This User’s Guide provides installation procedures and configuration guidelines for deploying
the SonicWALL Continuous Data Protection (CDP) Agent. The SonicWALL CDP Agent provides a software interface for backing up files, folders, and application data to a SonicWALL CDP appliance.
The SonicWALL CDP appliance backs up data from the agent computer, saving it first locally
and then, if configured, to a secure offsite location*. By combining the advantages of local disk-based backup (fast recovery) with offsite backup, the SonicWALL CDP appliance helps protect your network from threats of data loss.
*Offsite backup is offered as a subscription-based service.
This guide contains the following sections:
The SonicWALL CDP 6.1 Agent provides a user interface that is closely aligned with the
Web-based management interface for the SonicWALL CDP appliance. The Agent User Interface looks and operates the same on supported Windows, Mac, and Linux clients.
The Agent service is also faster, smarter, and more efficient than in versions previous to 6.0.
Initial backup of one million files (of size 1 KB each) takes just a little over 6 hours, and subsequent revisions copy only the modified data blocks, keeping track of all changes internally. This method uses less bandwidth, takes less time, and uses less disk space than earlier versions of SonicWALL CDP.
See the following sections for an overview of various functionality in SonicWALL CDP:
Data de-duplication technology is used on the agent during backups of revisions for both
applications and files/folders. This allows all new data to be backed up, while existing data is not rewritten to the appliance. Metadata keeps track of where the changes occur, and is always included with revisions.
Figure 1
shows a graphical representation of the data de-duplication process.
When backing up data, SonicWALL CDP is aware of interdependencies among multiple, related
files, called FileSets. Both application backup and backup of files and folders use the concept of FileSets to include all relevant data in backups, so that recovery can provide everything needed for full and seamless operation.
On Windows agents, Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is used during backups to
take a snapshot of all relevant data, providing a cohesive set of files at a certain point in time. Using the VSS method also eliminates the need to stop services in order to keep files in sync while performing a backup.
Data backup in SonicWALL CDP is accomplished via policies. Policies control the backup
activities performed by SonicWALL CDP.
Figure 2
illustrates a policy for a files and folders backup.
Each backup policy contains one or more backup tasks.
Each backup task consists of two components:
Figure 3
illustrates the steps for creating a policy.
Backup policies are defined both at the administrative level in the Web Management Interface
and at the local agent level using the Agent User Interface. Policies can be very granular, even allowing you to create multiple backup tasks in one Files and Folders object, if desired. Such an object can contain more than one folder. You can also define the number of revisions to keep when configuring the backup policy, on both local and offsite CDP appliances.
A legacy style CDP policy is defined by default at the administrative level and is inherited by
agents connected to the SonicWALL CDP appliance. At the agent level, you can edit this default policy to add files and folders for backup to the CDP object, but you cannot create a new CDP object. A CDP object differs from a Files and Folders or Application object in that the defined files and folders are backed up as separate entities, not as FileSets. CDP policies use Interval scheduling, which back up changed data continuously or at a set interval, rather than Event scheduling in which you can set dates for backups to occur. The default CDP policy accommodates policies from previous (5.x) versions of SonicWALL CDP after upgrading.
The rules within Files and Folders objects are flexible, providing the ability to include or exclude
files or folders at any level. Rules are defined at both the administrative level and the agent level, with administrative rules taking precedence over local rules. CDP type objects also provide similar rule functionality. Application objects do not use rules in the same format, but allow you to select the application components to back up, such as individual user mailboxes or system state files.
Figure 4
illustrates the order in which rules are applied when determining what to back up.
Within the constraints of administrative rule precedence, rules operate as follows:
Figure 5
illustrates rule operation and precedence.
The SonicWALL CDP Offsite Data Backup Service is an optional offsite backup and recovery
solution that stores data in a secure data center, and can be purchased for an additional fee. When configuring a backup task on the Policies tab, you can specify the number of revisions that should be kept on the offsite portal or appliance.
The Offsite subscription-based service is configured by the administrator on the System >
Settings page of the Web Management Interface. Offsite backup can be selected during policy configuration. This allows you to copy your backups to either the SonicWALL Offsite Portal, or to another, offsite, SonicWALL CDP appliance for safekeeping in the event that your local appliance becomes unusable. The SonicWALL Offsite Portal provides load balancing, redundancy, and an efficient file system structure for optimal access to and protection of your data.
The SonicWALL CDP Offsite Data Backup provides different services, ranging from 5 to 100
GB of quota. You need to make sure that the total size of all of your backups does not exceed the quota limit. If the offsite quota is exceeded, the consequent backup will fail and the administrator will receive an email alert. If the agent exceeds its quota, the Quota Exceeded
Error
message will be displayed, and the status for the last backup will change to Quota
Exceeded
. You will receive an email notification informing you of the failed backup attempt. You can free up your storage space by removing some of the old backups or you can purchase additional quota.
For more information, see the SonicWALL CDP Offsite Data Backup Service data sheet at:
<http://www.sonicwall.com/downloads/DS_CDP_Offsite_US_060507.pdf
>
Backups are scheduled using a very flexible interface for schedule configuration. You can
schedule backups to occur at any interval down to the minute or up to months apart. Custom, specific dates can be configured.
There are two types of scheduling:
|
•
|
Event
– Uses fixed time points, such as Mondays at 5 PM or midnight every evening. Used for Fileset or Application backup tasks.
|
|
•
|
Interval
– Uses Always On or always on during a specific start and end time, such as Sundays from 4 PM to 8 PM. Used for CDP type backup tasks.
|
Interval scheduling is used for the default CDP type policy on an agent. Because the Agent
User Interface does not provide a way to create a new CDP type backup task, you would not have another opportunity to use interval scheduling.
When creating a backup task in the Web Management Interface, the type of Schedule object
available for selection depends on whether you have selected CDP
, Fileset
, or Client
Application
in the Select Data Type
field of the Add Backup Task configuration window.
The scheduling interface provides four tabs for different scheduling options:
Each tab provides configuration fields and a calendar that displays the selected dates with a
darker background, so that you can easily verify your configuration.
Figure 6
illustrates the Day Interval
tab.
Figure 7
illustrates the Days of the Week
tab.
Figure 8
illustrates the Days of the Month
tab.
Figure 9
illustrates the Specific Dates
tab.
The same data can be scheduled for backup with multiple policies using different schedules,
allowing you to maintain near-continuous revisions along with daily, weekly, monthly, or custom scheduled versions. The number of revisions to keep is controlled by the settings in each policy.
Client applications such as Outlook and Outlook Express are supported for backup and restore,
as well as a number of server applications. Supported server applications include Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, Sharepoint, and Active Directory. Active Directory is backed up and restored as an element of System State, to ensure that all relevant system files are included for a consistent environment.
When configuring an Application object as part of a backup policy, available applications on the
agent are automatically discovered by SonicWALL CDP, and their friendly names are presented for selection in a drop-down list. Figure 10
illustrates these application features.
When restoring an application, SonicWALL CDP automatically uses the proper restore method
for the application type. For example, restore on reboot for Active Directory, or stop/restore/start for SQL Server. Restoring is interactive and walks you through the process.
Let’s say that the Finance Department at SonicWALL needs to backup its data on three different
schedules.
Data to back up:
Schedules:
What is the best solution?
First, edit the inherited administrator policy to add files for backup. The Files and Folders object
includes the folder required by the administrator, and users can add more files and folders for backup and create rules to include or exclude certain files or file types.
Figure 11
illustrates the modifications to the Files and Folders object.
Next, the schedule is defined on multiple tabs to accommodate the scheduling requirements.
Figure 12
illustrates the schedule configuration.
Next, create a backup task which includes the Files and Folders object and the Schedule
object.
Figure 13
illustrates the backup task.
For the SQL backups, create an Application object to select the SQL databases to back up.
Figure 14
illustrates the SQL Server Application object creation.
Finally, create a backup task for the SQL Server backup, using the SQL Server Application
object and an appropriate Schedule object.
Figure 15
illustrates the creation of the SQL Server backup task.
This completes the configuration needed to accomplish the required backups for the Finance
Department.
This section describes installation of the SonicWALL CDP Agent Software for Windows, Mac
OS, and Linux systems. See the following subsections:
Have your network administrator supply you with the following information needed for
SonicWALL CDP Agent setup:
Perform the following steps to download the SonicWALL CDP Agent software on your
computer:
Step 2
|
Enter the
Username/Email
and Password
in the appropriate fields. Select Download Center
in the drop-down menu located below the password field.
|
Step 4
|
In the
Software Type
drop-down menu, located in the Download Center
, select the CDP
Software
that corresponds to your SonicWALL CDP appliance. A list of available software appears.
|
For
Windows
, download one of the following installers (where the x’s represent version numbers):
For
Mac OS
, download the following installer (where the x’s represent version numbers):
For
Linux
, download the following installer (where the x’s represent version numbers):
This section describes the requirements and installation steps for Windows computers.
