Skip to main content
SolarWinds MSP
  • Login
  • Support
  • Partnerships
    • Partnerships Overview
    • Solution Provider Program
    • Technology Alliance Program
    • Distributor Program
SolarWinds MSP
  • Products
    • Monitoring & Management
    • N-central Automate. Tackle complex networks. Get remote monitoring and management built for efficiency and scale.
    • RMM Start fast. Grow at your own pace. Try this powerful but easy remote monitoring and management solution.
    • Backup
    • Backup Get data protection for servers, workstations, applications, documents, and Microsoft 365 from one dashboard.
    • Security
    • EDR Defend against ransomware, zero-day attacks, and evolving threats with endpoint detection and response.
    • Mail Assure Leverage mail protection and archiving to keep your users safe from email threats and downtime.
    • Passportal Adopt and enforce best practices for password and documentation management with ease.
    • Tools & Services
    • MSP Manager Increase helpdesk efficiency with a robust PSA, ticketing, reporting, and billing management solution.
    • Take Control Help support customers and their devices with remote support tools designed to be fast and powerful.
    • View All
  • Solutions

    Solutions

    • Security Protect your customers and expand your business by offering layered security services without the complexity.
    • Monitoring Choose the right remote monitoring and management solution to meet you where you are and grow with you.
    • Operational Efficiency Boost profits by improving efficiency via automation, resources and training, and time-saving products.
    • IT Departments Keep your organization productive by easily managing IT from a single, easy-to-use, web-based dashboard.
    • Remote Monitoring Solutions Comparison Compare SolarWinds RMM and N-central side by side. Sign up to talk to a specialist to find the right fit.
    • View All
  • Resources
    • Download
    • Resource Library
    • Product Information
    • Free Tools
    • Learn
    • MSP Institute Webinar Series
    • Daily Live Demos
    • MSP Advice Project
    • Ask the N-central Experts
    • Upcoming Webcasts
    • Connect
    • Blog
    • Security Resource Center
    • Events
    • RMM Foundations Training
  • About
    • Company
    • About Us
    • Leadership
    • Careers
    • News & Press
    • Awards & Recognition
    • Support & Policies
    • Customer Success
    • Customer Support
    • Legal
    • Security
    • Get in Touch
    • Contact
    • Get a Quote
    • Worldwide Sales & Support
  • IT Departments
  • Contact Sales
    • Contact Sales
    • General Inquiry
    • Get a Quote
    • Worldwide Sales & Support
    • Talk to Specialist
    • Security Solutions
    • Monitoring Solutions
    • Operational Efficiency
  • Try Now
    • Monitoring & Management
    • N-central
    • RMM
    • Backup
    • Security
    • EDR
    • Mail Assure
    • Passportal
    • Tools & Services
    • MSP Manager
    • Take Control
  • Request a Quote
  • Try Now
    • SolarWinds RMM
    • SolarWinds N-central
    • SolarWinds Backup
    • MSP Manager
    • SolarWinds Mail Assure
    • SolarWinds Passportal
    • SolarWinds Risk Intelligence
    • SolarWinds Take Control
Request quote
Filter Blogs
  • Filter by:
  • MSP Business
    • Automation
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • Security-series
    • Best Practices
    • Business
    • Business Growth
    • Business Risk
    • Cloud Computing
    • Customer Service
    • Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity Awareness Month
    • Data
    • GDPR
    • Internet of Things
    • IT Support
    • ITSM
    • LOGICcards
    • Machine Learning
    • Mail
    • Managed Services
    • Marketing
    • Mobile
    • Networking
    • Operations
    • Podcast
    • Product
    • PSA
    • Remote Management
    • Research & Trends
    • Risk Intelligence
    • Security
    • Security Vlog
    • Service Desk
    • Services & Support
    • The Head Nerds
    • Tips & Advice
    • Training
Home Blog MSP Business Backup & Disaster Recovery Backup Monitoring: Part 5—Tuning Your Backup Selections
Backup & Disaster Recovery

Backup Monitoring: Part 5—Tuning Your Backup Selections

By Eric Harless
21 July, 2020

In part four, I discussed monitoring usage and adjusting backup selections as methods of potentially controlling costs, while still providing reliable data protection. I’ll continue that discussion in this installment by helping you locate duplicate data.     

Excluding DFS replication and data deduplication from System State backup 

Windows Server OS based devices with DFS Replication or Windows Data Deduplication are configured to automatically backup those components. These selections could significantly increase the selected size of your System State backup. If you want to protect these components the increased size may be fine. But their selection could also be redundant if the data is already selected as part of the Files and Folders backup on this or another protected backup device. To quickly identify backup devices with DFS or Dedupe selections, you can manually look for devices with a System state selected size greater than about 70 GB or use the following advanced search filter.

 Expression

 Description

 S3 > 70.gibi()

 (System state selected size Greater than 70 Gigabytes)

 

You can deselect DFS and Dedupe by editing the System state selections on the Backup tab of the local Backup Manager. Backup devices that have System state set via a profile will need to have that profile removed or adjusted to Keep local settings before local System state exclusions can be made. 

Filtering network paths 

On Mac and Linux devices mounted SMB/Samba shares can show up as part of the local file system.  When connected, these shares can significantly increase your total backup selected size. To prevent these network mounts from being included in backup you can either deselect the respective shares or set exclusion filters. Please consult the documentation for your specific MacOS or Linux distribution for alternate or additional mount paths.   

 Operating System

 Sample Exclusion Path

 MacOS

 /Volumes/*

 Linux

 /mnt/*

Ignoring LocalSpeedVaults and seed drives 

By default, the local Backup Manager is smart enough to identify a configured seed drive or LocalSpeedVault, whether it’s directly attached or connected via a network share. However, when you make configuration changes, move, or reattach this seed drive or LocalSpeedVault to another system with an active Backup Manager, you run the possibility of that device accidentally seeing the volume or share as data to protect. You can set a local, profile, or policy-based exclusion filter to prevent a seed drive or LocalSpeedVault from ever backing up by accident. 

