Synology DVA3219 v19 Administrator's Guide

1

Administrator's Guide for

Active Backup for Business File Servers

Based on Active Backup for Business 2.2.0

Table of Contents

Introduction 01

Active Backup for Business

Technical Overview 05

Application-aware backup

Forever-incremental backup

Data deduplication

Native hypervisor

Backup Configuration 08

File Server Backup

Create a backup task

Manage Backup Tasks

Restoration Guide 13

Recovery options

Restore File Server Data

Best Practices 15

Maintain remote backup copies and relink

Learn more 17

Related articles

Software specs

Other resources

01

Introduction

Active Backup for Business

Active Backup for Business (ABB) is a centrally managed, comprehensive office backup solution

for Synology NAS.

ABB allows administrators to create different backup templates and automatically apply them

to groups of Windows and Linux PCs, servers, and file servers, as well as virtual machines

running on Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere platforms.

Advanced features of ABB include: forever incremental backup, agentless backup, Instant

Restore physical and virtual devices to virtual machines, and a powerful deduplication

mechanism that helps cut back on storage use. These features come with each installation of

ABB, which is free for Synology NAS users.

ABB also offers users a wide range of backup options and restoration tools, as well as a

number of optional technical and safety features.

Users who wish to make full use of the possibilities in ABB will benefit from the information in

this Administrators Guide.

Requirements

Full specifications for Active Backup for Business can be found here.

NAS System requirements

Item Requirements

Operating system

DSM 7.0 and above (ABB 2.2.0 and above)

DSM 6.2 and above (ABB 2.1.0 and above)

DSM 6.1.7 and above (ABB 2.0.4 and above)

CPU architecture 64-bit x86 (x64)

System memory 4 GB RAM recommended for ideal backup performance

File system Btrfs

Introduction

02

Introduction

Supported systems

Backup type System / version

PC Windows 10 Creators Update (all editions), Windows 10 (all editions), Windows 8.1 (all editions), Windows 7 SP1 (all editions)

Physical Server

Windows: Windows 10 Creators Update (all editions), Windows 10 (all editions), Windows 8.1 (all editions), Windows 7 SP1 (all editions), Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2

Linux: CentOS (versions 6.10, 7.8, and 8.1), RHEL (versions 6.10, 7.8, and 8.1), Ubuntu (versions 16.04, 18.04, and 20.04), Fedora (versions 30, 31, and 32), Debian (versions 8.0 to 10)

Virtual Machine

VMware free ESXi, VMware vSphere Essentials, VMware vSphere Essentials Plus, VMware vSphere Standard, VMware vSphere Advanced, VMware vSphere Enterprise, VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus (versions 5.0, 5.1, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 6.7, and 7.0); Windows Server Hyper-V 2019, Windows Server Hyper-V 2016

File Server SMB protocol; rsync 3.0 and above

For a full list of requirements for backups and restorations, refer to the Requirements and Limitations section of the Active Backup for Business Help page.

Backup types

The following sections provide information on the types of backups that you can perform

using ABB.

PC Backups Back up full Windows devices with features that help keep workstations, laptops, and

personal devices protected, including a Backup by event option that backs up computers

when users lock their screen, sign out, or start up their device.

Create recovery media for bare-metal restorations or restore individual files and folders via

the Active Backup for Business Portal.

Backup restorations can only be performed by the admin account, users belonging to the

administrators group, or the account owner that is logged into Active Backup for Business Agent. Privileges to perform restorations are not configurable.

Active Backup for Business Agent can perform Application-aware backup on Windows

PCs with the help of Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).

03

Introduction

Physical Server Backups Back up Windows and Linux devices with scheduled and manual backup options.

Create recovery media for bare-metal restorations, restore individual files and folders using

the Active Backup for Business Portal, or instantly restore your physical device to a virtual

machine in Synology Virtual Machine Manager, Hyper-V, or VMware.

Privileges to perform restorations can be assigned by the admin account (if enabled), as well

as by all other DSM users or groups.

Active Backup for Business Agent can perform Application-aware backup on Windows

servers with the help of Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).

File Server Backups Back up files and folders from Windows and Linux devices using SMB and rsync file transfer

protocols.

Select a backup mode as needed:

Multi-versioned: Each time the task runs, a new version with the changes made on the

source will be copied entirely to a new folder on the destination

Mirroring: Each time the task runs, any changes made in the source folder will be

copied to the destination and overwrite the existing file, making the destination folder a

complete mirror-copy of the source.

Incremental: Each time the task runs, newly added and modified source files will be

copied to the destination, overwriting the previous version of the file.

Set up and fully control backups from one central console.

No need to install a backup agent or enter sensitive DSM login details on source devices.

Virtual Machine Backups Safely back up virtual machines directly from VMware and Hyper-V.

