File Backup Plan

A file backup plan is the most common type of backup plan, where files and folders are selected as the backup source.

This chapter covers the following topics:

• Create a Backup Plan
• Edit a Backup Plan
• Delete a Backup Plan.

You'll also learn about the steps involved in the Backup Wizard, which include:

• Select Backup Storage
• Plan Name
• Advanced Options
• Backup Source
• Advanced Filter
• Compression and Encryption Options
• Backup Consistency Check
• Schedule
  • Simple Schedule
  • Advanced Schedule
• Retention Policy, GFS, Object Lock
• Pre / Post Actions
• Notification
• Summary

Create Backup Plan

To create a new file backup plan, click the Files icon in the horizontal menu bar.

The Backup Wizard starts.

Select Backup Storage

Select a storage account from the available list for the backup plan. If no storage is available, click Add new Storage Account.

Once you've selected the backup storage, click Next.

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Plan Name

Specify the name for the backup plan.

Click Next.

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Advanced Options

Specify the advanced options for the backup plan. Advanced option set depends on the selected backup storage.

• Use synthetic full backup. Select this option to enable the synthetic full backup usage for the backup plan. If a long-term storage class is selected as the backup destination, this will result in high storage costs.

• Back up NTFS permissions. Select this option to include current NTFS permissions in the backup plan.

• Use fast NTFS scan. This option enables MSP360’s proprietary file scanning and search mechanism, which uses a file tree generation for faster data reading and quicker backups.

• Force using VSS. Select this checkbox to back up objects from a snapshot to avoid any access conflicts. This option is useful for forcible backup of files that are used by other processes at the moment of the backup plan run

• Use system VSS provider. Select this checkbox in case you experience issues with a third-party VSS provider. Once the backup plan is run, the MSP360 Backup will use the system VSS provider forcibly.

EFS Encryption Options

Select the way to back up EFS-encrypted files. The two options are available:

• Decrypt EFS-encrypted files. With this option selected, EFS-encrypted files are first decrypted and then backed up. This option is set by default
• Keep EFS-encryption. With this option selected, EFS-encrypted files are backed up 'as is', as encrypted. Note that this option requires special attention since some issues decryption issues upon restore to a location other than the source computer may occur

Click Next.

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Backup Source

Specify the content for the backup plan.

Advanced Options

To enable advanced options for the backup source, click the Advanced Options icon at the bottom of the Backup Wizard.

The following options are available:

• Add user profile. Use this option to include user folders in your backup plan. For example, "Documents", "Downloads", or _"Favorites".

• Add network share. Use this option if your backup source is located on a network share.

In this dialog, you can specify user credentials used to access the network share. Once you specify credentials, click Test to perform a test connection to a network share and make sure it can be accessed.

• Open in dialog. Select this option to open a new dialog window with a file tree
• Show legend. Select this option to learn about possible states of checkboxes. See the legend below:

Check State	Description
	Neither the folder nor any of its contents are selected.
	The folder is selected along with all of its contents (the backup will include all newly created subitems in this folder as well).
	The folder is selected along with some of its contents (the backup will include all newly created subitems in this folder as well).
	Some of the folder's contents are selected, but not the folder itself (the backup will only include explicitly selected subitems, and not newly created ones).

Click Next.

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Advanced Filter

Specify various criteria for backup source objects.

The following options are available:

• Back up all files in selected folders. Select this option to back up all files in folders, specified on the Backup Source step
• Back up files of these types. Select this option to back up files of certain types. The file type is detected by file extension. In the field to the right, specify the required file extensions. Use a semicolon to separate extensions
• Do not back up files of these types. Select this option to exclude files of certain types from the backup plan. The file type is detected by file extension. In the field to the right, specify file extensions to be excluded from the backup plan. Use a semicolon to separate extensions
• Back up empty folders. Select this checkbox to include empty folders in the backup plan
• Skip folders. In this field, specify folders to be excluded from the backup plan. Use a semicolon to separate folders
• Back up files modified (days ago). Select this checkbox, if you want to back up files, modified on a specific day. In the field to the right, specify the number of days from the last modification
• Back up files modified since. Select this checkbox if you want to include in the backup plan all files that have been modified after a point in time. In the fields to the right, specify the date and the time of file modification
• Do not back up files larger than (MB). Select this checkbox to limit the size of files for the backup plan. In the field to the right, specify the maximum file size
• Do not back up system and hidden files (selected by default). Select this checkbox to exclude files that have 'system' and/or 'hidden' attributes from the backup plan
• 'Do not back up files used by other processes at the moment of the backup plan run. Select this checkbox, if you want to exclude from the backup plan files that will be opened at the moment of the backup plan run
• Do not back up On-Demand files (selected by default). Select this checkbox to exclude On-Demand files from the backup plan.

