11.07.08
Bacula and Windows Server 2008 system state
If you use Bacula to back up Windows Servers you need to be backing up the Windows system state. This saves the registry and associated information in a snapshot. Bacula itself cannot grab the registry because the files that make up the registry are always in use.
Prior to Windows server 2008 (Windows 2000, XP, 2003, etc.) you could do it like this:
create a file like c:\systemstate.bat and place the following line in it:
ntbackup backup systemstate /F c:\systemstate.bkf
This will cause the systemstate to be written to a file called systemstate.bkf so that if you need to do an exact restore of the machine you can.
Windows 2008 throws everything for a loop.
You get an error if you try to use the wbadmin equivalent:
wbadmin start systemstatebackup -quiet -backuptarget:c:
If you do that, you get an error. Windows will no longer allow you to back up the system state on Windows volumes that are classified as “critical volumes”. This will include the boot disk among others. Fortunately there is a workaround found in this MS KB article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944530 . However…..
You have to read carefully.
It says you need to add a DWord entry to this subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wbengine\SystemStateBackup\
I did not see that the “SystemStateBackup” subkey did not exist in mine so I did not create it. Make sure to create it if you do not have it. Then add the following:
Name: AllowSSBToAnyVolume
Data type: DWORD
Value data: 1
Save the registry and you should be able to save the system state using the commands outlined above.