In order to install the SonicWALL CDP Agent, you must have:
Perform the following steps to install the SonicWALL CDP Agent on your Windows computer:
Step 3
|
Select the
I accept the terms of the license agreement
option and click the Next
button.
|
|
•
|
Typical
: Installs the most common program features. Recommended for most users.
|
|
•
|
Custom
: Allows users to select which program features are installed and where they are installed. Typically recommended for advanced users.
|
|
•
|
Complete
: All program features are installed. This setup choice requires more disk space.
|
Step 5
|
Click
Next
to proceed.
|
Step 6
|
Click
Install
to install the software.
|
You have successfully installed the SonicWALL CDP Agent.
To uninstall the SonicWALL CDP Agent from your Windows computer, perform the following
steps:
Step 2
|
Select
SonicWALL Continuous Data Protection
.
|
This will remove both
SonicWALL Continuous Data Protection
and SonicWALL CDPAgentTool
.
This section describes the requirements and installation steps for Mac OS computers.
The CDP Mac OS X Agent User Interface is supported on the following operating systems:
The Mac running the CDP Mac OS X Agent User Interface has the following minimum system
requirements:
Perform the following steps to install the SonicWALL CDP Agent on your Mac OS computer:
Step 2
|
Copy the SonicWALL
CDPAgentTool_6.1.0.xx.dmg
installer to a location on the Mac OS computer.
|
Step 3
|
Invoke
CDPAgentTool_6.1.0.xx.dmg
from “Finder” to create CDPMac/Agent_x.x.x.x.pkg
, where x.x.x.x represents the installer version.
|
Step 4
|
Double click the
CDPMac/Agent_x.x.x.x.pkg
icon to start the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface Installer.
|
Step 5
|
Click the
Install
button to begin installation of the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
|
On some Mac systems, the SonicWALL CDP displays the hostname as “localhost”. This
typically does not match the hostname returned if you type hostname
on the computer itself. On some Mac OS X versions, such as earlier Snow Leopard, you need to force a change to the hostname by editing the /etc/hostconfig
file and changing the HOSTNAME variable definition to reflect the correct value.
The default setting is:
HOSTNAME=
–AUTOMATIC–
Change the “
–AUTOMATIC–” to the correct hostname.
You may need to reboot the computer.
This section describes the requirements and installation steps for Linux computers.
The SonicWALL CDP Linux Agent is supported on the following 32-bit Linux distributions:
The Linux Agent can be installed or uninstalled only by the root user. The compressed tar file,
CDPAgentTool_6.1.0.xx.tar.gz
, is used for installation.
Perform the following steps to install the Linux Agent on your Linux computer:
Step 1
|
Login as
root
, or log in using your own credentials and then use sudo
in front of commands requiring root privileges.
|
tar
–
zxvf CDPAgentTool_6.1.0.xx.tar.gz
This command creates the
CDPAgentTool
folder containing the files: cdpinstall.sh
and cdpagent.tar.gz
.
./cdpinstall.sh
–
i
–
access=all
This command installs both the Linux Agent service and Linux Agent User Interface.
The installation process creates a Desktop shortcut that can be double-clicked to launch the
Agent. You can also start the Agent by typing cdpagentool
on the Linux command line.
The following messages are displayed:
Installing CDP Agent BackupService...
Starting CDP Agent Daemon process.
CDP Agent BackupService is installed.
Installing CDP Agent Console...
CDP Agent Console is installed.
ps auxwww | grep cdpagentservice
The output should be similar to the following:
root 7044 0.1 0.4 17404 1744 ? Ssl 11:05 0:00 /usr/bin/cdp/cdpagentservice
–d
/usr/bin/cdp/watchdog/cdpagentservice.pid -r /etc/cdp/cdpagent.conf
root 7195 0.0 0.1 3884 668 pts/1 R+ 11:05 0:00 grep cdpagentservice
The following section provides instructions for launching the SonicWALL CDP Agent and
connecting to a SonicWALL CDP appliance. This section contains the following subsections:
Perform the following steps to login to your SonicWALL CDP Agent for the first time.
On Windows, you can also launch the Agent from the Windows Start Menu:
Programs >
SonicWALL > SonicWALL Continuous Data Protection > SonicWALL Agent User
Interface
.
On Linux, you can also start the Agent by typing
cdpagentool
on the Linux command line.
If your SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface does not start, verify the following:
c.
|
Under
Performance
, click Settings
.
|
The Agent User Interface provides users with selection tabs and a view panel.
The Tab Selection allows users to navigate the Agent User Interface. Four selectable tabs are
available:
|
|
Status
|
Displays the connected SonicWALL CDP appliance IP address, the agent
name and state, quota information including file count, size, size on disk, quota remaining, and the name of the current backup policy that is defined for agents on the connected SonicWALL CDP appliance. Recent tasks are displayed in right pane with task name, start time, duration, and status.
|
My
Backups
|
Displays all backed up data, including backups created using the CDP,
FileSets, and Applications backup methods. It also provides the ability to enable or disable backups, refresh the display, search by all or part of the file name, restore data, remove items, and remove old file versions.
|
Policies
|
Allows the user to configure Files and Folder objects, Application objects,
Schedule objects, and Backup Task objects. Also allows the user to view a summary of backup tasks.
|
Help
|
Provides links to online help, the SonicWALL knowledge base, the Agent
log file, and Agent version information.
|
The View Panel is located directly below the Tab Selection. The panel refreshes when a tab is
selected.
The Status tab allows you to view current agent information, change appliances, log into the
Administrator File Browser, and view details about recent backups.
This section contains the following subsections:
To view the Status window, click the
Status
tab at the top of the Agent User Interface.
Figure 16
provides an image of the Status window, which displays recent Backup Events and FileSet and Application Events.
The
Agent Information
panel displays details about the current agent and about its backups. It also displays the name of the SonicWALL CDP appliance to which the agent is currently connected.
Descriptions of the items in the Agent Information panel are provided below:
Two buttons are located at the bottom of the Agent Information panel:
You can connect to different SonicWALL CDP appliances while using the Agent User Interface.
To connect the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface to a different CDP appliance:
The Available Appliances window opens, displaying the IP addresses and descriptions of
available appliances on the network.
The Agent Information panel displays the new appliance information.
The Agent software allows Administrators to log into the Agent User Interface to manage and
configure agent backups. You can access any appliance, and then view, manage, or restore any files backed up by any agent that is associated with that appliance, when logged in as an administrator in the Agent User Interface.
To use the Administrator File Browser in the Agent User Interface:
Step 1
|
Click on the
Login to Administrator File Browser
button located at the bottom of the agent informaton panel.
|
Step 4
|
Click the arrow for either
Appliance
or Offsite
to expand the display to include all associated agents, then click any agent to expand the display further. You can view details about agents that are associated with the appliance.
|
You can also view specific backups.
The bottom of the window provides controls for your use.
|
•
|
Refresh
– refreshes the window contents
|
|
•
|
Restore
– restores the selected item
|
The main Status panel displays information about the recent backup tasks for the agent. There
are two sections: Backup Events
and FileSet and Application Events
.
Descriptions of the fields on the Status page are provided below:
The
My Backups
tab displays information about recent backups that have been executed by the SonicWALL CDP Agent. You can view the backups at various levels of detail, search for files, remove backed up files, and restore files from this page. Figure 17
shows the initial view of the My Backups
tab.
This section contains the following subsections:
For information about restoring client data, see the
“Restoring Backed Up Client Data” section
.
For information about restoring server applications, see the
“Restoring Server Applications” section
.
You can click the arrow next to any of the three backup types to expand the level of detail shown
on the My Backups page. For example, Figure 18
shows the page after expanding the CDP selection several times until the actual file names are displayed.
A key or legend for the icons next to each file or folder is provided in the lower left area of the
window. There are Common Folder, File, Deleted Folder, and Deleted File icons.
To return to a view with fewer details, click the tab for the level you want to display or click the
Back arrow to the left of the tabs.
You can use the Search function on the My Backups page to search for backed up files stored
on the SonicWALL CDP appliance.
The enhanced search feature provides the ability to restore, delete, or trim directly from the
search interface.
To use the Search function while in normal user mode in the Agent user interface:
Step 1
|
On the
My Backups
page, click the Search button in the upper right corner.
|
Step 4
|
Select the
Case Sensitive
checkbox if the search should be case sensitive.
|
Step 8
|
Click the
Search
button to start the search. Only your agent machine is searched when in normal user mode. The results are displayed below the search options.
|
To use the Search function from the Agent user interface while in the Administrative File
Browser:
Step 6
|
Click
Search
. The results are displayed below the search options.
|
The My Backups page provides three ways to remove files stored on the SonicWALL CDP
appliance:
|
•
|
The
Remove
option deletes the file from the SonicWALL CDP appliance. Future backups might cause it to be backed up again unless you change the related policy.
|
|
•
|
The
Remove Deleted Items
option deletes files from the appliance if they no longer exist on the agent machine.
|
|
•
|
The
Remove Old Versions
option deletes older revisions of the file, leaving only the most recent one on the appliance.
|
To remove files or data from the appliance:
Step 1
|
On the
My Backups
page, to remove a specific file, expand the backup to view the file that you want to remove.
|
For file and folder backups, client backup policies include a Files and Folders object, schedule,
and task. For client applications such as Outlook or Outlook Express, client backup policies include an Application object, schedule, and task. You can configure objects, schedules, and tasks on the Policies
tab in the Agent User Interface.