Click Next.

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Compression and Encryption Options

Specify compression and encryption options for the backup plan.

Compression

MSP360 (CloudBerry) Backup offers compression to reduce the storage space required for your backup and to speed up the upload process to the target storage.

Encryption

You can protect your backup by encrypting its contents. MSP360 (CloudBerry) Backup supports AES encryption with key sizes of 128, 192, and 256 bits. A larger key size provides stronger encryption but may increase the time required for processing your backup. For more details on AES encryption, refer to the Advanced Encryption Standard.

If you choose to save your backup plan configuration to the destination storage, be aware that the encryption password is not stored in the configuration file for security reasons. Ensure that you save this password securely, as it will be required to restore the backup's contents.

Amazon S3-Specific Settings

If you are using Amazon S3 as your destination storage, the Backup Wizard provides additional options for encrypting data stored on Amazon cloud servers.

The following additional settings are available when using Amazon S3 for storing your backup:

• Use the Amazon key Management Service master key. Selecting this option allows Amazon S3 to decrypt data for users with permissions to access the object in the cloud and use the specified master key.

See What is AWS Key Management Service for more information.

Click Next.

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Backup Consistency Check

Specify if the full consistency check is required for this backup plan.

Click Next.

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Schedule

Specify the backup plan schedule settings.

The following options are available:

• Select the No schedule option to run the backup plan manually.
• Select the Simple (Forever Forward) option to apply the Forever Forward Incremental (FFI) schedule.
• Select the **Advanced (GFS, Object Lock) option to apply the recurring schedule and, if necessary, use Grandfather-Father-Son and Object Lock (Immutability).
• To set the time limit for plan execution, select the Stop the plan if it runs for checkbox, then specify the backup plan duration limit.
• To run the backup plan after the computer is on in case the backup plan run has been missed, select the Run missed scheduled backup immediately when computer starts up checkbox.

Click Next.

Simple Schedule

Select the Simple (Forever Forward) option to use the Forever Forward Incremental (FFI). This schedule offers one full backup followed by a limited number of incrementals. Once the limit is exceeded, a new full backup is created using in-cloud copying (synthetic full backup). Once you select this option, specify the FFI schedule for the backup plan. You can select the Daily or Monthly schedule type, depending on how often the incremental backups will be performed.

This schedule is unavailable if the selected storage account does not support synthetic full backups.

Advanced Schedule

Select the Advanced (GFS, Object Lock) option to set up a flexible, recurring schedule with generations. Every generation contains one full backup followed by incrementals.

The advanced schedule allows configuring a flexible schedule according to your requirements. To use this schedule you should add schedules for full and incremental backup runs:

• To create incremental backups by schedule, select the Recurring (Incremental) checkbox, then configure the schedule for incremental backups on a daily or monthly basis.
• To create full backups by schedule, select the Execute full backup (Synthetic full if possible) checkbox, then configure the schedule for full backups on a daily or monthly basis.

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Retention Policy, GFS and Object Lock

Specify the retention policy settings for the backup plan. The retention policy depends on the schedule selected on the previous step.

Retention Policy with Simple Schedule

If you selected the Simple (Forever Forward Incremental) schedule, the Retention Policy step offers the following settings:

• Keep backup for. Select this option to limit the number of restore points. The Keep backup for value defines the period Restore Points with the Forever Forward Incremental schedule are kept. If their retention period expires, these restore points are merged into a full backup (with Forever Forward Incremental only one full backup is kept on the backup storage).

• Intelligent Retention: Each time the backup plan is executed, the backup storage parameters are analyzed automatically, setting the retention period based on storage provider data deletion conditions. This feature is enabled by default.

Retention Policy with Advanced Schedule / No Schedule

If you selected the Advanced (GFS, Object Lock) schedule or to run backup manually without the schedule, the Retention Policy step offers the following settings:

• Do not purge (Keep backup forever). Select this option to keep all your backup runs.
• Keep backup for. Select this option to limit the period while backup contents are kept in the backup storage, then specify the period.

