{"id":1123,"date":"2012-03-28T01:28:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-28T01:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/windowsserver\/2012\/03\/28\/microsoft-online-backup-service\/"},"modified":"2024-03-08T10:45:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T18:45:17","slug":"microsoft-online-backup-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows-server\/blog\/2012\/03\/28\/microsoft-online-backup-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Online Backup Service"},"content":{"rendered":"
A number of people view the cloud in all or nothing terms \u2013 you move everything to the cloud or you leave everything where it is.\u00a0 The reality is that a lot of cloud adoption is going to follow the hybrid approach using both on-premises and cloud services.\u00a0 An example of this hybrid approach is Windows Server \u201c8\u201d which gets better when you connect it to the cloud.\u00a0 Today\u2019s blog by Gaurav illustrates that by describing the Microsoft Online Backup Service, a new cloud based service for Windows Server \u201c8\u201d, which backs up your server\u2019s data to the cloud so that it is safe and secure.\u00a0 That means that you no longer have to figure out where to store your backups so that they are safe.\u00a0 The cloud does that for you.\u00a0 This is an extensible model so it provides a great opportunity for partners to provide cloud backup solutions as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Gaurav Gupta, a Senior Program Manager on our Cloud Backup team, authored this blog<\/em><\/p>\n The Microsoft Online Backup Service is a cloud based backup solution for Windows Server\u00a0\u201c8\u201d which allows files and folders to be backed up and recovered from the cloud in order to provide off-site protection against data loss due to disasters. The service provides IT administrators with the option to back up and protect critical data in an easily recoverable way from any location with no upfront hardware cost or resources other than an Internet connection. This service is built on the Windows Azure platform and uses Windows Azure blob storage for storing customer data. Windows Server \u201c8\u201d uses the downloadable Microsoft Online Backup Agent to transfer file and folder data securely and efficiently to the Microsoft Online Backup Service. Once installed, the Microsoft Online Backup Agent exposes its functionality through the familiar Windows Server Backup interface.<\/p>\n Getting started with Microsoft Online Backup service on Windows Server \u201c8\u201d Beta is a simple two-step process:<\/p>\n Below are some of the key features we\u2019re delivering in Windows Server \u201c8\u201d using Microsoft Online Backup service:<\/p>\n Figure 1: Microsoft Online Backup User Interface<\/p>\n The Microsoft Online Backup Service only supports the Windows\u00a0Server\u00a0\u201c8\u201d operating system. It does not support Windows\u00a08 Consumer Preview client operating systems or any Windows operating systems released prior to Windows Server\u00a0\u201c8\u201d.<\/p>\n In this section, I am sharing some of the actions you would need to take for setting up your Windows Server \u201c8\u201d to backup or recover data from Microsoft Online Backup Service. To learn more technical concepts, functionality, and troubleshooting methods for Microsoft Online Backup Service, you can download the Understand and Troubleshoot Guide (UTG) from http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/download\/en\/details.aspx?id=29005<\/p>\n You can choose the Register Server<\/b> action in the Microsoft Online Backup MMC snap-in <\/b>to start the registration wizard, and sign in using a pre-provisioned Microsoft Online Services ID. You also need to set the passphrase to encrypt the backups from the server.<\/p>\n Figure 2: Register Server Wizard Account Credentials page<\/p>\n Figure 3: Encryption Settings<\/p>\n Using Windows PowerShell:<\/span><\/p>\n The following code sample illustrates how you can use Windows PowerShell to register a server with Microsoft Online Backup Service after establishing variables to use to supply your credentials.