Objects can be defined using one of the following methods:
|
•
|
FileSet
– The FileSet method backs up related files as a set. Dependencies between files is considered. This method uses Event scheduling.
|
|
•
|
Application
– The Application method is used for both client and server applications, and also considers dependencies and backs up files as a set. This method also uses Event scheduling.
|
When using the FileSet or Application methods, Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service is
used to create a cohesive snapshot for backup on Windows agents. Data de-duplication prevents multiple copies of unchanged data from being backed up.
The Policies window might also display a policy for a
CDP
method backup. The CDP method is folder-based and uses Interval scheduling.
To back up files or application data, you must configure a backup object, a schedule, and a
backup task that includes both the backup object and the schedule.
This section contains the following subsections:
For information about restoring client data, see the
“Restoring Backed Up Client Data” section
.
To create a Files and Folders object, perform the following steps:
Step 1
|
Navigate to the
Policies
tab located in the Agent User Interface and click on the Files and
Folders
link located in the left-side menu.
|
Step 2
|
Click the
+
button located in the bottom-right below the Files and Folders table. The Files and
Folders
window appears.
|
SonicWALL CDP supports backing up and restoring on non-directly attached drives, including
USB drives and mounted network drives. You must have the appropriate read/write permissions for the drives.
The image below shows the CDP Agent user interface window next to a view of the Windows
computer, while two USB drives are mounted as drives G and H. You can select the G or H drives, as well as any of the network-mounted drives on the system, to drill down to files or folders that you want to back up.
To drill down and select a particular folder, click the arrow at the left of the folder icon to expand
the list of subfolders, then repeat to expand the next folder in the path until you see the folder you want, then click that folder icon. Not every folder has an arrow, such as the “shortcut” My Document folder.
As an example, to select a folder under My Documents, click the arrow next to the
C:\
folder to expand it and then continue to expand the desired folders (including My Documents when you reach it) until you see the folder you want. After you select the folder for backup, each parent folder is marked by a blue dot. In this example, both the My Documents folder within the expanded list and the “shortcut” My Document folder display the blue dot.
The file path of the backup folders is displayed in the
Full Path
field located at the top of the Files and Folders window.
|
•
|
Include
: Includes the specified files or extensions.
|
|
•
|
Exclude
: Excludes the specified files or extensions.
|
Step 6
|
Define the
File Name
by entering a file name, extension, or select from a predefined list under File Name and Patterns
.
|
Step 8
|
Click the
+
button, located next to the check box, to add the rule to the Files and Folders object.
|
After clicking the
+
button, the rule is added to the Rules
table and the selected folder appears in the Backup Folders
list.
Step 10
|
Click
OK
after Files and Folders object creation is complete. The new Files and Folders object is visible in the table on the Policies tab.
|
To backup a client application such as Outlook or Outlook Express, you must configure an
application object, a schedule, and a backup task that includes both the application object and the schedule. This section describes how to create the application object.
To create a client application object, perform the following steps:
Step 5
|
Select the desired application from the
Application
drop-down list. The list of available applications is automatically populated through a discovery process. On most Windows computers, for example, the list will include Outlook, Outlook Express, and System State.
|
Step 6
|
Under
Application items
, select the checkboxes for one or more items to back up.
|
Step 7
|
Click
OK
to add the application object.
|
The new application object appears in the
Policies
screen of the Agent User Interface. The In
Use
column indicates No
to show that this application object is not part of an enabled Backup Task.
A legacy style CDP policy, including a default CDP Files and Folders object, a default CDP
schedule (set to Always On), and a default CDP backup task, is defined by default at the administrative level and is inherited by agents connected to the SonicWALL CDP appliance. At the agent level, you can edit the default CDP Files and Folders object to add files and folders for backup to the CDP object, but you cannot create a new CDP object.
A CDP object differs from a Files and Folders or Application object in that the defined files and
folders are backed up as separate entities, not as FileSets. CDP schedules use Interval scheduling, which back up changed data continuously when set to Always On, rather than Event scheduling in which you can set dates for backups to occur.
To edit the default CDP Files and Folders object, perform the following steps:
Step 1
|
Navigate to the
Policies
tab located in the Agent User Interface and click on the Files and
Folders
link located in the left-side menu.
|
Step 2
|
Click the
Edit
button to the right of the CDP object name. The Files and Folders
window appears.
|
To drill down and select a particular folder, click the arrow at the left of the folder icon to expand
the list of subfolders, then repeat to expand the next folder in the path until you see the folder you want, then click that folder icon. Not every folder has an arrow, such as the “shortcut” My Document folder.
To select a folder under My Documents, click the arrow next to the
C:\
folder to expand it and then continue to expand the desired folders (including My Documents when you reach it) until you see the folder you want.
The file path of the backup folders is displayed in the
Full Path
field located at the top of the Files and Folders window.
|
•
|
Include
: Includes the specified files or extensions.
|
|
•
|
Exclude
: Excludes the specified files or extensions.
|
Step 5
|
Define the
File Name
by entering a file name, extension, or select from a predefined list under File Name and Patterns
.
|
Step 7
|
Click the
+
button, located next to the check box, to add the rule to the Files and Folders object.
|
After clicking the
+
button, the rule is added to the Rules
table and the selected folder appears in the Backup Folders
list.
Step 10
|
Click
OK
when finished editing the CDP Files and Folders object.
|
To backup client data, you must configure a Files and Folders or Application object, a schedule
object, and a backup task that includes both the backup object and the schedule. This section describes how to create the schedule object.
You can create or edit schedule objects for FileSet or Application backup tasks, but not for CDP
method tasks. If you see a CDP schedule object, it is inherited from the connected appliance. You can view the settings on the CDP schedule object; see the “Viewing a CDP Schedule Object” section
.
To create a schedule object, perform the following steps:
|
•
|
Day Interval
– The backup occurs every so many days calculated from a particular date.
|
|
–
|
Under
Select Time
, to back up the files beginning at a specific time, select the Event
radio button, then fill in the Start at
fields by selecting an hour and a minute for the start time. To repeat the backup, type a value into the Repeat every
... minutes
field, and select an hour and minute for the end time after until
.
|
|
–
|
Under
Select Time
, to back up the files beginning at a specific time, select the Event
radio button, then fill in the Start at
fields by selecting an hour and a minute for the start time. To repeat the backup, type a value into the Repeat every
... minutes
field, and select an hour and minute for the end time after until
.
|
|
–
|
Under
Select Time
, to back up the files beginning at a specific time, select the Event
radio button, then fill in the Start at
fields by selecting an hour and a minute for the start time. To repeat the backup, type a value into the Repeat every
... minutes
field, and select an hour and minute for the end time after until
.
|
|
–
|
Under
Select Time
, to back up the files beginning at a specific time, select the Event
radio button, then fill in the Start at
fields by selecting an hour and a minute for the start time. To repeat the backup, type a value into the Repeat every
... minutes
field, and select an hour and minute for the end time after until
.
|
Step 6
|
Click
OK
after defining the desired schedule. New schedules are visible in the table on the main Schedules page.
|
A default CDP schedule object is inherited from the SonicWALL CDP appliance. It uses Interval
scheduling rather than Event scheduling. Only the Day Interval
tab of the Edit Schedule Object interface is used. You can view the default CDP schedule object, but cannot change it.
To view the default CDP schedule object:
Step 4
|
On the
Day Interval
tab under Enable Day Interval,
the number of days for the interval between backups is defined. For example, if you see 1
, the backups will occur daily; if you see 2
, the backups will occur every other day.
|
Step 5
|
In the
Start on
field, the start date is defined. By default, the interval is calculated from the current date.
|
Step 6
|
Under
Select Time
, to back up the files at any time that a change occurs, the Always On
radio button is selected. To back up changed files only during a specific time range, the Interval
radio button is selected and the Start at
and End at
fields are set.
|
Step 7
|
Click
Cancel
. The OK
button is disabled.
|
A backup task includes either a Files and Folders or Application object and a schedule for the
backup. Without a backup task, no backups will occur.
For offsite backup, you can choose the
Send All Files Offsite
option when adding or editing a backup task. In the Offsite Versions
field, you can specify the number of revisions that should be kept on the Offsite device.
