BackupAssist
Encyclopedia
BackupAssist is a backup software
product created for use with the Microsoft Windows
environments. Developed by Cortex I.T Labs, it is aimed primarily at the small to medium business market and provides protection for Windows Server
, Hyper-V
, Active Directory
, Microsoft Exchange
and Microsoft SQL Server
.
The main distinguishing feature of BackupAssist is that it integrates with existing backup tools that are present in the Windows operating system (such as Wbadmin
, Rsync
, Ntbackup
, ZIP (file format)
and exmerge).
When BackupAssist was initially released in 2002, a basic website was created to help support the software. Over the next few years, extra features were implemented that allowed users to choose from a variety of backup destinations such as tape drives, NAS, REV drives, external hard drives and CD/DVDs. Add-ons for Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server mailboxes were introduced in 2006.
By 2007, a totally rewritten version of the software was released with a new architecture based around “Backup Engine Independence”.
In February 2008, a solution for Windows Server 2008 was released, featuring drive imaging capabilities.
When version 5 was released in October 2008, BackupAssist enabled people to create copies of their data on their Local Area Network (LAN) and on the Internet. With multiple copies of data stored in different locations, users of BackupAssist have a better chance when recovering from computer, Office, Network and Regional disaster. For example:
1) File Replication Engine with VSS Snaphots mirrors a second copy of their working folders from their server to anywhere on their LAN. Only a fraction of the space is required at the new location because BackupAssist uses the Single Instance Store.
2) For people who are interested to keep a copy of their data on the Internet, use BackupAssist for Rsync.
For system administrators managing a dozen or more servers, use the Centralized Monitoring Console to reduce backup management to less than an hour a week. Receive all backup results in one email, monitor results from anywhere around the world, drill down to investigate individual failed backups and analyze monthly backup statistics (success, failures, data growth,etc). The Centralized Monitoring Console is "Cloud" hosted solution that processes all the backup reports and produces meaningful data for better management.
Also in February 2009, BackupAssist released a solution for Exchange 2007 backups on Windows Server 2008. This solution overcomes the limitation in the Windows Server Backup application (wbadmin
) on Windows Server 2008 that does not allow for live streaming backups of Exchange 2007.
, Ntbackup
, ZIP (file format)
, Exmerge and Stsadm.
Backup software
Backup software are computer programs used to perform backup; they create supplementary exact copies of files, databases or entire computers. These programs may later use the supplementary copies to restore the original contents in the event of data loss....
product created for use with the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
environments. Developed by Cortex I.T Labs, it is aimed primarily at the small to medium business market and provides protection for Windows Server
Windows Server
Windows Server is a brand name for a group of server operating systems released by Microsoft Corporation. All are part of Microsoft Servers.- Members :This brand includes the following software:* Windows 2000 Server* Windows Server 2003...
, Hyper-V
Hyper-V
Microsoft Hyper-V, codenamed Viridian and formerly known as Windows Server Virtualization, is a hypervisor-based virtualization system for x86-64 systems. A beta version of Hyper-V was shipped with certain x86-64 editions of Windows Server 2008, and the finalized version was released on June 26,...
, Active Directory
Active Directory
Active Directory is a directory service created by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems. Server computers on which Active Directory is running are called domain controllers....
, Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
and Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
.
The main distinguishing feature of BackupAssist is that it integrates with existing backup tools that are present in the Windows operating system (such as Wbadmin
Wbadmin
WBAdmin is a command-line utility built into Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The command is used to perform backups and restores of operating systems, drive volumes, files, folders, and applications from a command-line interface.WBAdmin replaces the...
, Rsync
Rsync
rsync is a software application and network protocol for Unix-like and Windows systems which synchronizes files and directories from one location to another while minimizing data transfer using delta encoding when appropriate. An important feature of rsync not found in most similar...
, Ntbackup
NTBackup
NTBackup is the built-in backup application introduced in Windows NT around 1997 and part of all subsequent versions up to and including Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It uses a proprietary backup format to back up files. Files can be backed up to tape, ZIP drives, floppy...
, ZIP (file format)
ZIP (file format)
Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is...
and exmerge).
Major Releases
- Version 6.2.2 - 28 Apr 2011 - Introduced fixes and Italian language support.
- Version 6.1 - 21 Oct 2010 - Added SBS2008 Report Integration feature.
- Version 6 - 9 Sep 2010 - VSS application and System State backup added. Disk Imaging support for Server 2008 R2. Support for Exchange Server 2010 and SQL Server 2008 R2.