Enable Application-aware backup on Virtual Machines to ensure data consistency with the

help of Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).

Fully restore your entire virtual machines to VMware or Hyper-V.

Use Instant Restore to restore your virtual machine to Synologys native hypervisor,

Synology Virtual Machine Manager, as well as directly to VMware or Hyper-V.

Perform a Guest OS Files (Windows / Linux) Restore via Active Backup for Business Portal to restore specific files on your virtual machine instead of an entire virtual machine.

04

Introduction

Backup tools

Active Backup for Business Agent

Active Backup for Business Agent must be installed on the client device before backing

up your data in order to carry out backup tasks and store the back up data. Administrative

privileges are required to install, update, or uninstall Synology Active Backup for Business

Agent.

This tool is available for download in the Download Center. Refer to this article for

installation details and other information.

Active Backup for Business Portal

The Active Backup for Business Portal is the affiliated restore portal dedicated to restoration

use. This portal allows administrators and end-users appointed by an administrator to access,

browse, download, and restore backed-up data.

This tool is automatically installed during the installation of Active Backup for Business. Refer

to this article to learn more about how to navigate the portal, perform restores, and other

settings.

Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator

Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator is a desktop tool that can

be used with Active Backup for Business. This tool is designed for administrators to create

recovery media for bare-metal or volume-level restores. Administrators can use this tool if the

device intended to create the recovery media is running a 64-bit version of Windows and has

the same language and region settings, as well as the same Windows versions and drivers as

the device intended to be restored.

Follow the instructions in the Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Guide to learn

how to create recovery media for your device.

05

Technical Overview

Application-aware backup

Enabling application-aware backup helps to ensure that your application data is consistent.

Backups with application-aware backup enabled make it easier for application data to be

restored in the future by creating a snapshot of the application data when the backup is

performed.

This feature uses VMware Tools and Microsofts Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to

make sure that the backed up data of virtual machines remain consistent and to prevent data

inconsistencies from occurring when backing up actively used data.

Forever-incremental backup

Synology recommends that users enable Forever-incremental backup to maximize the

number of available backup versions and minimize the storage used for backup retention.

When this policy is enabled, a full backup is only executed the first time that a task is

performed. After that point, Active Backup for Business tracks changes and backs up only

modified or new data.

Forever-incremental backup significantly reduces the amount of data transferred for each

backup, as well as the amount of duplicated data stored to your backup destinations.This

saves time and bandwidth on the source device. ABB relies on technologies native to Microsoft

Windows, Microsoft Hyper-V, and VMware vSphere to perform incremental backup.

Full backup (bandwidth and storage intensive) is available if you cannot or do not wish to

enable change-tracking technologies, or if you prefer to store full sets of data each time a

backup is performed.

To enable Forever-incremental backup, you must first enable the following, depending on

what type of device you are using:

For PC's or physical servers: Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)

For VMware virtual machines: vSphere Changed Block Tracking (CBT)

For Hyper-V virtual machines: Hyper-V Resilient Change Tracking (RCT)

Technical Overview

06

Technical Overview

Personal computer and physical server

The CBT technology adopted in Active Backup for Business uses VSS to take snapshots for

devices and identify changed blocks between snapshots. Make sure that Microsoft Volume

Shadow Copy Service (VSS) on each protected device has been turned on to ensure that CBT is

functioning properly. After the first full backup, CBT technology allows each device to transfer

only changed blocks to your NAS, helping save bandwidth and speeding up the backup

process.

Virtual machine

Changed Block Tracking (CBT) and Resilient Change Tracking (RCT) are VMware vSphere's

and Microsoft Hyper-V's native technology that track the blocks of a virtual machine disk that

have been changed since a certain point in time. With VMware vSphere CBT and Microsoft

Hyper-V RCT enabled, the amount of data transferred after the first full backup will be greatly

reduced, speeding up the backup process.

To enable CBT for a virtual machine, refer to the instructions this article.

Data deduplication

Active Backup for Business detects and removes any data that are identical between different

files, versions, or devices when storing backups to Synology NAS. Built-in deduplication

technology can help to cut back on storage use, especially when the devices share similar

operating systems, software applications, or files.

To best benefit from ABB deduplication technology, you should back up similar computers or

virtual machines to the same Active Backup for Business host.

Native hypervisor

The integration of ABB with Synologys native hypervisor, Synology Virtual Machine Manager (VMM), powers two distinctive features of Active Backup for Business that make for a more

efficient recovery after a server crash: Backup Verification and Instant Restore to virtual

machines for physical or virtual servers.

If you want to use Backup Verification or Instant Restore, you must be using the Physical Server or Virtual Machine backup functionality in ABB. To switch devices from PC backup to

Physical Server or Virtual Machine backup mode in ABB, go to PC, select a device, and then

click More > Change device type.