To create a backup task for client data backup, perform the following steps:
Step 10
|
The
Trimming Algorithm
field is not configurable. The field displays the type of trimming algorithm in use.
|
Step 11
|
In the
Offsite
drop-down list, select one of the following options:
|
Step 14
|
Click
OK
when finished configuring the backup task.
|
For any existing backup task that is currently enabled in a policy, the administrator can click the
Backup Now
button on the Policies
tab to execute an immediate backup. This is useful for immediate backup of files, in general, and especially in the following cases:
To perform an immediate backup using Backup Now:
Step 2
|
Select
Backup Tasks
in the left pane.
|
Step 3
|
Click the
Backup Now
button located to the right of the backup task you want to back up.
|
You can temporarily disable a backup task, or completely remove it along with the associated
backup rules or application object. See the following sections:
You can temporarily disable any backup task with removing its configuration by performing the
following steps:
Step 3
|
Click the Edit
button located to the right of the backup task you want to disable.
|
To completely remove a backup task and the associated Files and Folders or Application object
rules, perform the following steps:
Step 3
|
Click the
X
button located to the right of the backup task you want to remove.
|
Step 4
|
Click
Yes
in the confirmation dialog.
|
Step 6
|
Click the
X
button located to the right of the object name.
|
Step 7
|
Click
Yes
in the confirmation dialog.
|
Using the SonicWALL CDP Agent on a machine for which you have administrative rights, you
can restore data from connected CDP appliances to the agent machine, even if it is a different machine than the one from which the data was backed up.
See the following sections for instructions about restoring backed up files, folders, and client
applications:
SonicWALL CDP allows you to recover lost data directly from the appliance. Recovery can be
performed to replace a file set that has been deleted, or to restore a previous version of a file or folder that has been changed or otherwise damaged. Recovery can be performed on any agent and recovered files are restored directly from the appliance.
If necessary, before restoring a file set, first follow the prescribed restore procedures of the
system which may include the re-installation of the operating system, applications or replacement of hardware.
To recover files and folders from the SonicWALL CDP appliance, perform the following steps:
Step 1
|
Launch the
SonicWALL CDP Agent
software on the agent machine on which you want to recover the file set. This does not have to be the same machine from which the backup was made.
|
Click
Yes
to restore the files on top of the original files. Click No
to save the files to another location. Click Cancel
to exit the restoration process without restoring the files at all.
Step 8
|
If you clicked
No
in order to save the files to another location, a Browse For Folder window is displayed.
|
You can restore to a location on your local computer, to a network-mounted folder, or to a
mounted USB drive. For example, you could expand the My Computer
entry to expose network folders and drill down within one of those to select a folder.
To create a new folder for the restored files, select the parent folder in which the new folder
should be created and then click the Make New Folder
button. The Browse For Folder window displays the folder as New Folder
. Select the New Folder
entry and then click OK
to begin the restore to that folder.
If any files cannot be restored, the Restoration Failed Objects window displays a list of files and
the reasons for their failure to restore. Click the X
to close the window.
You can restore any revision of a client application that is available on the SonicWALL CDP
appliance to an agent machine. The restore can be made directly to the application installation on the agent, or to another location on the hard drive. If restored to another location on disk, the files can be copied to the application later by stopping the application, doing the copy, and restarting the application.
To restore a backed up client application from a revision on the SonicWALL CDP appliance,
perform the following steps.
Step 6
|
In the
Restore
dialog box, select the backup that you want to restore. The Application Restoration window opens.
|
Step 7
|
In the
Options
drop-down list, select one of the following:
|
Step 8
|
Under
Components
, select the checkboxes for the items you want to restore.
|
Step 9
|
Click
OK
. The Application Restoration Details window appears.
|
To start the restore process, click
Start
. To exit without restoring any files, click Cancel
.
The in-progress indicators become active for each step as it is executed, and the
Start Time
and Duration
values are updated.
Server applications, including Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory, and SQL Server can be
configured for backup or recovery using the SonicWALL CDP User Interface.
Refer to the following sections for information about backing up server applications:
To backup an application, you must configure an application object, a schedule, and a backup
task that includes both the application object and the schedule. This section describes how to create the schedule object.
To configure a schedule for application backups, perform the following steps:
|
•
|
Day Interval
– The backup occurs every so many days calculated from a particular date.
|
|
–
|
Fill in the
Start at
fields by selecting an hour and a minute for the start time on the selected days.
|
|
–
|
Fill in the
Start at
fields by selecting an hour and a minute for the start time on the selected days.
|
|
–
|
Fill in the
Start at
fields by selecting an hour and a minute for the start time on the selected days.
|
|
–
|
Fill in the
Start at
fields by selecting an hour and a minute for the start time on the selected days.
|
This section lists the necessary prerequisites for successful operation of the SonicWALL CDP
Agent User Interface with the User Mailbox and InfoStore Microsoft Exchange features.
The following versions of Microsoft Exchange are supported:
Microsoft Exchange runs on the following versions of Windows Server:
Follow the instructions below to allow mailbox access for proper user mailbox backup/restore
in Microsoft Exchange 2003(32bit) and Microsoft Exchange 2007(64bit). On your Agent system, create an Exchange user account for cdpAdmin
, make cdpAdmin
a member of the “Administrators” group, and login to the Exchange system as cdpAdmin
.
See the following subsections for specific instructions:
See the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles for more information:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/556045
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821897
To configure the Exchange admin user on a 32-bit machine (MS Windows SBS 2003 and MS
Exchange 2003), perform the following steps:
Step 4
|
Expand
Servers
, right-click on the server name and then click Properties
.
|
Step 5
|
On the
Security
tab, add the cdpAdmin
user to the Group or user names
list.
|
Step 9
|
Click the
Configure Authentication
button.Enter the user credentials in the authentication dialog box:
|
User: Domain\user (yourDomain\cdpAdmin)
Password: password for user cdpAdmin
To configure the Exchange admin user on a 64-bit machine: (MS Windows 2003/2008 and MS
Exchange 2007), perform the following steps:
Step 4
|
To set the
Exchange View Only Administrator
role, type the command in the following format:
|
An example of this command is:
Where:
An example of this command is:
a.
|
Navigate to
Administrative Tools
> Computer Management
> Local Users and
Groups
, and right-click on the Backup Operators
group.
|
b.
|
Select
Add to Group
and click on the domain user cdpAdmin
.
|
User: Domain\user (yourDomain\cdpAdmin)
Password: password for user cdpAdmin
SonicWALL CDP uses
ExOLEDB
to access Microsoft Exchange 2007 and 2003. The Exchange OLE DB Provider
should be installed along with Microsoft Exchange, and must be accessible by the SonicWALL CDP Web Management Interface and Agent User Interface.
The ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) and CDO (Collaboration Data Objects) APIs are also required
by this feature. These are application programming interfaces provided by Microsoft that allow applications to access data stores in a uniform manner. These APIs are included with the Microsoft Exchange installation.
You can backup individual user mailboxes by using the Microsoft Exchange User Mailbox
Backup and Restore server application in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface. The user mailbox is backed up onto your SonicWALL CDP appliance.
For Microsoft Exchange 2010 on Windows Server 2008, SonicWALL CDP supports backup and
restore on a multi-application, single server deployment, in which the same server has several applications installed, such as Exchange, SQL, and Active Directory.
In the Agent User Interface, you can create a
Microsoft Exchange - User Mailbox
application object for one or more user mailboxes, input the login credentials for the Exchange server, configure a backup schedule, create a backup task, optionally select offsite backup, and restore individual user mailboxes to the Exchange server. For information about restoring a user mailbox, see the “Restoring Exchange 2010 User Mailboxes” section
.
The User Mailbox Backup and Restore feature includes the following capabilities:
User Mailbox Backup and Restore backs up and restores messages in the user’s Outlook
Mailbox, including the Inbox, Drafts, Deleted Items, and Sent Items, as well as messages within all other folders with custom names.
It does not back up the Outlook Calendar, Notes, Contacts, Tasks, Meeting Requests, and
Public Folders. It also does not back up locally archived folders.
See the following sections:
The SonicWALL CDP Microsoft Exchange User Mailbox Backup and Restore feature is
implemented as a server application that is automatically discovered by the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface. To get started using the feature, select the Policies
tab and then select Applications
in the left pane of the Agent User Interface. To backup user mailboxes, you must configure an application object, a schedule, and a backup task that includes both the application object and the schedule.
The User Mailbox application allows you to add or delete individual user mailboxes for backup,
set backup schedules, restore specific backups of individual mailboxes, enter credentials for accessing the Exchange server, and configure offsite backup. You can view log entries in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface on the Status
tab to verify that backups are successful.
To backup user mailboxes, you must configure an application object, a schedule, and a backup
task that includes both the application object and the schedule. This section describes how to create the application object.
You can test the connection to the Exchange Server by clicking the
Authentication
button while adding or editing an application object. It is not necessary to enter any authentication credentials to test the connection.
To create an application object with individual user mailboxes for backup, perform the following
steps:
Step 5
|
Select
Microsoft Exchange - User Mailbox
in the Application
drop-down list. The list of available applications is automatically populated through a discovery process. For proper discovery, the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy service must not be disabled.
|
Step 6
|
Under
Application items
, select the checkboxes for one or more user mailboxes to back up.
|
The new application object appears in the
Policies
screen of the Agent User Interface.