 Data Type

 Sample Exclusion Path

 LocalSpeedVault  & Seed Drives

 *\storage\cabs\gen*\*

Excluding USB drives

CTA Image

SolarWinds Backup

Exceed your RTOs and RPOs—start using SolarWinds Backup today.

Try It Free Learn More

Windows systems consider USB hard drives fixed disks, which means they’re automatically included when you select the entire file system for backup. If you know the drive letters that will be assigned, then you can adjust your selections to only backup specific volumes, or you can set exclusions to restrict specific drive letters. However, since USB drives are pluggable, you may not know the drive letter. If that’s the case, you’ll need another approach to dynamically identify and exclude them from your backups. With this goal in mind, I’ve designed a sample PowerShell script you can use to inventory a system and set exclusions or registry keys to help prevent the drive from being backed up. If you’re interested in exploring this, please feel free to contact me via social media.   

Preventing backups of backups

You might think having multiple backup applications on the same system doubles your level of protection. But in many cases, it actually costs you more time, money, and bandwidth—and it can actually reduce the chances of a successful backup. This is due to factors such as overlapping schedules, conflict VSS snapshots, improper log handling, and double processing of backup files. Typically, if you have one backup solution working, I recommend you disable the second. At the very least, set schedules to help prevent overlap and exclude the other solution from processing and backing up the backup destination files. You should investigate your backup devices, looking for legacy backup applications, dump disks, tar files, native Windows, SQL .BAK and .BKF files, and disk backup images created by competing commercial backup products and disk imaging solutions.       

Eric Harless is the Head Backup Nerd at SolarWinds MSP. Eric has worked with SolarWinds Backup since 2013 and has over 25+ years of data protection industry experience in sales, support, marketing, systems engineering, and product management.

You can follow Eric on Twitter at @backup_nerd

 

Additional reading

Data Deduplication Overview
Thinking Outside the Backup Box Part Two: Going Cloud First
What Are the Security Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Backup?
You might also like...
Backup & Disaster Recovery

Backup automation part 1: Deploying backup devices

Automation

What the Head Nerds Were Up to in 2020

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Backup Monitoring: Part 6—Securing Your Backup Devices

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Backup Monitoring, Part 4—Tracking and Controlling Usage

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Backup Monitoring: Part 3—Triaging Your Devices

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Backup Monitoring: Part 2—Defining Success

Want to stay up to date?

Get the latest MSP tips, tricks, and ideas sent to your inbox each week.

Loading form....

If the form does not load in a few seconds, it is probably because your browser is using Tracking Protection. This is either an Ad Blocker plug-in or your browser is in private mode. Please allow tracking on this page to request a subscription.

Note: Firefox users may see a shield icon to the left of the URL in the address bar. Click on this to disable tracking protection for this session/site

Recent Posts
  • Three things I learned working for an MSP
  • Earning word-of-mouth referrals for your IT business
  • Backup automation part 1: Deploying backup devices
  • Ultimate Guide: MySQL Backup
  • Most common automation requests and how to solve them: Ep 2
Categories:
  • Security (240)
  • Tips & Advice (130)
  • Best Practices (97)
  • Backup & Disaster Recovery (96)
  • Managed Services (89)
  • The Head Nerds (82)
  • Business Growth (79)
  • IT Support (43)
  • Business (41)
  • Automation (40)
  • Operations (38)
  • Cybersecurity (37)
  • Mail (33)
  • Remote Management (30)
  • ITSM (26)
  • Networking (22)
  • Cloud Computing (21)
  • Data (21)
  • Marketing (15)
  • PSA (13)
  • Product (11)
  • Service Desk (6)
  • Services & Support (5)
  • Mobile (4)
  • Risk Intelligence (4)
  • GDPR (3)
  • Internet of Things (3)
  • Customer Service (3)
  • Research & Trends (2)
  • Training (2)
  • Business Risk (1)
  • LOGICcards (1)
  • Cybersecurity Awareness Month (1)
Show moreless
SolarWinds MSP

Products
  • SolarWinds RMM
  • SolarWinds N-central
  • SolarWinds Backup
  • SolarWinds EDR
  • SolarWinds MSP Manager
  • SolarWinds Mail Assure
  • SolarWinds Risk Intelligence
  • SolarWinds Take Control
  • SolarWinds Passportal
  • All Products Use Cases
Solutions
  • Security Solutions
  • Monitoring Solutions
  • Efficiency Solutions
  • Identify which RMM solution is right for me
  • Drive Efficiency with Automation
  • Manage my MSP Business More Efficiently
  • Manage my IT Department More Efficiently
  • Layered Security
  • Cross-Platform Support
  • Data-Driven Insights
About
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Newsroom
  • Leadership Team
  • Upcoming Events
  • Subscription Preferences
  • SolarWinds
  • SolarWinds Trust Center
  • COVID-19 Response
Support
  • SolarWinds RMM
  • Solarwinds N-central
  • SolarWinds Backup
  • SolarWinds Mail Assure
  • SolarWinds Take Control
  • SolarWinds MSP Manager
  • Solarwinds Risk Intelligence
  • Solarwinds Threat Monitor
  • SolarWinds Passportal
  • SolarWinds Take Control Downloads
  • Backup & Recovery Downloads
  • Service Status

Footer 2

  • Legal Documents
  • Privacy
  • California Privacy Rights
  • Security Information
  • Sitemap

© SolarWinds MSP Canada ULC and SolarWinds MSP UK Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.