Many customers and business owners just go along with the backup features they’re promised without really taking the time to know exactly what it is they’re paying for. If you or your business are on the look out for a safe, secure, and effective backup provider, it’s important to know about the features they’re including.
VSS is a feature that’s pertinent for businesses and is extremely useful in general when searching for a great backup service. In this blog post, we’ll answer these questions: What is VSS? How does it work? What can it do? and How can your business benefit from it?
What is VSS?
Volume Shadow Copy Service, also known as VSS, is a Microsoft Windows service made for capturing and creating snapshots called shadow copies. VSS provides a backup infrastructure for Microsoft operating systems.
What does all this mean? Basically it’s a method to present a consistent image, referred to as a shadow copy or snapshot. This image is then backed up to a backup application (such as Nordic Backup), so that it can safely be backed up and protected.
For example, Nordic Backup doesn’t access your files directly to back them up. Instead, VSS takes a snapshot of your data and our software backs up the snapshot without disturbing you. So, you can go about your business uninterrupted as your data is being backed up every time it’s scheduled to perform.
In addition to the actual service, Windows VSS has three components — writer, requestor, and provider.
VSS writer: Each VSS-aware application installs its own VSS writer to a computer during the initial installation.
VSS requestor: Any application that needs to disable data for capture can play the role of VSS requestor.
VSS provider: The provider creates and manages the shadow copies of data on the system.
How it Works
The way VSS works is simple, but you have to follow along. The VSS requestor announces that it needs to create a server snapshot. Before it creates the snapshot, it queries the server to determine which VSS writers have been installed (so it can instruct the writer to disable its backup application). The VSS requestor will instruct each writer to accomplish pre-backup tasks needed for data quiescence. After those tasks are completed, the requestor instructs the VSS provider to create a snapshot. The provider tells the requestor where to locate the data it needs, and then the backup process begins. When the backup is complete, the VSS requestor announces it has completed all the activities, and it instructs each VSS writer to perform any post-backup tasks necessary, so the computer and its applications can return to normal operation.
What Can it Do?
Windows VSS can perform the following services:
Completely supported backups of applications, and can communicate to those apps that they’ve been backed up. This means that they can clear their transaction logs and perform other maintenance tasks. In layman’s terms, let’s say you use Exchange, SQL Server, Active Directory, SharePoint, or Oracle. Instead of using a traditional backup agent, such as with Exchange, the backup app with VSS can tell Exchange to quiesce itself. Then it creates a VSS snapshot, and then backs up the snapshot as it would with all the other files. Once it’s done with that backup, it tells Exchange the files are backed up so that it can clear its transaction logs.
Regularly scheduled VSS snapshots completely independent of a backup application. This allows you to recover old versions of your files using the “previous versions” tab in file manager.
Provide a consistent image of several drives, so that the backup application can get all the files backed up from a single point in time.
Why Your Business Needs VSS
Backing up and restoring critical business information can be quite complex and can often take time. The data usually needs to be backed up while the applications are still running, meaning some of the data files might be open or they might be in an “inconsistent state.” Also, if the data set is too large, it can be difficult to back up all of it at once.
By incorporating Windows VSS into backup solutions for your business, you’re ensuring that all the files you need are backed up quietly and optimally. VSS in conjunction with a backup provider, such as Nordic, provides close coordination between the backup applications, the business applications that need backing up, and the storage management software.
With VSS you can use the shadow copy as-is, or you can use it in the following scenarios:
You’re performing disk-to-disk backups.
You need fast recovery from data loss.
You want to backup application data and system state information. This includes archiving data to another hard disk drive, tape, or to other removable media.
No matter what your purpose is for needing or wanting Windows VSS, Nordic Backup includes this open file backup with each plan — personal, small business, and pro. We want to make sure we get good and efficient backup of your data every time. That’s why we use VSS and trust the snapshot system. Take a look at some of the other great features that come with our business backup solutions right here.
Interested in backup for business or have any questions concerning VSS? Contact us today and we’ll handle all of your backup needs!