07

Technical Overview

Backup Verification

If Backup Verification is enabled, a scheduled trial run of the restoration will be performed

in VMM for a configured number of seconds. This process will be recorded into a video for

your reference, allowing you to confirm that the backup can be successfully restored in case of

sudden failure.

Instant Restore

Instant Restore allows users to instantly run servers and virtual machines backed up with

ABB as virtual machines in Synology VMM. Users can use this feature to implement rapid

recoveries while continuing to use services in case of system crashes.

08

Backup Configuration

The following sections provide instructions on adding file servers, creating and executing new

backup tasks, and configuring essential options and settings.

File Server Backup

Add a file server

Before creating a file server backup task, you must connect to a file server, which can be done

by following the instructions below.

1. In DSM, go to Active Backup for Business > File Server > File Servers and click Add Server.

2. Follow the instructions in the wizard and enter the information as required to finish adding

your server.

Notes:

Make sure that My Network Places is enabled on the SMB server.

Make sure that the permission settings are properly configured. Refer to this article for more information on the required permissions for file server.

Backup Configuration

09

Backup Configuration

Create a backup task

In Active Backup for Business, go to File Server > File Servers, select the file server that you

want to back up, and click Create Task.

Follow the steps in the wizard to select your backup mode, select the folders you want to

transfer, and select a retention policy.

Select your backup mode

Users can select:

Multi-versioned: Each time the task runs, a new version with the changes made on the

source will be copied entirely to a new folder on the destination

Mirroring: Each time the task runs, any changes made in the source folder will be copied

to the destination and overwrite the existing file, making the destination folder a complete

mirror-copy of the source.

Incremental: Each time the task runs, newly added and modified source files will be copied

to the destination, overwriting the previous version of the file.

Notes:

For Linux sources, block transfers can be configured at a later stage in the setup.

Refer to the table below to learn more about final backup file variations for each backup

mode.

10

Backup Configuration

Task settings

Indicate what you want to transfer using the following states:

Any subordinate folders or files in this folder will not be backed up.

All subordinate folders and files in this folder will be backed up.

Only selected subordinate folders and files in this folder will be backed up.

The files in this folder along with selected subordinate folders will be backed up.

If you are configuring rsync backup, you will have the option to configure Bandwidth as well

as enable compression and block transfer.

If you selected Multi-versioned as your backup mode, you will have the option to set up a

Retention Policy to manage backup versions by automatically deleting unwanted versions to

potentially free up storage space.

Select a retention policy

Users can choose to store all versions of their backup, limit the number of stored versions, or

keep only certain versions according to a schedule.

You can choose to set rules for keeping backup versions, such as to retain the latest version

of each day, week, month, or year. You can edit the retention policy at Active Backup for Business > File Server > Task List > select the task > Edit > Retention > Advanced retention policy > Set Rules.

Selecting the Keep only the latest versions option will store a set number of versions

regardless of the time intervals set. If more than one backup version exists within a certain

time range, only the latest one will be kept. For example, if you set a policy as Keep the latest version of the day for 1 day for a backup task that will run every hour, only the version

backed up at 23:00 will be kept.

A version can meet more than one retention rule at a time. For example, a version can be

retained by the weekly retention rule and daily retention rule at the same time. Advanced

retention policy employs the GFS, or Grandfather-Father-Son retention mechanism.

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Backup Configuration

Notes:

Files will not be backed up by Active Backup for Business under the following circumstances:

The file/folder path is longer than 4096 characters.

The file/folder name is longer than 255 characters, is . or .. , or contains @ActiveBackup or target.db.

The file/folder is within an encrypted shared folder and has a name that exceeds 135 characters.

SMB backup does not support Microsoft accounts, and does not back up junction points.

SMB backup supports Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to ensure data consistency. Windows VSS is supported on Windows Server 2012 and above. By enabling VSS on the Windows server, Active Backup for Business can create a volume shadow copy of VSS-aware server applications that store data on remote SMB file shares.

Administrative shared folders (E.g. C$, D$) do not support Windows VSS by default.

Authentication by SSH key will require an SSH key. Supported key types include RSA2, DSA, ECDSA, and ED25519. RSA1 and SSH keys with a passphrase are not supported.

Apply settings

After configuring the backup settings, a backup summary will be displayed. Once you have

confirmed your settings, do the following to finalize your backup:

1. Click Done and a pop-up window will appear.

2. Click Yes if you would like to run the backup immediately. If you want to run the task

afterwards, go to the Task List, select the task you have just created, and click Back up.

12

Backup Configuration

Manage Backup Tasks

In Active Backup for Business > File Server > Task List, you can see a list of all of the backup

tasks. You can also manage them with the actions at the top of the window.

