Windows BMR using NetWorker - Demo only

NetWorker Commands App:

My Lab Set up:

Contact Information:

Let me start with apologizing about the release of NetWorker commands for iOS, I am still having issues with Apple developer profile and am unable to publish the app. I will let you all know once the app is on the apple store, please follow me on twitter for more information about the app.

The operation that restores the operating system and data on a host after a catastrophic failure, such as a hard disk failure or the corruption of critical operating system components. A BMR is an automated process that does not require the manual installation of an operating system. NetWorker provides an automated BMR solution for Windows that uses the Windows ASR writer and other Microsoft VSS writers to identify critical volumes and perform a full recovery on a disabled computer.

NetWorker considers a volume as critical when it contains files for an installed Windows service. NetWorker also considers the following volumes as critical and will include the volumes in a DISASTER_RECOVERY:\ backup:
● A non-critical volume that has a critical volume mounted on it, or a non-critical volume that serves as a parent to a critical volume.
● All volumes on a dynamic disk when one of the volumes critical. If one disk in a dynamic disk pack is critical, then NetWorker must treat all disks in that pack as critical. This can substantially increase the number of disks that NetWorker includes in the BMR backup. It is recommended that you do not install services on a dynamic disk.
NOTE: By default, the Windows 2012 System Writer does not report Win32 Service Files as a part of systems components. As a result, the volumes that contain Win32 Service Files are not considered critical and the DISASTER_RECOVERY:\ save set will not include a volume that contains files for an installed service. To configure the Windows 2012 server to report
Win32 Service Files as a part of system components, set the ReportWin32ServicesNonSystemState registry sub key to 0.
Microsoft KB article 2792088 provides more information.
This information will be in the description
A Windows BMR backup does not back up the following files on a critical volume:
● Files listed in the FilesNotToBackup registry key.
● Files excluded by system writers.
● Files that an application VSS writer backs up. For example, Exchange databases. Use NetWorker Module for Microsoft Applications (NMM) to backup these files.

Excluded critical volumes during a Windows BMR backup
A NetWorker Windows BMR backup excludes critical volumes based on the operating system, disk types, configuration and installation of your computer.
Install applications with third-party services on the system disk, or a disk that already has other services installed. To identify the disks that contain third-party services, use the utility, list writers detailed command.
NetWorker excludes a volume from a backup when one of the following Windows application service is installed on the host:
Backing Up Data
● Storage Spaces volume
● Cluster volume
● Cluster Shared Volume

Displaying a list of the critical volumes
To view a list of the critical volumes for a NetWorker client, type the NetWorker command
save -o VSS:LCV=yes from the command line on the client host.

Checkpoint restart is not supported for backups of the DISASTER_RECOVERY:\ save set. If you enable checkpoint restart for a client with the DISASTER_RECOVERY:\ save set, then the setting is quietly ignored for the DISASTER_RECOVERY:\ save set. The save set is marked with a cb flag instead of a k flag, indicating that the checkpoint is not considered for DISASTER_RECOVERY:\

The WINDOWS ROLES AND FEATURES save set was introduced in NetWorker 8.1 and replaces the VSS SYSTEM BOOT,
VSS SYSTEM FILESET and VSS SYSTEM SERVICES save sets. The DISASTER_RECOVERY:\ save set contains the
WINDOWS ROLES AND FEATURES save set as a component save set.

There is a lot more to Windows system state backup than we have touched here so I strongly recommend you to go through these details in the NetWorker administrator guide to understand this better.

[vpabloca]

Great CrazyRov. So the advise is if after a first restore server can’t reboot, work with admin servers for what issue could be at os level? Instead of try several restore? Great info with BMR. Cheers Rov

[damnox]

Great Job with the Demo.
You skipped the selection of the disks in the recover configuration. I had some issues with the BMR and a special type of vmware scsi type, because the drivers were missing in the BMR iso and I had to add them manually to the iso.
Do you know if this is still the case?