaster recovery. Bare Metal Image backups support Full and Incremental backups. Differential backups are not supported.

To configure a Bare Metal Image backup, navigate to the Dashboard and click Add New Backup Set. After scanning your server, you will be present a list of available backup set types, from which you can select to create a Bare Metal Image backup set. We strongly recommend following backup best practices and reviewing backup requirements as outlined below.

To perform a Bare Metal restore, you first need to create the recovery media.

Note: The size of the Incremental backups is directly related to the number of files within the backup. The more files there are, the larger the incremental backups.

Bare Metal Image backups have the following properties:

  • Bare Metal backups are only available with certain Safe Backup Pro plans.
    • If a user downgrades from a plan that supports Bare Metal Image backups to a plan without it:
      • Bare Metal Image backups will fail with an error that Bare Metal Image backups are not supported by your subscription.
      • The backup images on disk and/or cloud will not be automatically deleted.
  • Only entire volumes can be selected for backup, but it is possible to restore individual files and folders.
  • Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, and Sharepoint databases are not included in Bare Metal Image backups.
    • A separate backup set will be automatically created for each of these applications, if that application exists on a drive that is selected for Bare Metal Image backup.
      • Please refer to the Bare Metal Suite section below for more information.
    • All other data types, such as MySQL, MailStore, and Hyper-V are included in the Bare Metal Image backup set.
  • Only one Bare Metal Image backup set can be created per system.
    • If another Bare Metal Image backup set is imported using the instructions in Importing Existing Backup Sets, and a Bare Metal backup set already exists, you must choose which backup set remains enabled.
      • You will be asked which backup set you wish to enable.
      • All other Bare Metal Image backup sets will be disabled automatically.
  • New volumes added to the system will not be automatically selected for backup.
  • Disks that contain LVM and LDM partitions are not supported and cannot be backed up or restored.
    • Attempts to back up or restore these disks will fail. The error will specify that LVM and LDM disks cannot be backed up or restored.
  • Backup and restore of ReFS volumes on Windows Server 2016 and Server 2019 are not supported on CSSB 6.6 or below.
    • If you wish to backup an ReFS volume on these operating systems, please update CSSB 6.7+ where they are supported
    • All attempts to back up ReFS volumes on unsupported operating systems will fail with a generic error that the volume is not supported. The error will not specifically call out that the volume is ReFS.

The sections below are collapsed. Please click the section title to open / close a particular section.

Special Options

Bare Metal Image backup sets behave quite differently from other backup sets. There are a number of new options and a few restrictions that apply only to Bare Metal Image backup sets.

  • The disk storage location must meet certain requirements, as noted below.
  • A Bare Metal Image backup is always compressed. All compression options are disabled.
  • Bare Metal Image backups on disk cannot be encrypted at this time, even if Private Key Encryption is used.
    • Both automatic and Private Key Encryption will work for backups that are uploaded to the cloud.

Requirements

The following requirements must be met for Bare Metal Image backups to function:

