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Today, we are doing a review of WHS BDBB, which is the short name for Windows Home Server Backup Database-Backup. WHS BDBB is an add-in to do exactly as it is named: backup the WHS client backups. Using various options of this add-in, one can effectively make up to 4 copies of the client backups. This should satisfy the most paranoid of users.
From the support thread at MediaSmartServer.net, a full description of WHS BDBB is as follows:
Windows Home Server Backup Database (WHS BDB). This is the database that WHS creates when you enable and schedule backups of your client machines. It contains all of the backups for each of the client machines so that if one were to fail you could restore it using WHS. WHS only creates one copy of this Database and it is stored in the WHS storage pool.
Enable Duplication For WHS Backups. Checking this box modifies WHS so that it duplicates the WHS BD in the same way that folder duplication works. The duplicated copy of the WHS DB is stored on a different disk (just like folder duplication) so that if one of your disks fails then you will not lose the backups of each of your client machines.
Backup. This button allows you to create an entirely new copy of the WHS BD in a location of your choosing, either the server storage pool or an external hard disk drive.
Enable Duplication For BDBB Backups. Checking this box modifies WHS so that it also creates a duplicate of the copy of the WHS BD that you created when you clicked the Backup button.
If you check both boxes, and create a copy of the WHS BD into the server storage then you will end up with:
- The original WHS BD and a duplicate of it.
- The copy of the original WHS BD that you created and a duplicate of it.
Restore. This button allows you to restore to your home server the Backup Database you created when you clicked the Backup button.
Delete. This button allows you to delete the copy/s of the WHS BD you made when you clicked the Backup button.
Installing the base add-in is as simple as any other add-in. Copy this msi installer to your D:SoftwareAdd-ins folder, open the WHS Setting Window in the console and install the software from the Add-ins tab, as shown below.
In order to access the add-in, open the WHS Settings option and locate the WHS BDBB tab. When you click on this item, you will see a window similar to the one below.
To create a backup of the WHS client backups, simply click on the Backup item, name the backup to whatever you need to describe it, and let it do its thing. Copying 150 to 200 gigabytes of data will take awhile, so sit back and relax.
The first time I went through the procedure, I was expecting to copy data over to a drive that I had specifically removed from drive pool. As can be seen above, I was not given this option. I thought, what the heck, what is going on here? After fiddling around a bit, I finally figured out my problem. When a drive is removed from the pool, Windows does not automatically assign a drive letter to the drive. So off I went to Computer Management to perform this simple task. To get there, I used one of favorite add-ins, Advanced Admin Console.
In the pictures above, you will notice that I took these after I assigned drive letters to the hard drives that were not in the pool. If you need to perform this task, what you will see is quite similar to the above pictures.
Back to WHS BDBB. I now had the ability to backup the WHS client backups to a drive that I could remove from the computer and store off-site. The procedure is the same as before, except I now have more options on where to put the backup, as shown below.
One question that I had is what happens in a worst-case-scenario where one has install WHS from scratch? Please forgive me if I don’t answer that question very well. This server is my production machine, and the thought of purposely killing the install to answer this question properly is not in my job description!
The closest that I can come to answering this question is by uninstalling and reinstalling the add-in to see what happens. The answer appears to be yes, as I get the same screen back as the one 4 pictures up. I am not totally sure of what would happen on a new install, but I hope (or not) one of you readers can provide some insight to this.
Program enhancements? I would really like to have this add-in have the ability to auto-schedule client backups. And, if done correctly by cycling drives, the ability to backup to a drive with an unassigned drive letter. That one may be a bit difficult, as the add-in would have no way of knowing which drive you want to use, but a wish is a wish!
In the end, does this work? I would have to say yes, based on the process that I went through. It would be nice if the author could go through a Restore process from a clean install to demonstrate exactly how this is done. Which is what I would have done (sorry!) if I had a spare test machine/OS to play with.
The one area of awareness that WHS has provided to those who use WHS is the need for backups. As WHS users make use of this OS solution to provide a central data repository and client backup solution, the need to backup the backup becomes paramount. Alex’s nice add-in goes a long way in providing a client backup solution that was left out of PP1.
