User manual

98 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2016
VSS will use any available software-based provider. If one is not found, VSS will try to use the
Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider, and Acronis VSS Provider in turn.
 Software - Acronis VSS Provider
VSS will use Acronis VSS Provider.
 Software - System provider (selected by default)
VSS will use the Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider. We recommend choosing the system
provider when backing up application servers (Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server,
Microsoft SharePoint, or Active Directory).
 Software - A software provider
VSS will use any available software-based provider that supports the source volume.
 Hardware - Select automatically
VSS will use the hardware-based provider that supports the source volume.
If a snapshot cannot be taken by using any of the specified providers, Acronis Backup will take a
snapshot by using its own Snapshot Manager driver (snapman.sys).
Note: Using a hardware snapshot provider may require administrative privileges.
Do not use VSS
If you select Do not use VSS, Acronis Backup will take a snapshot by using its own Snapshot Manager
driver.
Choose Do not use VSS if your database is incompatible with VSS. Snapshots are taken faster, but
data consistency of the applications whose transactions are not completed at the time of taking a
snapshot cannot be guaranteed. You may use Pre/Post data capture commands (p. 93) to ensure that
the data is being backed up in a consistent state. For instance, specify pre-data capture commands
that will suspend the database and flush all caches to ensure that all transactions are completed; and
specify post-data capture commands that will resume the database operations after the snapshot is
taken.
About volume shadow copy writers
Before backing up the data of VSS-aware applications, make sure that the volume shadow copy
writers for those applications are turned on by examining the list of writers that are present in the
operating system. To view this list, run the following command:
vssadmin list writers
Note: In Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, the writer for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 is
turned off by default. For instructions on how to turn it on, see the following Microsoft knowledge base article
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/838183/.
Enabling VSS Full backup
The preset is: Disabled.
This option can be useful when you protect Microsoft Exchange Server with a disk-level backup (p.
193).
If enabled, logs of Microsoft Exchange Server and of other VSS-aware applications (except for
Microsoft SQL Server) will be truncated after each successful full, incremental or differential backup.
Leave this option disabled in the following cases: