nas vss backup

[balma01]

Backing up open files on a file share is supported only using a VSS snap?
Is VSS supported only for SMB file shares and windows file server?
thanks

[Natalia Lupacheva]

Hi,

1. Yes, you're right, you cannot back up open files because such files can be edited during the backup process.
In such case the job will skip these files and save this information in job report but you can use a VSS snap.
2. Yes, there are strict conditions for VSS:

Reading from VSS snapshots is available only if the following conditions are met:

• The source file share is running on the machine with SMB v3 feature enabled.

• The file proxy role is assigned to the machine running Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 or later with SMB v3 feature enabled.

Thanks!

[jmmarton]

Adding to this, keep in mind it's read locking that's an issue. If the file is simply locked for writing, but can be ready by multiple clients, then there's no issue backing it up. Also, if the platform hosting the share has hardware snapshot capabilities then that can be used instead of VSS snapshots to get around read locking.

Joe