A schedule is required when creating an Application backup task to backup user mailboxes.
You can use the same schedule object in more than one backup task.
For instructions on creating a schedule object, see the
“Creating Schedules for Application Backups” section
.
A backup task includes both an application object and a schedule for the backup. Without a
backup task, no backups will occur.
For offsite backup, you can choose the
Send All Files Offsite
option when adding or editing a backup task.
To create a backup task for a user mailbox backup, perform the following steps:
Step 5
|
Select
Application
from the Select File Type
drop-down list.
|
Step 8
|
The
Trimming Algorithm
field is not configurable for Application policies. The field displays the type of trimming algorithm in use.
|
Step 9
|
In the
Offsite
drop-down list, select one of the following options:
|
Access between the SonicWALL CDP appliance and the Exchange server where the user
mailboxes reside can be configured to require authentication credentials or not. When you add an application object for a user mailbox backup, you can choose to add authentication credentials if required by the Exchange server. In either case, you can use the Authentication dialog box to test the connection between the SonicWALL CDP appliance and the Exchange server.
Before configuring a User Mailbox application object to use credentials when accessing the
Exchange server, you must first configure the credentials on the Exchange server. The user name must have appropriate privileges to access user mailbox data on the Exchange server.
The procedure below provides basic instructions for configuring authentication with the
Administrator user. For more information about configuring users and access privileges on Microsoft Exchange, see the following Microsoft knowledge base articles:
http:/support.microsoft.com/kb/821897
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/556045
To configure the Administrator account for authentication, perform the following steps:
The welcome screen displays, followed by a command prompt.
New
–
ManagementRoleAssignment
–
Role “Mailbox Import Export”
–
User “Administrator”
For Exchange 2010 there are additional steps required to allow User Mailbox discovery:
Step 1
|
Open
Active Directory Users and Computers
.
|
This section describes how to remove a user mailbox from the list of mailboxes scheduled for
backup.
To remove a user mailbox from the backup task, perform the following steps:
This section describes how to tell if your user mailbox backups are working correctly. You can
view log entries showing the backups in the Status
page of the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
You should see log entries showing backups right after the first scheduled backup after creating
a backup task for one or more user mailboxes, and then after each scheduled backup.
If you are watching the
Status
page during the backup, you will first see the backup task appear multiple times (for each mailbox) in the Backup Events
table. When all individual backup events are finished, the backup task appears in the FileSet and Application Events
table as completed.
To verify user mailbox backups:
You can backup and restore Microsoft Exchange InfoStore databases by using the SonicWALL
CDP Microsoft Exchange InfoStore Backup and Restore server application in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface. The InfoStore databases are backed up onto your SonicWALL CDP appliance.
For Microsoft Exchange 2010 on Windows Server 2008, SonicWALL CDP supports backup and
restore on a multi-application, single server deployment, in which the same server has several applications installed, such as Exchange, SQL, and Active Directory.
In the Agent User Interface, you can create a
Microsoft Exchange - InfoStore
application object for for one or more databases, input the login credentials for the Exchange server, configure a backup schedule, create a backup task, optionally select offsite backup, and restore databases back to the Exchange server. For information about restoring InfoStore databases, see the “Restoring Exchange 2010 InfoStore” section
.
The SonicWALL CDP Microsoft Exchange InfoStore Backup and Restore feature includes the
following capabilities:
The SonicWALL CDP Microsoft Exchange InfoStore Backup and Restore feature is
implemented as a server application that is automatically discovered by the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface. To get started using the feature, select the Policies
tab and then select Applications
in the left pane of the Agent User Interface. To backup Microsoft Exchange databases, you must configure an application object, a schedule, and a backup task that includes both the application object and the schedule.
The InfoStore application allows you to add or remove individual Microsoft Exchange databases
for backup, set backup schedules, restore specific backups of the Exchange server, and configure offsite backup. You can view log entries in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface on the Status
tab to verify that backups are successful.
To backup InfoStore databases, you must configure an application object, a schedule, and a
backup task that includes both the application object and the schedule. This section describes how to create the application object.
To create an application object for Microsoft Exchange InfoStore backup, perform the following
steps:
Step 5
|
Select
Microsoft Exchange - InfoStore
in the Application
drop-down list. The list of available applications is automatically populated through a discovery process. For proper discovery, the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy and VSS Writer services must not be disabled.
|
Step 6
|
Under
Application items
, select the checkboxes for one or more databases to back up. It is not required to back up all databases with the same backup task. For large databases, you might want to schedule separate backups at different times.
|
The new application object appears in the
Policies
screen of the Agent User Interface.
A schedule is required when creating an Application backup task to backup Exchange InfoStore
databases. You can use the same schedule object in more than one backup task.
For instructions on creating a schedule object, see the
“Creating Schedules for Application Backups” section
.
A backup task includes both an application object and a schedule for the backup. Without a
backup task, no backups will occur.
For offsite backup, you can choose the
Send All Files Offsite
option when adding or editing a backup task.
To create a backup task for an InfoStore backup, perform the following steps:
Step 5
|
Select
Application
from the Select File Type
drop-down list.
|
Step 8
|
The
Trimming Algorithm
field is not configurable for Application policies. The field displays the type of trimming algorithm in use.
|
Step 9
|
In the
Offsite
drop-down list, select one of the following options:
|
|
•
|
Send all Files Offsite
– Offsite backup settings must already be configured in the SonicWALL CDP Web Management Interface, and the offsite appliance must be available.
|
To remove a storage group from the list of groups scheduled for backup, perform the following
steps:
This section describes how to tell if your Microsoft Exchange backups are working correctly.
You can view log entries showing the backups in the Status
page of the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
You should see log entries showing backups after each scheduled backup after creating a
backup task for one or more InfoStore databases. If you are watching the Status
page during the backup, you will first see the backup task appear multiple times in the Backup Events
table. When all individual backup events are finished, the backup task appears in the FileSet and
Application Events
table as completed.
To verify an InfoStore backup:
You can backup individual user mailboxes by using the Microsoft Exchange User Mailbox
Backup and Restore server application in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface. The user mailbox is backed up onto your SonicWALL CDP appliance.
For Microsoft Exchange 2010 on Windows Server 2008, SonicWALL CDP supports backup and
restore on a multi-application, single server deployment, in which the same server has several applications installed, such as Exchange, SQL Server, and Active Directory.
In the Agent User Interface, you can create a
Microsoft Exchange - User Mailbox
application object for for one or more user mailboxes, input the login credentials for the Exchange server, configure a backup schedule, create a backup task, optionally select offsite backup, and restore individual user mailboxes to the Exchange server. For information about restoring a user mailbox, see the “Restoring an Exchange 2007/2003 User Mailbox” section
.
The User Mailbox Backup and Restore feature includes the following capabilities:
User Mailbox Backup and Restore backs up and restores messages in the user’s Outlook
Mailbox, including the Inbox, Drafts, Deleted Items, and Sent Items, as well as messages within all other folders with custom names.
It does not back up the Outlook Calendar, Notes, Contacts, Tasks, Meeting Requests, and
Public Folders. It also does not back up locally archived folders.
See the following sections:
The SonicWALL CDP Microsoft Exchange User Mailbox Backup and Restore feature is
implemented as a server application that is automatically discovered by the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface. To get started using the feature, select the Policies
tab and then select Applications
in the left pane of the Agent User Interface. To backup user mailboxes, you must configure an application object, a schedule, and a backup task that includes both the application object and the schedule.
The User Mailbox application allows you to add or delete individual user mailboxes for backup,
set backup schedules, restore specific backups of individual mailboxes, enter credentials for accessing the Exchange server, and select offsite backup. You can view log entries in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface on the Status
tab to verify that backups are successful.
To backup user mailboxes, you must configure an application object, a schedule, and a backup
task that includes both the application object and the schedule. This section describes how to create the application object.
You can test the connection to the Exchange Server by clicking the
Authentication
button while adding or editing an application object. It is not necessary to enter any authentication credentials to test the connection.
To create an application object with individual user mailboxes for backup, perform the following
steps:
Step 5
|
Select
Microsoft Exchange - User Mailbox
in the Application
drop-down list. The list of available applications is automatically populated through a discovery process. For proper discovery, the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy service must not be disabled. See the 'Backup and Recovery Troubleshooting' section in the SonicWALL CDP Administrator’s Guide
for more information.
|
Step 6
|
Under
Application items
, select the checkboxes for one or more user mailboxes to back up.
|
The new application object appears in the
Policies
screen of the Agent User Interface.
A schedule is required when creating an Application backup task to backup user mailboxes.
You can use the same schedule object in more than one backup task.
For instructions on creating a schedule object, see the
“Creating Schedules for Application Backups” section
.
A backup task includes both an application object and a schedule for the backup. Without a
backup task, no backups will occur.
For offsite backup, you can choose the
Send All Files Offsite
option when adding or editing a backup task.
