Backing up Windows system state

Tivoli Storage Manager supports the Microsoft Volume Shadowcopy Service (VSS) on the supported Windows clients.

The system state backup consists of data from several VSS writers. When the files that belong to the System Writer change, an incremental backup is used for these files. Using incremental backup on the System Writer files reduces the amount of time it takes to back up the system state. A full backup is used for all other system state data.

By default, a progressive incremental backup is used for the System Writer files in the system state. If you want to run a full backup of all system state data, you can specify include.systemstate mc_name in the client options file (dsm.opt), where mc_name is the name of the management class with copy group mode absolute.

Startable system state components include the following:

• ASR writer
• Active Directory (domain controller only)
• System Volume (domain controller only)
• Certificate Server Database (domain controller only)
• COM+ database
• Windows Registry
• System and boot files

System services components include the following:

• Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)
• Removable Storage Management Database (RSM)
• Cluster Database (cluster node only)
• Remote Storage Service
• Terminal Server Licensing
• Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
• Internet Information Services (IIS) metabase
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
• Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)

The list of startable system state and system services components are dynamic and can change depending on service pack and operating system features installed. Tivoli Storage Manager allows for the dynamic discovery and back up of these components.

You must be a member of the Administrators or Backup Operators group to back up system state information.

To back up a system state object using the command line:

1. On the command line, use the backup systemstate command to back up all system state or system services components as a single object.
2. Use the query systemstate command to display information about a backup of the system state on the Tivoli Storage Manager server.

To back up a system state object using the GUI:

1. Click Backup from the GUI main window. The Backup window appears.
2. Expand the directory tree by clicking the plus sign (+). To display files in a folder, click the folder icon.
3. Locate the system state node in the directory tree. You can expand the system state node to display the components.
4. Click the selection box next to the system state node to back up the entire system state object. You can back up the system state node only as a single entity because of dependencies among the system state components. By default, all components are selected; you cannot back up individual system state components.
5. Click Backup. The Backup Task List window displays the backup processing status. When processing completes, the Backup Report window displays processing details.

System and boot files are backed up as a group only if one of the members of the group (one of the files) changes. If the files have not changed since the last backup, the system and boot files are not redundantly backed up.

You can use the include.systemstate option to assign management classes for back up of the system state. The default is to bind the system state object to the default management class.

You can use the exclude.systemservice option in your client options file (dsm.opt) to exclude individual system services components from backup. Input can be the keyword or component name to be excluded from backup.

You can use the domain option to exclude the entire system state from domain incremental backup processing.

The system dllcache directory is now included in the boot partition backup of Windows systems. When the dllcache files are not available when you restore a Windows computer, system recovery might require availability of the operating system installation media. By backing up the dllcache directory, you can avoid the need for installation media during system restores.

exclude.dir c:\windows\system32\dllcache

On Windows clients, backup systemstate also backs up ASR data.