File Backup Plan in Backup Agent (new backup format)

For now, the backup plans in the new backup format are available only on Backup Agent. The support for the new backup format in Management Console is coming soon

File Backup Plan Wizard is the most common plan type that contains selected files and folders as a backup source. If you intend to back up a whole media storage (i.e. selected disk), use an image-based backup plan instead

In the new backup format, the file backup plan configuration is always stored in a backup storage

This chapter covers the following topics:

Learn Backup Plan Wizard steps:

Create Backup Plan

To create a new file backup plan, click the Files icon in the horizontal menu bar.

Select Backup Storage

Select a storage account for the backup plan from the list of available backup storage.

Click Next.

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Plan Name

Name the backup plan.

Click Next.

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Advanced Options

Specify advanced options for the backup plan.

Back up NTFS permissions. Select this check box to include current NTFS permissions in the backup plan

To learn more about NTFS permissions, refer to the NTFS permissions article

Use fast NTFS scan. Select this check box to enable proprietary file scanning and search mechanism. This mechanism is based on a file tree generation which allows faster data reading and faster backup procedure

Note that the Force Using VSS option is mandatory for fast NTFS scanning and is selected automatically

Force using VSS. Select this check box to back up objects from a snapshot to avoid any access conflicts. This option is useful for forcible backup of files that are used by other processes at the moment of the backup plan run

To learn more about VSS, refer to the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) article

Consider the following restrictions which apply to VSS:

VSS cannot be used to back up network files, such as network shares and mapped network drives
VSS cannot make snapshots of data stored in FAT32-partitioned volumes.

Use system VSS provider. Select this check box in case you experience issues with a third-party VSS provider. Once the backup plan is run, the MSP360 Backup will use the system VSS provider forcibly.

EFS Encryption Options

Select the way to back up EFS-encrypted files. The two options are available:

Decrypt EFS-encrypted files. With this option selected, EFS-encrypted files are first decrypted and then backed up. This option is set by default
Keep EFS-encryption. With this option selected, EFS-encrypted files are backed up 'as is', as encrypted. Note that this option requires special attention since some issues decryption issues upon restore to a location other than the source computer may occur

Read more about EFS-ecnryption and how it works in MSP360 Managed Backup in the Backing Up EFS-encrypted Files chapter

Click Next.

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Backup Source

Specify the files/folders to back up for the backup plan.

Check Box Appearance	Description
	This folder with all subitems excluded. All new content will NOT be added
	This folder with all subitems included. All new content will be added
	Only selected items excluded. New content will NOT be added in excluded folders"
	Only selected items included. New content will be added in selected folders only

Click Next.

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Advanced Filter

Specify various criteria for files/folders to limit the backup size, if necessary.

The following options are available:

Back up all files in selected folders. Select this option to back up all files in folders, specified on the Backup Source step
Back up files of these types. Select this option to back up files of certain types. The file type is detected by file extension. In the field to the right, specify the required file extensions. Use a semicolon to separate extensions
Do not back up files of these types. Select this option to exclude files of certain types from the backup plan. The file type is detected by file extension. In the field to the right, specify file extensions to be excluded from the backup plan. Use a semicolon to separate extensions
Back up empty folders. Select this check box to include empty folders in the backup plan
Skip folders. In this field, specify folders to be excluded from the backup plan. Use a semicolon to separate folders
Back up files modified (days ago). Select this check box, if you want to back up files, modified on a specific day. In the field to the right, specify the number of days from the last modification
Back up files modified since. Select this check box if you want to include in the backup plan all files that have been modified after a point in time. In the fields to the right, specify the date and the time of file modification
Do not back up files larger than (MB). Select this check box to limit the size of files for the backup plan. In the field to the right, specify the maximum file size
Do not back up system and hidden files (selected by default). Select this check box to exclude files that have 'system' and/or 'hidden' attributes from the backup plan
'Do not back up files used by other processes at the moment of the backup plan run. Select this check box, if you want to exclude from the backup plan files that will be opened at the moment of the backup plan run
Do not back up On-Demand files (selected by default). Select this check box to exclude On-Demand files from the backup plan.

Click Next.