To create a backup task for a user mailbox backup, perform the following steps:
Step 5
|
Select
Application
from the Select File Type
drop-down list.
|
Step 8
|
The
Trimming Algorithm
field is not configurable for Application policies. The field displays the type of trimming algorithm in use.
|
Step 9
|
In the
Offsite
drop-down list, select one of the following options:
|
|
•
|
Send all Files Offsite
– Offsite backup settings must already be configured in the SonicWALL CDP Web Management Interface, and the offsite appliance must be available.
|
Access between the SonicWALL CDP appliance and the Exchange server where the user
mailboxes reside can be configured to require authentication credentials or not. When you add an application object for a user mailbox backup, you can choose to add authentication credentials if required by the Exchange server. In either case, you can use the Authentication dialog box to test the connection between the SonicWALL CDP appliance and the Exchange server.
Before configuring a User Mailbox application object to use credentials when accessing the
Exchange server, you must first configure the credentials on the Exchange server. The user name must have appropriate privileges to access user mailbox data on the Exchange server. For more information about configuring users and access privileges on Microsoft Exchange, see the following Microsoft knowledge base articles:
http:/support.microsoft.com/kb/821897
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/556045
This section describes how to remove a user mailbox from the list of mailboxes scheduled for
backup.
To remove a user mailbox from the backup task, perform the following steps:
This section describes how to tell if your user mailbox backups are working correctly by viewing
log entries showing the backups in the Status
page of the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
You should see log entries showing backups right after the first scheduled backup after creating
a backup task for one or more user mailboxes, and then after each scheduled backup.
You can backup and restore a Microsoft Exchange Storage Group by using the SonicWALL
CDP Microsoft Exchange InfoStore Backup and Restore server application in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface. The Storage Group, or InfoStore, is backed up onto your SonicWALL CDP appliance.
For Microsoft Exchange 2010 on Windows Server 2008, SonicWALL CDP supports backup and
restore on a multi-application, single server deployment, in which the same server has several applications installed, such as Exchange, SQL Server, and Active Directory.
In the Agent User Interface, you can create a
Microsoft Exchange - InfoStore
application object for for one or more storage groups, input the login credentials for the Exchange server, configure a backup schedule, create a backup task, optionally select offsite backup, and restore storage groups back to the Exchange server. For information about restoring a Storage Group, see the “Restoring an Exchange 2007/2003 Storage Group” section
.
The SonicWALL CDP Microsoft Exchange InfoStore Backup and Restore feature includes the
following capabilities:
See the following sections:
The SonicWALL CDP Microsoft Exchange InfoStore Backup and Restore feature is
implemented as a server application that is automatically discovered by the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface. To get started using the feature, select the Policies
tab and then select Applications
in the left pane of the Agent User Interface. To backup a storage group, you must configure an application object, a schedule, and a backup task that includes both the application object and the schedule.
The InfoStore application allows you to add or remove individual Microsoft Exchange Storage
Groups for backup, set backup schedules, restore specific backups of the Exchange server, and configure offsite backup. You can view log entries in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface on the Status
tab to verify that backups are successful.
To backup a storage group, you must configure an application object, a schedule, and a backup
task that includes both the application object and the schedule. This section describes how to create the application object.
To create an application object for Microsoft Exchange Storage Group backup, perform the
following steps:
Step 5
|
Select
Microsoft Exchange - InfoStore
in the Application
drop-down list. The list of available applications is automatically populated through a discovery process. For proper discovery, the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy and VSS Writer services must not be disabled. See the 'Backup and Recovery Troubleshooting' section in the SonicWALL CDP Administrator’s Guide
for more information.
|
Step 6
|
Under
Application items
, select the checkboxes for one or more storage groups to back up.
|
The new application object appears in the
Policies
screen of the Agent User Interface.
A schedule is required when creating an Application backup task to backup Exchange storage
groups. You can use the same schedule object in more than one backup task.
For instructions on creating a schedule object, see the
“Creating Schedules for Application Backups” section
.
A backup task includes both an application object and a schedule for the backup. Without a
backup task, no backups will occur.
For offsite backup, you can choose the
Send All Files Offsite
option when adding or editing a backup task.
To create a backup task for a storage group backup, perform the following steps:
Step 5
|
Select
Application
from the Select File Type
drop-down list.
|
Step 8
|
The
Trimming Algorithm
field is not configurable for Application policies. The field displays the type of trimming algorithm in use.
|
Step 9
|
In the
Offsite
drop-down list, select one of the following options:
|
|
•
|
Send all Files Offsite
– Offsite backup settings must already be configured in the SonicWALL CDP Web Management Interface, and the offsite appliance must be available.
|
To remove a storage group from the list of groups scheduled for backup, perform the following
steps:
This section describes how to tell if your Microsoft Exchange backups are working correctly.
You can view log entries showing the backups in the Status
page of the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
You should see log entries showing backups after each scheduled backup after creating a
backup task for one or more storage groups.
Backing up Microsoft SharePoint using SonicWALL CDP allows users to store and retrieve
SharePoint database revisions from an agent machine. SharePoint databases are configured for backup using the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
The application used for SharePoint backup is
Microsoft SQL Server/SharePoint
, as SharePoint uses Microsoft SQL databases. The default SQL master, model, and msdb databases are required for SharePoint, and SharePoint creates other SQL databases as well. Microsoft SQL can be installed on the same or on another Windows Server machine.
SonicWALL recommends backing up all SharePoint databases together, rather than backing up
individual databases separately.
For information about restoring SharePoint databases, see the
“Restoring SharePoint” section
.
See the following sections for SharePoint backup procedures:
To backup Microsoft SharePoint, you must configure an application object, a schedule, and a
backup task that includes both the application object and the schedule. This section describes how to create the application object.
To backup SharePoint using the Agent User Interface, perform the following steps:
Step 1
|
Open the
SonicWALL
Agent User Interface
on the SharePoint server.
|
Step 6
|
Select
Microsoft SQL Server/SharePoint
in the Application
drop-down list. The list of available applications is automatically populated through a discovery process. For proper discovery, the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy service must not be disabled.
|
Step 7
|
Under
Application items
, select the checkboxes for one or more SharePoint databases to back up. SonicWALL recommends selecting the Select All
checkbox to ensure that all associated files are backed up for SharePoint.
|
The new application object appears in the
Policies
screen of the Agent User Interface.
A schedule is required when creating an Application backup task to backup Microsoft
SharePoint. You can use the same schedule object in more than one backup task.
For instructions on creating a schedule object, see the
“Creating Schedules for Application Backups” section
.
A backup task includes both an application object and a schedule for the backup. Without a
backup task, no backups will occur.
For offsite backup, you can choose the
Send All Files Offsite
option when adding or editing a backup task.
To create a backup task for a SharePoint backup, perform the following steps:
Step 5
|
Select
Application
from the Select File Type
drop-down list.
|
Step 8
|
The
Trimming Algorithm
field is not configurable for Application policies. The field displays the type of trimming algorithm in use.
|
Step 9
|
In the
Offsite
drop-down list, select one of the following options:
|
|
•
|
Send all Files Offsite
– Offsite backup settings must already be configured in the SonicWALL CDP Web Management Interface, and the offsite appliance must be available.
|
This section describes how to tell if your Microsoft SharePoint backups are working correctly.
You can view log entries showing the backups in the Status
page of the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
You should see log entries showing backups after each scheduled backup after creating a
backup task for SharePoint.
View the backup status in the right pane.
Step 3
|
Click the
My Backups
tab and view the list of backup revisions.
|
Active Directory is included within the System State application object in SonicWALL CDP 6.0
and higher. When creating a System State application object, you can select components, including Active Directory, to back up. This allows you to backup and recover Active Directory revisions from agent machines together with interdependent system files to provide a consistent environment.
See the following sections:
To backup System State and Active Directory, you must configure an application object, a
schedule, and a backup task that includes both the application object and the schedule. This section describes how to create the application object.
To backup System State and Active Directory using the Agent User Interface, perform the
following steps:
Step 1
|
Open the
SonicWALL
Agent User Interface
on the Domain Controller.
|
Step 6
|
Select
System State
in the Application
drop-down list. The list of available applications is automatically populated through a discovery process. For proper discovery, the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy service must not be disabled. See the 'Backup and Recovery Troubleshooting' section in the SonicWALL CDP Administrator’s Guide
for more information.
|
Step 7
|
Under
Application items
, select the checkboxes for one or more System State components to back up. You can select Active Directory
in this screen. SonicWALL recommends selecting the Select All
checkbox to ensure that all associated System State files are backed up along with Active Directory.
|
The exact list of system components that make up your computer's System State data depend
on the computer's operating system and configuration. For example, on a Windows Server you might see the following:
The new application object appears in the
Policies
screen of the Agent User Interface.
A schedule is required when creating an Application backup task to backup System State and
Active Directory. You can use the same schedule object in more than one backup task.
For instructions on creating a schedule object, see the
“Creating Schedules for Application Backups” section
.