Edit or delete backup tasks

By selecting the backup task and clicking Edit, you can modify the task information, adjust

the backup source and file filter settings, and set the backup schedule. If you selected Multi- versioned as your backup mode, you can also edit backup retention settings.

To delete backup tasks, select the backup task and click Delete. Doing this will remove the

backup tasks and its settings, but will not remove your backed up data.

Details

To view information on the Status and Logs for your task, such as the source, execution time,

duration, and log time of the backups, and more, select your task and click Details.

Versions

To view information about the backed up versions, such as the status and time of creation,

select your task and click Version. You can also click the folder icon to browse your backed-up

data.

13

Restoration Guide

Recovery options

Granular (file or folder-level) restore: Choose a backup version, select files or folders for

recovery in the Active Backup for Business Portal and automatically restore them to their

original location, or download the data to a different device or location. You can also assign

end users restore or download permissions via Control Panel in DSM.

Restore File Server Data

File Server backup supports granular restore (file-level) via Active Backup for Business Portal to

restore backed up data.

1. In Active Backup for Business > File Server, select the task and click Open Restore Portal.

2. Under View role at the top of the page, select a user with the appropriate restoration

privileges.

3. Under Task, confirm the source device to which or from which you want to restore files.

4. Select the folders or files that you want to restore.

5. Use the slider at the bottom of the page to select a backup version from which you wish to

restore folders or files, then click through the folder structure in the file explorer to select

the directory or file.

6. Choose if you want to Restore or Download the data. If you select Restore, your backup

agent will download the files or folders and restore them to the specified location on your

device. You can also choose whether you want files with the same name to be skipped

during the restoration by ticking the related checkbox. If you select Download, the selected

files will be downloaded via your browser to your chosen download location.

Restoration Guide

14

Restoration Guide

You can view the progress of the restoration by clicking the Restore Task icon in the upper

right-hand corner.

Notes:

To learn how to back up and restore a Microsoft SQL or Exchange server specifically, refer to the following tutorials:

For Microsoft SQL servers

For Microsoft Exchange servers

15

Best Practices

The following sections provide recommendations for how you can protect your backup data

against loss, ensure backup task continuity, and deploy our backup agent to many devices at

once while keeping your Synology NAS and DSM secure.

Maintain remote backup copies and relink

Active Backup for Business safely stores backup data from all of your devices on your Synology

NAS. However, issues that occur on one device can affect a whole infrastructure.

Natural disaster, theft, or network unavailability can prevent you from retrieving your data or

slow down the recovery process. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you keep remote

copies of all of your backups on a different device and in a different location.

It is also important to always maintain three copies of all of your data (the original copy, a

backup, and a copy of that backup in a different location). This is also referred to as the 3-2-1

backup strategy. Synology NAS includes software that allows you to execute this strategy.

Create remote copies

The following two DSM applications can be used to copy your Active Backup for Business data

and configurations from Synology NAS to other devices, or to the public cloud.

Snapshot Replication: This option is recommended if you have access to a secondary

Synology NAS. You can replicate your ABB data and settings to another Synology NAS and

quickly restart all of your ABB tasks on that device directly from the replica.

Hyper Backup: This option allows you to back up your ABB data and settings to more

locations, including portable drives, file servers, and public cloud storage. However, recovery

requires you to first restore the backup to a functioning Synology NAS before relinking and

restarting ABB tasks.

Best Practices

16

Best Practices

Relink

After creating a replication or backup task, it is important to make sure that you know how to

successfully restore or relink your existing Active Backup for Business tasks and backup data,

whether they exist on a secondary NAS, in public clouds, or other storage media.

This tutorial provides detailed instructions on how to back up and relink your Active Backup

for Business data using Snapshot Replication and Hyper Backup. To do this, make sure

that your Synology NAS has 64-bit processors, is running DSM 6.1.7 or above, is running

Active Backup for Business 2.0.4 or above, and have the necessary packages installed on

your Synology NAS. See the Environment section in the tutorial for more details.

17

Learn more

Related articles

Frequently asked questions about Active Backup for Business

How do I select a suitable NAS for running Active Backup for Business?

How do I back up individual files/folders on Windows PC and File Server using Active Backup for Business?

How to create backup tasks with compression or encryption settings for file servers

How many devices can I back up concurrently with Active Backup for Business?

Software specs

Refer to the Active Backup for Business software specifications to learn more about the

packages features, components, and limitations.

Other resources

For more step-by-step tutorials and visual information, feel free to also check out Synologys YouTube channel. There, you can find related videos by searching for Active Backup for

Business.

You can also find admin guides, brochures, technical specifications, user guides, whitepapers

and more for Active Backup for Business in Synology Documentation.

Learn more

18

Learn more

synology.com

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