To apply the GFS retention policy for the backup plan, select the Enable GFS checkbox, then customize the GFS retention policy by enabling the required keeping periods (weekly, monthly and yearly purge delays).

If backup data is required to be locked, enable the Object Lock (Immutability) checkbox.

Click Next.

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Pre-/Post Actions

Customize actions before and/or after the backup plan run.

Custom Scripts

You can execute custom scripts before or after running the backup plan.

• To specify the script execution before the backup plan starts, select the Pre-backup action checkbox, then specify the path to the script in the field below. To open a standard Windows dialog box, click the ... button

• Select the pre-backup script execution options:

  • Do not run the backup plan if the pre-backup action fails. Select this option to cancel the backup plan in case the specified script fails
  • Run the backup plan if the pre-backup action fails. Select this option to run the backup plan regardless of the specified script execution results

• To specify the script execution after the backup plan terminates, select the Post-backup action checkbox, then specify the path to the script in the field below. To open a standard Windows dialog box, click the ... button

• Select the post-backup script execution options:

  • Execute post-backup action only if the backup plan completes successfully. Select this option to execute the post-backup script only in case of a backup plan success
  • Execute post-backup action regardless of the backup plan result. Select this option to execute the post-backup script in any case.

c:\scripts\prebackup-script.bat

cmd.exe /F:ON

cmd.exe /F:ON /C

PowerShell.exe Start-Process cmd.exe exit

Backup Plan Chains

In case you need to run another backup or restore plan once the backup plan is finished, use the Backup Chain feature. To create a backup chain, select the Backup chain checkbox, then select a backup or restore plan to be chained.

• Run the selected plan if the backup plan completes with success. Select this option to execute the chained backup plan only in case of a backup plan success
• Run the selected plan regardless of the backup result. Select this option to execute the chained backup plan in any case

Select the run mode for the chained plan:

• In case you chained a backup plan, you can enable the full backup for it regardless of the contents in the backup storage. To do this, select the Force full backup for the chained plan.
• Select Use settings of the current plan to run the chained plan as full if this plan has the scheduled full backup run or as incremental if this plan has the scheduled incremental backup run.

Click Next.

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Notification

Specify notification settings.

• To receive the notification after the backup plan completion, select the I want to receive notification email when backup completes checkbox.
  • Select When backup fails option if you want to receive the notification message only in case of the backup plan failure
  • Select the In all cases option if you want to receive the notification message in any case.
• In the fields Username, Email, Email subject specify the notification email details. You can specify one or more email recipients. Separate them by semicolon or comma, the recipient name (one for all of them). The email subject can also contain any of the following variables:
  • %COMPUTER_NAME%. Displays the instance name on which the backup plan was executed
  • %RESULT%. Displays the result of the backup plan. Possible values: Success, Finished with warnings, Failed
  • %PLAN_NAME%. Displays the name of the backup plan.
• If you want to use own SMTP server for notification emails, select the I want to use my SMTP server for email notifications checkbox, then specify the settings for the SMTP server
• If you want the backup plan record to be added to Windows Event Log, select the Add entry to Windows Event Log when backup completes checkbox
  • Select When backup fails option if you want to receive the notification message only in case of the backup plan failure
  • Select the In all cases option if you want the entry to be put in Windows Event Log in any case.

Click Next.

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Summary

Review the configuration of the backup plan.

Click Next to proceed to the last wizard page.

Select the Run backup now checkbox to execute the backup plan immediately.

If you want to run the backup plan later, click Finish.

Edit a Backup Plan

To edit the backup plan, proceed as follows:

1. Switch to the Backup Plans tab.
2. Open the backup plan you want to edit by expanding it, then click Edit.

3. Proceed through the Backup Wizard steps to adjust settings as needed.
4. If the plan is currently running, you'll need to select one of the following options:
   • Apply changes after the backup plan completes
   • Stop the plan and apply changes.
5. After choosing the desired option for the running backup plan, click Apply.
6. Save the edited plan configuration.

Delete a Backup Plan

To delete the backup plan, proceed as follows:

1. Switch to the Backup Plans tab.
2. Open the plan to delete, expand it, then click Delete.

3. Click Yes to confirm the backup plan deletion.