A backup task includes both an application object and a schedule for the backup. Without a
backup task, no backups will occur.
For offsite backup, you can choose the
Send All Files Offsite
option when adding or editing a backup task.
To create a backup task for a System State and Active Directory backup, perform the following
steps:
Step 5
|
Select
Application
from the Select File Type
drop-down list.
|
Step 8
|
The
Trimming Algorithm
field is not configurable for Application policies. The field displays the type of trimming algorithm in use.
|
Step 9
|
In the
Offsite
drop-down list, select one of the following options:
|
|
•
|
Send all Files Offsite
– Offsite backup settings must already be configured in the SonicWALL CDP Web Management Interface, and the offsite appliance must be available.
|
This section describes how to tell if your System State backups are working correctly. You can
view log entries showing the backups in the Status
page of the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
You should see log entries showing backups after each scheduled backup after creating a
backup task for System State and Active Directory.
View the backup status in the right pane.
Step 3
|
Click the
My Backups
tab and view the list of backup revisions.
|
Backing up Microsoft SQL Server using SonicWALL CDP allows users to store and retrieve
Microsoft SQL Server revisions from an agent machine. Microsoft SQL Server databases are configured for backup using the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
During SQL Server backup and restore using CDP, the Agent Service directly interfaces with
the server through the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) API, using an SQL-ODBC driver that is installed with SQL Server. By ODBC, the Agent service communicates to the SQL server through transactional SQL commands.
When the SonicWALL CDP Agent Service backs up an SQL database, it instructs SQL to place
the data in a certain location in memory. The Agent Service will then process the data one block at a time, compressing it and sending to the appliance.
The Agent Service first needs to connect to the database and authenticate, typically by using
Windows user account credentials.
For more information about SQL backup and restore, see the
SonicWALL CDP Administrator’s
Guide
.
This section contains the following subsections:
To backup Microsoft SQL Server databases, you must configure an application object, a
schedule, and a backup task that includes both the application object and the schedule. This section describes how to create the application object.
To create an application object for Microsoft SQL Server database backup, perform the
following steps:
Step 1
|
Open the
SonicWALL
Agent User Interface
on the SQL server.
|
Step 6
|
Select either
Microsoft SQL Server
or Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE)
in the Application
drop-down list. The list of available applications is automatically populated through a discovery process. For proper discovery, the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy and VSS Writer services must not be disabled. See the 'Backup and Recovery Troubleshooting' section in the SonicWALL CDP Administrator’s Guide
for more information.
|
Step 7
|
Under
Application items
, select the checkboxes for one or more databases to back up.
|
The new application object appears in the
Policies
screen of the Agent User Interface.
A schedule is required when creating an Application backup task to backup Microsoft SQL
Server databases. You can use the same schedule object in more than one backup task.
For instructions on creating a schedule object, see the
“Creating Schedules for Application Backups” section
.
A backup task includes both an application object and a schedule for the backup. Without a
backup task, no backups will occur.
For offsite backup, you can choose the
Send All Files Offsite
option when adding or editing a backup task.
To create a backup task for Microsoft SQL Server database backup, perform the following
steps:
Step 5
|
Select
Application
from the Select File Type
drop-down list.
|
Step 8
|
The
Trimming Algorithm
field is not configurable for Application policies. The field displays the type of trimming algorithm in use.
|
Step 9
|
In the
Offsite
drop-down list, select one of the following options:
|
|
•
|
Send all Files Offsite
– Offsite backup settings must already be configured in the SonicWALL CDP Web Management Interface, and the offsite appliance must be available.
|
To remove a database from the list of SQL databases scheduled for backup, perform the
following steps:
This section describes how to tell if your Microsoft SQL Server backups are working correctly.
You can view log entries showing the backups on the Status
page of the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
You should see log entries showing backups after each scheduled backup after creating a
backup task for SQL Server.
To view the status of SQL Server backups:
View the backup status in the right pane.
Step 3
|
Click the
My Backups
tab and view the list of backup revisions.
|
Offsite Service backup of CDP can be selected at the agent level when configuring the backup
task. This implies that all SQL Server instances and databases selected on the agent will be backed up to the Offsite Service.
You can view files backed up offsite by expanding the
Offsite
option while logged into the Agent as Administrator. For information about this, see the “Using the Administrator File Browser” section
.
while logged into the Agent as Administrator. For information about this, see the
“Using the Administrator File Browser” section
.Using the SonicWALL CDP Agent on a server for which you have administrative rights, you can restore data from connected CDP appliances to the server, even if it is a different machine than the one from which the data was backed up.
See the following sections:
Recovery of data from Microsoft Exchange 2010 using SonicWALL CDP allows users to
retrieve Microsoft Exchange revisions from an agent machine previously configured to backup that data.
See the following sections:
This section describes how to restore an individual user mailbox backup to the Exchange 2010
server, by using the Microsoft Exchange User Mailbox Backup and Restore server application in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
A mailbox must exist in Exchange in order for the restore to work properly. To restore an
individual user mailbox to the Exchange server, perform the following steps:
Step 6
|
In the
Details
section, click to select the desired backup in the table in the lower area of the Details section, such as the Full
backup of the mailbox.
|
Step 8
|
For a
single user mailbox restoration
, select Restore to application from the Options
drop-down list. No other option is available in this case.
|
When
restoring all mailboxes in a Revision
, select one of the following from the Options
drop-down list:
Step 9
|
Under
Components
, select the checkboxes for the user mailbox databases you want to restore. Select all databases to maintain consistency.
|
Step 10
|
Click
OK
. The Application Restoration Details window appears.
|
To start the restore process, click
Start
. To exit without restoring any files, click Cancel
.
The in-progress indicators become active for each step as it is executed, and the
Start Time
and Duration
values are updated.
You can restore Exchange 2010 InfoStore databases by using the SonicWALL CDP Microsoft
Exchange InfoStore Backup and Restore server application in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
This section describes how to restore an individual Storage Group. You can restore the Storage
Group in two ways:
A storage group must exist in Exchange in order for the restore to work properly.
To restore InfoStore data using the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface, perform the
following steps:
Step 6
|
In the
Options
drop-down list, select one of the following:
|
Step 7
|
Under
Components
, select the checkboxes for the databases you want to restore.
|
Step 8
|
Click
OK
. The Application Restoration Details window appears.
|
A warning is also displayed:
During restoration, all existing files in the original location will be deleted. Please
make sure you have backed up those files if needed.
To start the restore process, click
Start
. To exit without restoring any files, click Cancel
.
The in-progress indicators become active for each step as it is executed, and the
Start Time
and Duration
values are updated.
Recovery of data from Microsoft Exchange 2007 or 2003 using SonicWALL CDP allows users
to retrieve Microsoft Exchange revisions from an agent machine previously configured to backup that data.
See the following sections:
This section describes how to restore an individual user mailbox backup to the Exchange
server, by using the Microsoft Exchange User Mailbox Backup and Restore server application in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
A mailbox must exist in Exchange in order for the restore to work properly. For cases in which
the mailbox has been deleted from Exchange, special procedures are necessary.
See the following sections:
To restore an individual user mailbox to the Exchange server, perform the following steps:
Step 6
|
In the
Restore Mailbox
dialog box, select the backup that you want to restore. The Application Restoration window opens.
|
Step 7
|
In the
Options
drop-down list, select one of the following:
|
Step 8
|
Under
Components
, select the checkboxes for the user mailboxes you want to restore.
|
Step 9
|
Click
OK
. The Application Restoration Details window appears.
|
A warning is also displayed:
During restoration, all existing files in the original location will be deleted. Please
make sure you have backed up those files if needed.
To start the restore process, click
Start
. To exit without restoring any files, click Cancel
.
The in-progress indicators become active for each step as it is executed, and the
Start Time
and Duration
values are updated.
Once a mailbox is deleted from Exchange, there is no container to hold the emails, even though
SonicWALL CDP has a copy of the mailbox backup. This container (in our case an empty mailbox) must be created prior to restoring the mailbox.
In Exchange 2003, you can either “purge” or “delete” a user mailbox. Mailbox deletion leaves
the user account in Exchange, but purging a mailbox removes the user account from Exchange. In either case, the user account in Active Directory still exists (unless removed separately). See the following procedures for each case:
Once a mailbox is deleted from Exchange, there is no container to hold the emails, even though
SonicWALL CDP has a copy of the mailbox backup. This container (in our case an empty mailbox) must be created prior to restoring the mailbox.
In Exchange 2007, deleting a user mailbox removes the user account from both Exchange and
Active Directory. In this case, there are two methods that can be used to restore a user mailbox. See the following procedures for each case:
You can restore an Exchange Storage Group by using the SonicWALL CDP Microsoft Exchange
InfoStore Backup and Restore server application in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
This section describes how to restore an individual Storage Group. You can restore the Storage
Group in two ways:
A storage group must exist in Exchange in order for the restore to work properly. For cases in
which the storage group has been deleted from Exchange, special procedures are necessary.