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Compression and Encryption Options

Specify compression and encryption options for the backup plan.

The following options are available:

Select Enable compression check box to compress backup source contents for optimal backup storage space usage
To protect your backup contents with encryption, select the Enable encryption check box. MSP360 (CloudBerry) Backup supports AES encryption of 128, 192 and 256 bit key length. Select the appropriate key length in the Algorithm drop-down menu
Specify the encryption password in the Password field, then confirm the password in the Confirm field. To display the password, select Display password check box

Note that the encryption password cannot begin and/or end with spaces

Note that the encryption password will NOT be stored in the backup plan configuration for security reasons. Keep this password in a safe place to be able to restore the backup contents afterward

Particular Options for Amazon S3 Storage

If your backup storage destination is Amazon S3, the following particular options are available on this Backup Wizard step.

Server-Side Encryption. Select this check box to enable encryption of your backup content on Amazon cloud storage.

If the Server-Side Encryption option is enabled, specify permissions a user is required to have to be able to access backup contents:

Use the Amazon S3 Service master key. Select this option for Amazon S3 decrypts data for anyone who is granted permission to access this backup content on the cloud
Use the Amazon Key Management Service master key. Select this option for Amazon S3 decrypts data for anyone who has the permissions to access this object in the cloud along with permissions to use a specified master key.

To learn more about the Amazon master key, refer to the What is AWS Key Management Service article.

Amazon S3 Storage Classes

If your backup storage destination is Amazon S3, select the S3 storage class for the backup plan:

Using different storage classes for different backup needs may optimize your storage costs.

Learn more about Amazon S3 storage classes here

Microsoft Azure Blob Storage

If your backup storage destination is Microsoft Azure, select the required Azure Blob Storage.

The following options are available:

Archive Blob Storage. This is a low-cost storage option for infrequently accessed data. As opposed to hot and cool storage tiers, retrieving data from an Archive Blob Storage may take up to several hours
Cool Blob Storage. The cool storage tier has lower storage costs and higher access costs compared to hot storage. This tier is intended for data that will remain in the cool tier for at least 30 days.

Note that this feature is only supported for General Purpose v2 Azure accounts. If you are using another kind of account, you need to upgrade your account to be able to use this feature

Be aware of the additional charges and increased blob access rates after your Azure account upgrade

To learn more about the difference between Azure storage tiers, refer to the Azure Blob Storage - Hot, cool, and archive storage tiers article at docs.microsoft.com.

Click Next.

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Backup Consistency Check

Specify if the full consistency check is required for this backup plan.

To learn more about consistency checks, refer to the Consistency Checks chapter

Click Next.

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Retention Policy, GFS Settings and Object Lock

Specify the general retention policy and GFS policy settings for the backup plan.

Note that the new backup format features purging by generations only, so retention policy settings became more simple but less flexible

The following options are available:

Do not purge. Select this option to keep all your backup runs
Keep backup for. Select this option to limit the period while backup contents are kept in the backup storage, then specify the period.

To apply the GFS retention policy for the backup plan, select the Enable GFS check box, then specify the GFS retention policy keeping periods (weekly, monthly, and yearly purge delays).

To learn more about GFS policy, refer to the GFS section

If your backup destination supports the Object Lock (Immutability) feature, you can enable it in this step. Select the Object Lock (Immutability) check box and confirm enabling this feature.

Use the Object Lock (Immutability) feature with caution. Read more about it in the Object Lock (Immutability) chapter

Click Next.

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Schedule

Specify the backup plan schedule options.

The following options are available:

If you intend to run the backup plan manually, select the No schedule option
If you intend the backup plan to run on a constant periodic basis, select the Recurring option. Once you select this option, specify the parameters of the recurrence of the backup plan:

Specify if the backup plan runs on a daily or monthly basis, then specify the recurrence parameters: weekdays and start time.

The Repeat Every option allows configuring a flexible schedule according to your requirements. The example on the drawing shows the incremental backup scheduled to execute every week on Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays starting from 7 April 2022 or monthly schedule on the first Sunday of the month with a 2 months gap starting from 7 April 2022. You can create a schedule with multiple days of the week and specify the desired period measured in weeks or months.