Author: Alex Kuretz
Version Reviewed: 1.0.0.4
Release: 13Aug2008
21. December 2008 at 7:50 pm
There is just one big problem with this database backup utility: it doesn’t support incremental backups. It is just plain stupid and a massive waist of time and resources to have to copy the same huge backup database files over and over again, every time you want to backup the backup database (which you would have to do at least several times a week if you want to keep your external/offsite database copy current).
21. December 2008 at 7:54 pm
A feature enhancement request, then! And that is a good request/needed enhancement.
22. December 2008 at 3:48 am
WHS doesn’t do the old full/incremental backups that everyone is used to. The new system is cluster backups that only copy the changed clusters. It also combines ALL the client backups into one database. This means that ALL the files are mixed together and NO duplicates are needed for any file. This keeps the database small. So, by duplicating the WHS daily backups, this add-in does indeed do an “incremental” backup in the same way that WHS does. And it can save the backup to an outside disk for off-site safety storage. All your client PCs save and secure.
22. December 2008 at 3:50 am
@GaryLW -
Oh, I forgot. By just clicking the first checkbox in the settings it does it all automatically with NO intervention. The duplicate backup database is always up-to-date.
24. December 2008 at 3:41 am
Hi Jim, thanks for the review and suggestions for improvements. I’d like to address the topic of a full restore of the WHS DB in the scenario you describe. Suppose you lose your system drive, replace it with a new one, and run the Server Recovery process. All your data was preserved in duplicated shares, but your WHS Backup DB was lost. In this case, all you have to do is install WHS BDBB and connect your drive that contains the BDBB backup and it will appear in the list of available backups. Select the backup you wish to restore, and click “Restore”. Wait a while, and your brand new empty backup DB will be replaced by your backup DB from prior to the loss of your system drive. Note that this will delete the new, empty DB.
fredrik, my Add-In does exactly what it says it does – automate the manual steps documented by Microsoft to back up the Client backup DB. I suppose if you sit at your WHS Console and constantly fiddle with it, then yes, copying the entire DB would be a waste of time. Most users I’ve heard simply fire off a backup and go to bed or to work and leave BDBB to do it’s thing. Are you able to definitively state that only a small set of the 4GB files used to store the backup DB change whenever a new backup or cleanup occurs, to warrant an incremental file copy process? I haven’t watched them closely enough to know for sure.
I welcome all feedback and suggestions, and will consider them for a future release. Thanks for the review!
Alex
23. August 2009 at 12:54 am
Alex Kuretz told us that in the case of a server reinstall with WHS Backup Database loss, one can manually restore the manually created backup of the WHS Backup Database.
What if one has only enabled "duplication For WHS Backups"? How does the just re-installed WHS behave in that case?
24. December 2008 at 1:52 pm
@Alex Kuretz – That is excellent news to hear that. One of the questions I have regarding backing up the backups (not just with your program) is how does one recover them when the worst happens.
Good to know that BDBB automatically finds the database on a reinstall.
10. February 2009 at 7:13 pm
My problem is that I opened the WHS Console on one machine – started WHSDBB and left it running, locked my screen and went out.
On my return, the Console had closed (seems maybe to have a timer?) – said that it had lost network connection – don’t know why. I opened the Console again and the Backup service was down and the external USB disk seemed to have only half the expected data.
So:
1. Is there a log of what it did, whether it was successful, any errors etc.?
2. Is it OK to use the console from a guest or must one use a Remote Desktop Connection to connect that will not time out?
3. I would like incrementaks as well please.
David
11. February 2009 at 6:15 am
Hi David,
Interesting, I’m not sure what would have caused the Console to close, perhaps did your Client go to sleep? That should not have mattered, though, as the Console is an RDP process running on the server and displayed on the client.
You should see any log entries in the Application Event Viewer.
Thanks,
Alex
12. June 2009 at 6:05 pm
I was wondering, can the Backup database be restored to a different home server? I originally purchased an EX475 when they came out, and have recently gotten a great deal on an EX485 that I plan to replace the old with. I'd like to migrate everything to the new server so that I don't miss a beat during the migration.