<\/p>\n $pwd = ConvertTo-SecureString -String <password> -AsPlainText \u2013Force<\/p>\n $cred = New-Object \u2013TypeName System.Management.Automation.PsCredential \u2013ArgumentList <username>, $pwd<\/p>\n Start-OBRegistration -Credential $cred<\/p>\n (As a side note, there is a very good blog post<\/a> on how to import\/export credentials into powershell scripts)<\/p>\n Once the server is registered you then need to use the Set-OBMachineSetting cmdlet to specify the encryption passphrase.<\/p>\n $pass = ConvertTo-SecureString -String <password> -AsPlainText \u2013Force<\/p>\n Set-OBMachineSetting -EncryptionPassphrase $pass<\/p>\n You can choose the Schedule Backup<\/b> action to start the Backup Schedule Wizard <\/b>to set the backup schedule in which you specify what files and folders you want to backup, how frequently you want to backup and how long you want to retain the backups in the cloud.<\/p>\n Figure 4: Schedule Backup Wizard: Item selection<\/p>\n Figure 5: Schedule Backup Wizard: Schedule time configuration<\/p>\n Figure 6: Schedule Backup Wizard: Retention Settings<\/p>\n Using Windows PowerShell:<\/span><\/p>\n To start a new backup from within Windows PowerShell, administrators need to define a backup policy, the data locations, the schedule for the backup job and the data retention policy for the backup policy. The following commands will setup variables for a basic backup job within Windows PowerShell.<\/p>\n $policy = New-OBPolicy<\/p>\n $filespec = New-OBFileSpec -FileSpec C:\\Windows\\Logs<\/p>\n $sched = New-OBSchedule -DaysofWeek Wednesday -TimesofDay 09:30<\/p>\n $ret = New-OBRetentionPolicy<\/p>\n The Windows PowerShell script will create a new Microsoft Online Backup Service policy named $policy that will back up all of the files and folders in the C:\\Windows\\Logs directory. The backup policy runs on Wednesdays at 9:30 AM and will keep the data in the backup for a period of 30 days.<\/p>\n To create the policy so that it runs the next time it encounters the scheduled task, do the following:<\/p>\n Add-OBFileSpec -Policy $policy -FileSpec $filespec<\/p>\n Set-OBSchedule -policy $policy -schedule $sched<\/p>\n Set-OBRetentionPolicy -policy $policy -retentionpolicy $ret<\/p>\n These commands put all of the previous variables into the $policy Microsoft Online Backup Service policy object so that it can be run at the next scheduled time.<\/p>\n If this is the first backup on the server after registration, the encryption passphrase must be set.<\/p>\n $passphrase = ConvertTo-SecureString <passphrase> -asplaintext -Force<\/p>\n Set-OBMachineSetting -EncryptionPassphrase $passphrase<\/p>\n Finally, save the Online Backup policy for it to be scheduled. Do this by running:<\/p>\n Set-OBPolicy -policy $policy<\/p>\n After configuration of the backup schedule is completed, backups will occur as per the configured schedule. You can choose to invoke manual backup using the Backup Now<\/b> actions in Microsoft Online Backup MMC snap-in. Backup Now<\/b> runs the schedule immediately and the backups include only currently selected items. If you want to backup additional files or folders not included in the original schedule, you will need to modify the backup schedule before using Backup Now<\/b>.<\/p>\n Figure 7: Backup Now option in Actions page<\/p>\n Using Windows PowerShell:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n You can use the Start-OBBackup command to start the backup immediately using the value held in the backup policy:<\/p>\n Get-OBPolicy|Start-OBBackup<\/p>\n To recover data using the Microsoft Online Backup Service feature, click the Recover Data<\/b> action in the Microsoft Online Backup MMC snap-in. As part of the Recover Data<\/b> Wizard, you can choose the volume from where data needs to be restored and the date and time of the data to be restored. After selecting the date and time, you are presented an explorer view of the data which is backed up from where you can then select the items that you want to restore.<\/p>\n Figure 8: Recover Data Wizard: Select Volume and Date<\/p>\nOverview<\/h2>\n
Getting started<\/h2>\n
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Key features<\/h2>\n
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Detailed steps<\/h2>\n
Registering to Microsoft Online Backup Service<\/h3>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nSetup backup schedule<\/h3>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nStart backup<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nRecovering data<\/h3>\n
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