Note that this schedule is specified for incremental runs

To run the full backup and synthetic full (for supported backup storage) on a periodic basis, select the Execute full backup (synthetic full if possible) check box, then specify the recurrence parameters

The example on the drawing shows the full backup scheduled to execute on every first Sunday of the month starting from 10 April 2022 with 2 months gap.

Note that the start time for full or synthetic full backup run is inherited from incremental schedule settings to avoid simultaneous incremental and full backups

Note that the plan running controls depend on the schedule settings. You can force full backup or synthetic full backup (if your backup storage provider supports this type). So, if a full backup schedule is specified, the plan running controls on the Backup Plans tab are available.

If no full backup schedule is specified, Force full backup or Force Synthetic backup options are unavailable

To stop the backup plan in case if it continues suspiciously long, select Stop the plan if it runs for check box, then specify the backup plan maximum duration
To run the backup plan after the computer is on in case the backup plan run has been missed, select Run missed scheduled backup immediately when computer starts up check box.

Click Next.

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Pre / Post Actions

As of from Management Console 5.0, pre- or post- actions for Backup Agent can be restricted by provider. To learn more about the pre-/post action settings, refer to the Global Agent Options and Companies chapters

Customize actions before and/or after the backup plan run.

Custom Scripts

You can execute custom scripts before or after running the backup plan.

To specify the script execution before the backup plan starts, select the Pre-backup action check box, then specify the path to the script in the field below. To open a standard Windows dialog box, click the ... button
Select the pre-backup script execution options:
- Exit backup plan if pre-backup action failed. Select this option to cancel the backup plan in case the specified script fails
- Continue backup plan if pre-backup action failed. Select this option to run the backup plan regardless of the specified script execution results
To specify the script execution after the backup plan terminates, select the Post-backup action check box, then specify the path to the script in the field below. To open a standard Windows dialog box, click the ... button
Select the post-backup script execution options:
- Execute post-backup action only if backup plan has been successfully completed. Select this option to execute the post-backup script only in case of a backup plan success
- Execute post-backup action regardless of the backup result. Select this option to execute the post-backup script in any case

Note that an absolute path to a script is required, i.e. if you specify the path to a script, it should be as follows:

c:\scripts\prebackup-script.bat

In case the absolute path to a script file is not specified, the default directory for script is "C:\Windows\System32"

The following script formats are supported: EXE, COM, BAT, CMD, or PIF

Mind that MSP360 (CloudBerry) Backup supports EXE files have several restrictions: EXE files must not use GUI and must close automatically upon termination.

For example, the following script will not succeed:

cmd.exe /F:ON

In this case, this command must be used with the /C parameter, as shown below:

cmd.exe /F:ON /C

The same restriction applies to applications executed by PowerShell scripts:

PowerShell.exe Start-Process cmd.exe exit

It is highly recommended to perform a test run for the created backup plan to ensure that Backup Agent properly executes specified scripts

Backup Plan Chains

In case you need to run another backup or restore plan once the backup plan is finished, use the Backup Chain feature. To create a backup chain, select the Backup chain check box, then select a backup or restore plan to be chained.

Execute the specified backup plan only if backup plan has been successfully completed. Select this option to execute the chained backup plan only in case of a backup plan success
Execute the specified backup plan regardless of the backup result. Select this option to execute the chained backup plan in any case
In case you chained a backup plan, you can enable the full backup for it regardless of the contents in the backup storage. To do this, select the Force full backup for the chained plan.

Click Next.

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Summary

Review the configuration of the backup plan.

Click Next to proceed to the last wizard page.

Select the Run backup now check box to execute the backup plan immediately.

If you want to run the backup plan later, click Finish.

Edit a Backup Plan

To edit the backup plan, proceed as follows:

Switch to the Backup Plans tab.
Open the plan to edit, expand it, then click Edit.
Follow the backup wizard steps to save the backup plan configuration.

Delete a Backup Plan

To delete the backup plan, proceed as follows:

Switch to the Backup Plans tab.
Open the plan to delete, expand it, then click Delete.
Click Yes to confirm the backup plan deletion.

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