  • The option to backup to cloud only, without saving to disk first, is not available for Bare Metal Image backups. You cannot retry a failed upload, but if you have a copy on disk, you can still upload the backups to cloud with an Upload From Disk schedule, or by using the Backup to Disk and Cloud option, just like any other backup type.
  • A Recovery Media is required to perform a complete Bare Metal Image restore.
    • You will be prompted to create your Recovery Media when you save your Bare Metal Image backup set for the first time.
    • When updating to CSSB 6.7, a new Recovery Media will need to be created after your first full backup on this version.
  • BMI backups and restores cannot be performed on any 32-bit hardware, regardless of the version of Windows. However, you can take BMI backups on a Virtual Machine that is emulating 32-bit hardware, so long as the physical VM host machine has 64-bit hardware.
    • The Windows Operating System itself can be 32-bit, unless it is Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.
      • For Example:
        • A 32-bit Windows Server 2008 system with 32-bit hardware cannot perform a BMI backup or restore, because the hardware is 32-bit.
        • However, a 32-bit Windows Server 2008 system installed on 64-bit hardware will be able to perform BMI backups and restores. The bit-level of Windows does not matter for Server 2008.
    • On Windows XP and Server 2003, BMI backups will not function if the Windows Operating System itself is 32-bit.
      • For Example:
        • A 32-bit Windows Server 2003 system on a 64-bit hardware cannot take BMI backups, even though the hardware is 64-bit.
  • The chosen local storage location must meet these requirements.
    • The path to the disk storage location must not be longer than 45 characters.
    • The disk storage location cannot be on a volume you have chosen to back up as part of a Bare Metal Image backup.
      • For example, if you are backing up the C:\ drive, you cannot choose a disk storage location anywhere on the C:\ drive.
      • Carbonite recommends storing your local Bare Metal Image backups on a network storage location or external disk.
  • A minimum of 2GB of memory is required for backup and restore for Bare Metal Image backups.
    • However, this requirement increases according to the number of files in the backup and the number of incremental backups between full backups.
      • Please refer to the Best Practices section for more information on memory and performance of Bare Metal Image backups.
  • CSSB 6.6 and lower, Bare Metal Image backups cannot back up volumes whose volume name include parentheses.
    • For example, if your volume name is “OS (Windows Server 2012)”, backups will fail.
    • The error message may include one or both of these error codes:
      1. ZWC_INVALID_BACKUP_COMPONENT
      2. ZWC_MSSQL_BACKUP_LIST_CONTAIN_INVALID_DB
    • To back up these volumes, you must either remove the parentheses from your volume names or update to CSSB 6.7+.
  • BMI backups cannot function on a system that has enabled the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) setting.
    • This only applies to BMI backups. All other backup types work on FIPS-enabled systems.
    • FIPS is a compliance setting targeted at government facilities as described here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc180745.aspx.
    • While FIPS is enabled, the additional software required for BMI backups cannot be installed.
      • An event will be logged. It calls out FIPS as the reason.
        • Service cannot be started. System.InvalidOperationException: This implementation is not part of the Windows Platform FIPS validated cryptographic algorithms.
    • Do not temporarily disable FIPS to install the Bare Metal Image software.
      • Bare Metal Backup and Restore of FIPS-enabled system is not supported.
      • If FIPS cannot be permanently disabled, you must back up using other backup types.
  • Bitlocker encrypted volumes are supported in CSSB 6.0 and higher.
    • However, volumes with any other type of full-disk encryption, such as DiskCryptor, cannot be backed up.
      • They will be visible and can be selected. However, all attempts to back up these disks will fail.
  • Backup deduplication volumes is supported. However, only full bare metal recovery is possible. You cannot perform a Files/Folders restore of optimized files on a deduplicated volume.
  • You cannot back up network locations with Bare Metal Image.
  • We do not support the use of the exFAT format with Bare Metal Image.
    • We should not back up drives of the exFAT format.
    • We should not store backups on drives of the exFAT format.

Backup Best Practices

Bare Metal Image backup and restore has a number of best practices that are unique to this backup type.

  • Remember that Exchange, MSSQL, and Sharepoint databases are not a part of Bare Metal Image backups. You must create a separate backup set for any of these you wish to protect.
  • Full backups should be performed at least once a month.
    • Performance, especially performance of Files/Folders Restores, decreases when there are many incremental backups.
    • Memory usage increases during both backup and restore when there are many incremental backups.
    • The default schedule template for the Bare Metal Image backup type meets this best practice by scheduling a full backup once a month with incremental backups daily.
  • Do not use Windows Explorer or other means to delete or move your backup data on disk.
    • If you must modify backups on disk, do so from within Carbonite Safe Server Backup.
    • You may copy the data, but do not move, delete, or otherwise modify the existing backups on disk.
    • Future backups and restores may fail if backups are moved, deleted, or modified through means outside of the CSSB client.
  • Do not store backups for other backup sets on a disk selected for a Bare Metal Image (BMI) backup.
    • The BMI backup will include the backups for the other backup sets, which can make the size of the BMI backup much larger than expected.
  • Always back up your system drive. Usually, the C:\ drive is the System Drive.
  • Always create a separate backup set for Exchange databases, Microsoft SQL Server databases, and Sharepoint, because these are not protected as part of a Bare Metal Image backup.
  • Consider if your other drives should be backed up using Bare Metal Images or if you should use other backup types.
    • You should always back a drive up using Bare Metal Image if:
      • It is the System Drive.
      • You value the ability to restore everything on that drive in a single restore.
    • You should always use another backup type if:
      • Your system has Exchange, MSSQL, or Sharepoint databases that need to be protected. Create a backup set for any of these you wish to protect.
    • You should consider using other backup types for a drive if:
      • You need the ability to restore at a granular level. Restoring a single backup set may be easier and faster than restoring the entire server via a complete bare metal restore.
        • For example:
          • You can recover Active Directory with a System State backup set.
          • You can restore individual Hyper-V VMs with a Hyper-V backup set.
      • The drive has a very high large file count.
        • Performance of a Files/Folders Restore will degrade when there are very high file counts.
        • Users with very large file counts (millions of files) should not rely on using the Files/Folders Restore functionality to restore their files and folders.
    • Perform System State backups of your Domain Controllers in addition to Bare Metal Image backups.
      • System State backups allow you to restore components such as Active Directory without performing a total restore.
      • If your environment has multiple domain controllers, System State restores help prevent synchronization issues after a restore.

Bare Metal Suite

Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange, and Sharepoint databases are not included in your Bare Metal Image backup. They are backed up separately to allow for more granular restores and to ensure that a consistent, successful backup occurs.

A backup set will be created automatically for each of these applications, if the databases exist on a drive that is selected for Bare Metal Image backup. They will be created when the Bare Metal Image backup set is saved.

Together, these backup sets are known as the Bare Metal Suite.

After your Bare Metal Image backup set and accompanying Bare Metal Suite have been saved for the first time, CSSB will scan for new installations of Microsoft SQL Server, Sharepoint, and Exchange each time you open the user interface. You will be prompted to create a new backup set if a new installation is found.

In a similar fashion, CSSB will notify you if it detects individual databases that exist but are not backed up as part of the Bare Metal Suite. You will be prompted to add these databases to your existing backup sets.

For example:

  • The C: and D: drives are selected for Bare Metal Image backup.
  • A Microsoft SQL Server database exists on the C: drive.
    • A separate backup set will be automatically created for the Microsoft SQL Server databases.
  • A Sharepoint database exists on the D: drive. A Sharepoint backup set has already been created.
    • A separate backup set will not be automatically created for the Sharepoint databases, because one already exists.
    • The existing backup set will be modified to include all Sharepoint databases on the D: drive, if necessary.
  • An Exchange database exists on the E: drive.
    • A separate backup set will not be created automatically for the Exchange databases, because the E: drive was not selected for Bare Metal Image backup.

Note: A separate backup set will not be created if CSSB cannot detect the presence of your database at all. Please review your Bare Metal Suite to ensure that the proper backup sets exist, and create a separate backup set manually if necessary.

The backup sets in the Bare Metal Image Suite will inherit all settings from the Bare Metal Image backup set, with the following exceptions:

  • The backup schedules for the Suite backup sets will not be the same as the schedules for Bare Metal Image backup set.
    • The Suite backup sets will use the default schedules for their respective backup types.
  • The Disk Storage Location will be in the same parent directory as the Bare Metal Image backup set, but not in the exact same folder.
    • For example:
      • If the Bare Metal Image backup set is saved to E:\Backups\BareMetalImage\
      • A Microsoft SQL Server backup in the Bare Metal Suite will be saved to E:\Backups\BareMetalImage(SQL)\
  • If you attempt to delete a backup set in the Bare Metal Suite, you will receive a warning that the application and/or databases related to the backup set will no longer be backed up.
  • If a backup set for one of these databases already exists, a new Suite backup set will not be created.
    • The existing set will be modified to include all databases on the drive selected for Bare Metal Image backup.
    • No other settings will be changed.

You should review each of the Bare Metal Suite backup sets individually after they are created to ensure that they meet your needs.

Requirements for Backup Sets in the Bare Metal Suite

Each backup set in the Bare Metal Suite behaves exactly like a regular backup set of that backup type. For example, an Exchange Database backup set in the Bare Metal Suite behaves exactly like an Exchange Database backup set that you created manually.

This includes all requirements. If a standard Exchange Database backup set has a requirement, the Exchange backup set in your Bare Metal Suite has the same requirement.

The list below calls out some of the most important of these requirements and is not all-inclusive.

  • Each backup set must meet the standard requirements for that backup type.
  • These backup sets are separate and independent from the Bare Metal Image backup set.
    • They must be managed, monitored, and restored individually, just like any other backup set.
  • Anything that would prevent creation of a standard backup set will prevent creation of the Bare Metal Suite backup set.
    • You will receive a warning if the Bare Metal Suite backup set cannot be created.
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