Suitable for Windows Storage Server 2008r2?

[bhwong]

Does Veeam Endpoint Backup support SIS volumes? Because Windows Storage Server 2008r2 has them.

I assume Veeam Endpoint Backup should be able to do the following:
1. backing up open files (using VSS),
2. backup up shared folders where administrator has no access permission,
3. preserve NTFS Permission when restoring from file-level backup

btw, why does Veeam Endpoint Backup need SQL to work?

[Dima P.]

Hi bhwong,

Does Veeam Endpoint Backup support SIS volumes

I assume that you might have issues backing up ‘file pointers’. VEB does not backup source files for symlinks or junction points of any kind. Thus, I believe you can backup the volume, however it won’t contain files/folders that are presented as a ‘link’.

backing up open files (using VSS)

Yes.

backup up shared folders where administrator has no access permission

VEB does not backup shared folders, only folders that reside the local volume

preserve NTFS Permission when restoring from file-level backup

Yes.

why does Veeam Endpoint Backup need SQL to work?

A good explanation is in this post.

[bhwong]

Thanks Dima!

I'm concerned about this too, but if Veeam is using the SIS API or copying the files thru Windows' SIS services, it could backup the source files rather than the symlinks. Could anyone from Veeam confirm the status of SIS volume support?

What about backing up the whole SIS volume? It should backed up everything properly right?

Any other free or cheap backup solution to recommend for backing up a physical Windows Server? It need to support SIS volume and VSS. What about Comodo Backup?

>> backup up shared folders where administrator has no access permission

I'm actually talking about shared folders reside in the local SIS volume on our Windows Storage Server 2008r2. I hope the administrator account do not need to take over the ownership of these folders just to be able to back them up.

The primitive Windows Server Backup has many flaws and restrictions:
1. It was designed to backup to the same local storage where your data is also located. This mean that if your hard drives crashed, both the data and it's backup are destroyed together. How stupid is that?
2. Backing up to remote storage has added restriction where incremental backup is not supported. It always perform a full backup that will overwrite the previous backup.
3. Apart from the official 2TB backup size limitation, it also has an unofficial limitation on the number of files it can backed up.
4. Worst, the backup will indicate a misleading success despite having an incomplete backup filled with plenty of missing files. The workaround is to split the backup into multiple separate manual backup to ensure that all the files are included.