Local and Network drives for System Protection

Once you have created a backup job, you can modify its settings using the Manage screen's Edit option. This allows you to change selections that were made when the job was created. There are also options that are not available when you create a backup job.

To modify a backup job:

1. Select BackupAssist's Backup tab
2. Select Manage Backup Jobs
3. Select the backup job that you want to change.
4. Select Edit from the top menu
5. Select the part of the job you want to change from the list on the left
6. Once you have made the required changes, select Apply changes

There are 8 common options in the list, similar to the steps completed during the back job creation. There is also a option specific to each backup type.

When backing up to a NAS device you need to specify both the server name of the NAS, as well as the backup path where the backup files should be stored.

Input the NAS server name or IP address directly in the Server name field.

Specify the backup path either by typing it directly into the Path on server field or by browsing for it.

If the NAS server requires authentication with a specific username and password that is not the backup user identity, you can set it here. You may need to check the security settings on your NAS device to determine which users have full read/write access to the backup path you specified on the NAS device.

Input username for the NAS user in the Username field.

Input the password for the NAS user in the Password field.

Specifying the iSCSI server details and backup path

When backing up to an iSCSI target you must specify both the port (server name) and the target. Depending on the type of backup being performed you may also set the path where the backup files will be stored.

1. Enter the iSCSI portal name or IP address directly into the Portal field
2. Click Search to fetch a list of targets available on the specified portal
3. Select the desired target from the list of targets shown
4. Optionally set the Path if available
5. Select whether to attempt to disconnect from the target at the completion of each process
6. Configure CHAP Authentication. If the iSCSI target requires authentication with a specific CHAP username and secret, you may set it here:
1. Enter the CHAP Username
2. Enter the CHAP Secret

Testing the iSCSI connection

Before attempting to perform a backup to an iSCSI target, you must test the connection and if required, initialize the target. For targets smaller than 2TB initialization will be performed automatically if required. If BackupAssist determines that the target requires initialization and the target capacity is greater than 2TB, the user will be prompted to initialize the target utilizing either only the first 2TB (which is compatible with most Operating Systems), or utilizing the full capacity which may be compatible with only relatively new Operating Systems which support large capacity drives.

Specify the backup drive and path either by typing it directly in the Backup directory field or by browsing for it. The Check destination button allows you to check the backup destination for possible problems. After the checks have been completed, the results can be viewed by selecting the Report link.

A Data container is an image file that backups can be stored in. It is selected as a Destination media option during the creation of a backup job. It can be given a set size or allowed to use all available space on the backup destination.

Path on drive

This option is available if you select Local Hard drive as your backup destination. You can select where the Data container will be created, using the Path on drive field.

Container size

The Data container's size setting can only be modified if there is no Data container. For example, if the backup job has not yet been run (therefore the container has not been created), or if the Data container has been manually deleted.

The size setting for the Data container can be changed using the up and down arrows in the Container size (GB): box.

The Use all available space tick box can be used instead of manually setting the size. By selecting this option, all available space on the destination device will be used by the Data container. Up to 2TB for Windows Server 2008R1/R2 and up to 64TB for Windows Server 2012R1/R2.

Check destination

Selecting Check destination will create and test-mount the Data container. The results of the test can be viewed by selecting the Report link.

To learn more, see Data Container guide

Space management is handled by Windows Server Backup

• By default, Use all available space for backup history is selected. This is the recommended setting.
• If you are experiencing problems with your backup history, you can select Manually manage space for backup history.

If you are on a Windows Server, you will also have a link to Launch Shadow Storage Manager. Selecting this will launch the Windows Server Shadow Copies manager.

Warning: This is a Windows Server application. It is not a part of BackupAssist and is not supported by BackupAssist. Shadow Storage Manager should only be used by someone experience with advanced Windows storage settings.

The media usage report is part of the overall report generated for each backup. It outlines how much disk space has been used by backups on the backup destination and how much free space is available using totals and percentages.

Depending on the destination you are backing up to as well as the number of backup sets that are present, the media usage report can take several minutes to generate.

The Warn when backups exceed [90%] of the total capacity of the destination setting allows you to set a threshold that will add an additional condition to the backup report if the backup usage goes over that value.

This option is available for network location backups. Select the Delete previous backup option to delete the previous backup before starting a new one. This may resolve errors received when overwriting old backups. Selecting this option will make the backups slower.