See the following sections:
To restore a Storage Group using the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface, perform the
following steps:
Step 6
|
In the
Options
drop-down list, select one of the following:
|
Step 7
|
Under
Components
, select the checkboxes for the storage groups you want to restore.
|
Step 8
|
Click
OK
. The Application Restoration Details window appears.
|
A warning is also displayed:
During restoration, all existing files in the original location will be deleted. Please
make sure you have backed up those files if needed.
To start the restore process, click
Start
. To exit without restoring any files, click Cancel
.
The in-progress indicators become active for each step as it is executed, and the
Start Time
and Duration
values are updated.
Once a storage group is deleted from Exchange, there is no container to hold the contents,
even though SonicWALL CDP has a copy of the storage group backup. This container (an empty storage group) must be created prior to restoring the storage group.
For both Exchange 2003 and 2007, the recommended way to recover deleted storage groups
is to restore Active Directory first and then restore the InfoStore storage group and the user mailboxes. This is because Exchange relies on the Active Directory directory service for its directory operations. Active Directory provides all mailbox information, address list services, and other recipient-related information. Active Directory also stores most Exchange configuration information.
The recommended method to recover deleted storage groups is to restore Active Directory first
and then restore the storage group. This is recommended for both Exchange 2003 and 2007.
See the
“Restoring System State and Active Directory” section
.
This method does not involve restoring Active Directory first, and is available as an alternate
method for Exchange 2003, but not for Exchange 2007. In Exchange 2007, when you delete a user mailbox from the Exchange Management Console, the user is also deleted from Active Directory.
If you restore a deleted storage group with this method, there will be two instances of
SMTP
and SystemMailbox
under <Storage Group>/<Mailbox Store>/Mailboxes after the restore.
One instance of
SMTP
and SystemMailbox
is created when you re-create the Mailbox store. This pair has a new ID number. The other instance is from the SonicWALL CDP restore of the storage group. This pair has the original ID number.
Despite the duplicate mailbox pair, there are no problems when sending or receiving emails or
when backing up or restoring the original (restored) storage group.
For example, if there are two .edb files:
Then create two new mailbox databases using these same names ("Mailbox Database1.edb"
and "Mailbox Database2.edb") under the newly created storage group.
Recovery of data from Microsoft SharePoint using SonicWALL CDP allows users to retrieve
SharePoint SQL database revisions from agent machines previously configured to backup those databases. When restoring SharePoint databases from a SonicWALL CDP backup, you need to restore all databases in the backup revision to provide a consistent environment. SharePoint data cannot be restored from the Web Management Interface.
To recover SharePoint data from the SonicWALL CDP appliance, perform the following steps:
Step 1
|
Launch the
SonicWALL CDP Agent
software on the agent machine on which you want to recover the SharePoint data.
|
Step 8
|
In the
Options
drop-down list, select one of the following:
|
Use this option if you want to verify the files, then copy them to the original location either
manually or by using a separate tool or application. You can browse to the folder where you want the data restored, or create a new folder.
Step 9
|
Click
OK
to begin the restoration. Click Cancel
to exit without restoring the files.
|
The Restoring window displays the progress of the restore.
Recovery of data from System State and Active Directory using SonicWALL CDP allows users
to retrieve Active Directory revisions from agent machines previously configured to backup that data. When restoring Active Directory from a SonicWALL CDP backup, you need to restore all associated, interdependent System State files to provide a consistent environment. Active Directory data cannot be restored from the Web Management Interface.
This section contains the following subsections:
With the exception of Active Directory on Windows Server 2008, you cannot restore Active
Directory in normal Windows mode. This is because the service is already active. Before restoring Active Directory on Windows Server 2003, you must boot your computer into safe mode. Once in safe mode, you can restore the Active Directory as an application. This is because in safe mode the Active Directory is disabled.
To boot your computer into safe mode, perform the following steps:
Step 1
|
Boot your computer and press
F5
or F8
after POST/BIOS and before the Windows splash-screen, depending on hardware specs of the server.
|
Step 2
|
Select the
Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM)
.
|
Restoring Active Directory will cause the loss of any changes to Active Directory since the date
of the backup that is being restored.
SonicWALL recommends the use of redundant Active Directory domain controllers. In the case
of mirrored Active Directory domain controllers, you can optionally restore a small part of the database rather than the entire database (for example, because some people were deleted by mistake by the administrator or a script/program), keeping the remainder of the database up to date. In this case, the administrator selects the old data that needs to be pushed on top of the latest data during replication, after the server (2003 only) is rebooted out of Recovery Mode.
Restoration steps can be different depending on the computer's operating system and
configuration.
To restore System State and Active Directory using the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface,
perform the following steps:
Step 6
|
In the
Options
drop-down list, select one of the following:
|
|
•
|
Restore to original location
– This option restores the files to the application in their original location, and to original System State file locations.
|
Step 7
|
Under
Components
, select the checkboxes for the files you want to restore. To ensure a consistent environment after the restore, select all files.
|
It is not recommended to restore certain System State subcomponents individually (like
Certificate Services database, and COM+ Class Registration database) due to dependencies. For more information, see:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc785306%28WS.10%29.aspx
Step 8
|
Click
OK
. The Application Restoration Details window appears.
|
To start the restore process, click
Start
. To exit without restoring any files, click Cancel
.
The in-progress indicators become active for each step as it is executed, and the
Start Time
and Duration
values are updated.
Step 10
|
When the
Reboot Windows with Active Directory Repair Mode
step is reached, the restore process pauses and prompts you to select one of the following options:
|
|
•
|
Run MSConfig
– Click this button to continue with the reboot. The SonicWALL CDP Agent exits and must be restarted.
|
MSConfig is a utility that is configured by SonicWALL CDP to perform a diagnostic startup.
It can also be used to modify which programs run at startup, edit certain configuration files, and control Windows services.
|
•
|
Run Later
– Click this button to stop the restore process and return to the previous screen in the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface.
|
An authoritative restore is most commonly used to restore corrupt or deleted objects. For
example, a deleted user account can be recovered from an Active Directory backup that precedes the deletion of the user account. An authoritative restore should not be used to restore an entire domain controller, nor should it be used as part of a change-control infrastructure.
Proper delegation of administration and change enforcement will optimize data consistency,
integrity, and security.
MSDN Web links:
MSDN Engineering recommends the following as the most helpful to see what is happening:
Recovery of data from Microsoft SQL Server using SonicWALL CDP allows users to retrieve
Microsoft SQL Server revisions from an agent machine previously configured to backup that data. Microsoft SQL Server recovery can be made directly to the SQL database.
Restoring the database can be done in two ways. The database can be either restored to disk
or to application. When restoring the database to disk, the database is downloaded as a set of files from the SonicWALL CDP Appliance.
Restoring to application, on the other hand, applies the database directly to the same SQL
server.
If an SQL database system fails, the first step is to recover all databases and transaction log
files from the server. These databases contain the latest information, up to the point of failure. Next, the SQL system should be brought up on the same server or a different server. Having spare hardware will speed up database recovery.
Each recovered database should be run through a data consistency check (using “DBCC
CHECKDB”) because it is possible that these are corrupted databases and may have been the reason for failure. If the databases are corrupted, these could either be fixed, which normally includes data loss, or the latest backed up database (from CDP) could be used instead.
See the following sections:
To restore Microsoft SQL Server databases using the SonicWALL CDP Agent User Interface,
perform the following steps:
Step 6
|
In the
Options
drop-down list, select one of the following:
|
Step 7
|
Under
Components
, select the checkboxes for the databases you want to restore.
|
Step 8
|
Click
OK
. The Application Restoration Details window appears.
|
To start the restore process, click
Start
. To exit without restoring any files, click Cancel
.
The in-progress indicators become active for each step as it is executed, and the
Start Time
and Duration
values are updated.
More information can be found here:
SQL Forum on Disaster Recovery run by Microsoft:
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=744&SiteID=1
Handling Large Log Files:
http://mkruger.cfwebtools.com/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=CFEA536D-FC85-271F-691D1A974BA71B07
Actions that can lock the database and prevent the restore process include:
Revisions may not appear immediately or even for some time due to a number of reasons
including, but not limited to, large databases, single user mode databases, 24x7 databases, or other databases with high access frequency.
Beginning in SonicWALL CDP 6.1, the integration of local archiving to the CDP Agent user
interface enables an administrator to restore data from a Local Archive USB device using the Agent Local Archive File Browser
or the Administrator File Browser
.
See the following sections:
To restore a local archive using the Local Archive File Browser:
To restore a local archive from the Administrator File Browser:
You can access online help by clicking the
Help
tab in the Agent User Interface.
The Help window provides links to online help, the SonicWALL knowledge base, the Agent log
file, and Agent version information.
See the following sections:
To access the SonicWALL Knowledge Base for information about SonicWALL CDP, click the
SonicWALL CDP Support Knowledge Base
link. The Knowledge Base page opens in your browser.