- Version 5.4 - 31 Dec 2009 - Added support for one-pass Hyper-VHyper-VMicrosoft Hyper-V, codenamed Viridian and formerly known as Windows Server Virtualization, is a hypervisor-based virtualization system for x86-64 systems. A beta version of Hyper-V was shipped with certain x86-64 editions of Windows Server 2008, and the finalized version was released on June 26,...
backup. Granular restore of VM and files added. - Version 5.3 - 23 Sept 2009 - ZIP (file format)ZIP (file format)Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is...
Multi-threading Engine added. Is Zip64 compliant, VSS Aware, AES 256 encryption and supports NTFS Stream greater than 64Kb. - Version 5.1 - 15 Dec 2008 - RsyncRsyncrsync is a software application and network protocol for Unix-like and Windows systems which synchronizes files and directories from one location to another while minimizing data transfer using delta encoding when appropriate. An important feature of rsync not found in most similar...
Internet Backup Engine added - Version 5 – Oct 13 2008 – File Replication Engine added. Disk Imaging support for Server 2008 (WbadminWbadminWBAdmin is a command-line utility built into Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The command is used to perform backups and restores of operating systems, drive volumes, files, folders, and applications from a command-line interface.WBAdmin replaces the...
). - Version 4 – May 8, 2007 – application rewritten in .NET Framework, 64 bit OS support
- Version 3.5 – November 8, 2006 – Exchange mailbox backups
- Version 3 – July 16, 2004 – SQL Server backups
- Version 2 – October 24, 2003
- Version 1 – August 28, 2002
History
BackupAssist started as a small project designed to help a system administrator use NTBackup on Windows NT and 2000. Due to the many shortcomings with certain features of NTBackup (scheduling, media rotation and monitoring), the purpose of BackupAssist was to provide users software that could back up their servers as per their requirements.When BackupAssist was initially released in 2002, a basic website was created to help support the software. Over the next few years, extra features were implemented that allowed users to choose from a variety of backup destinations such as tape drives, NAS, REV drives, external hard drives and CD/DVDs. Add-ons for Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server mailboxes were introduced in 2006.
By 2007, a totally rewritten version of the software was released with a new architecture based around “Backup Engine Independence”.
In February 2008, a solution for Windows Server 2008 was released, featuring drive imaging capabilities.
When version 5 was released in October 2008, BackupAssist enabled people to create copies of their data on their Local Area Network (LAN) and on the Internet. With multiple copies of data stored in different locations, users of BackupAssist have a better chance when recovering from computer, Office, Network and Regional disaster. For example:
1) File Replication Engine with VSS Snaphots mirrors a second copy of their working folders from their server to anywhere on their LAN. Only a fraction of the space is required at the new location because BackupAssist uses the Single Instance Store.
2) For people who are interested to keep a copy of their data on the Internet, use BackupAssist for Rsync.
For system administrators managing a dozen or more servers, use the Centralized Monitoring Console to reduce backup management to less than an hour a week. Receive all backup results in one email, monitor results from anywhere around the world, drill down to investigate individual failed backups and analyze monthly backup statistics (success, failures, data growth,etc). The Centralized Monitoring Console is "Cloud" hosted solution that processes all the backup reports and produces meaningful data for better management.
Also in February 2009, BackupAssist released a solution for Exchange 2007 backups on Windows Server 2008. This solution overcomes the limitation in the Windows Server Backup application (wbadmin
Wbadmin
WBAdmin is a command-line utility built into Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The command is used to perform backups and restores of operating systems, drive volumes, files, folders, and applications from a command-line interface.WBAdmin replaces the...
) on Windows Server 2008 that does not allow for live streaming backups of Exchange 2007.
Architecture
The concept of “Backup Engine Independence” is a key differentiating factor between BackupAssist and other similar products. By designing BackupAssist to be able to interface with any backend engine, it is possible to add extra capabilities to BackupAssist easily . This is done by interfacing with existing, well known, popular engines – such as the Microsoft Block Level Backup engine (drive imaging) on Windows Server 2008, RsyncRsync
rsync is a software application and network protocol for Unix-like and Windows systems which synchronizes files and directories from one location to another while minimizing data transfer using delta encoding when appropriate. An important feature of rsync not found in most similar...
, Ntbackup
NTBackup
NTBackup is the built-in backup application introduced in Windows NT around 1997 and part of all subsequent versions up to and including Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It uses a proprietary backup format to back up files. Files can be backed up to tape, ZIP drives, floppy...
, ZIP (file format)
ZIP (file format)
Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is...
, Exmerge and Stsadm.