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Dell NetWorker 19.9 Administration Guide

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Critical volumes

This topic describes critical volumes and the associated management tools.

NetWorker considers a volume as critical when it contains files for an installed Windows service. NetWorker also considers the following volumes as critical and will include the volumes in a DISASTER_RECOVERY:\ backup:

  • A non-critical volume that has a critical volume mounted on it, or a non-critical volume that serves as a parent to a critical volume.
  • All volumes on a dynamic disk when one of the volumes critical. If one disk in a dynamic disk pack is critical, then NetWorker must treat all disks in that pack as critical. This can substantially increase the number of disks that NetWorker includes in the BMR backup. It is recommended that you do not install services on a dynamic disk.
NOTE:By default, the Windows 2012 System Writer does not report Win32 Service Files as a part of systems components. As a result, the volumes that contain Win32 Service Files are not considered critical and the DISASTER_RECOVERY:\ save set will not include a volume that contains files for an installed service. To configure the Windows 2012 server to report Win32 Service Files as a part of system components, set the ReportWin32ServicesNonSystemState registry sub key to 0. Microsoft KB article 2792088 provides more information.

A Windows BMR backup does not back up the following files on a critical volume:

  • Files listed in the FilesNotToBackup registry key.
  • Files excluded by system writers.
  • Files that an application VSS writer backs up. For example, Exchange databases. Use NetWorker Module for Microsoft Applications (NMM) to backup these files.

Excluded critical volumes during a Windows BMR backup

A NetWorker Windows BMR backup excludes critical volumes based on the operating system, disk types, configuration and installation of your computer.

Install applications with third-party services on the system disk, or a disk that already has other services installed. To identify the disks that contain third-party services, use the utility, list writers detailed command.

NetWorker excludes a volume from a backup when one of the following Windows application service is installed on the host:

  • Storage Spaces volume
  • Cluster volume
  • Cluster Shared Volume
    NOTE:To ensure that you can recover all required files, perform a file system backup of any excluded disk.

Displaying a list of the critical volumes

To view a list of the critical volumes for a NetWorker client, type the NetWorker command save -o VSS:LCV=yes from the command line on the client host.

For example:

NetWorker_install_path\bin>save -o VSS:LCV=yes

Output similar to the following appears:

The following volumes are determined as critical by the system 
state writers:
  C:\ (disk num 0)
  i:\mount\ (disk num 7)
  The following volumes are critical because they are parents for 
one or more mounted critical volumes:
  i:\ (disk num 2)
  The following volumes are critical because they are in the 
same dynamic disk pack with one or more critical volumes:
  H:\ (disk num 4,5)
  i:\ (disk num 2)

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