7. In Add Arguments, enter the START BACKUP command you want to use along with its parameters, such as the following:
start backup -backupTarget: f: —-nclude: c:,d:,e: \mountpoint,\\?\volume{be345a23-32b2-432d-43d2-7867ff3e3432}\
8. Tap or click OK to close the New Action dialog box.
9. On the Conditions tab, specify any limiting conditions for starting or stopping the task.
10. On the Settings tab, choose any additional optional settings for the task.
11. Tap or click OK to create the task.
Running manual backups
You can use Windows Server Backup to back up servers manually by following these steps:
1. Start Windows Server Backup. Tap or click Backup Once on the Action menu or in the Actions pane to start the Backup Once Wizard.
2. If you want to back up the server by using the same options you use for the Backup Schedule Wizard, select Scheduled Backup Options, tap or click Next, and then tap or click Backup to perform the backup. Skip the remaining steps.
3. If you want to back up the server by using different options, select Different Options, and then tap or click Next.
4. On the Select Backup Configuration page, note the backup size listed under the Full Server option. This is the storage space required to back up the server data, applications, and the system state. To back up all volumes on the server, select the Full Server option, and then tap or click Next. To back up selected volumes on the server, tap or click Custom, and then tap or click Next.
5. If you select Custom, the Select Items For Backup page is displayed. Tap or click Add Items. Select the check boxes for the volumes you want to back up, and clear the check boxes for the volumes you want to exclude. Select the Bare Metal Recovery option if you want to be able to fully recover the operating system. Tap or click OK, and then tap or click Next.
TIP After you select items, you might want to tap or click Advanced Settings before continuing. You can then use the options on the exclusions tab to identify locations and file types that should not be backed up. You also can then use the options on the VSS Settings tab to specify whether you want to create a full backup or a copy backup.
6. On the Specify Destination Type page, do one of the following:
■ If you want to back up to local drives, select Local Drives, and then tap or click Next. On the Backup Destination page, select the internal or external disk or DVD drive to use as the backup target. When stored on a DVD, backups are compressed and you can recover only full volumes. As a result, the size of the backup on a DVD might be smaller than the volume on the server. Tap or click Next.
■ If you want to back up to a remote shared folder, select Remote Shared Folder, and then tap or click Next. On the Specify Remote Folder page, enter the UNC path to the remote folder, such as \\FileServer43\Backups.
■ If you want the backup to be accessible to everyone who has access to the shared folder, select Inherit under Access Control. If you want to restrict access to the shared folder to the current user, administrators, and backup operators, select Do Not Inherit under Access Control. Tap or click Next. When prompted to provide access credentials, enter the user name and password for an account authorized to access and write to the shared folder.
7. Tap or click Next, and then tap or click Backup. The Backup Progress dialog box shows you the progress of the backup process. If you tap or click Close, the backup will continue to run in the background.
Recovering your server from hardware or startup failure
Windows Server 2012 R2 includes an extensive diagnostics and resolution architecture. These features can help you recover from many types of hardware, memory, and performance issues and either resolve them automatically or help users through the process of resolving them.
Windows Server 2012 R2 includes more reliable and better-performing device drivers to prevent many common causes of hangs and crashes. Improved I/O cancellation for device drivers ensures that the operating system can recover gracefully from blocking calls and that there are fewer blocking disk I/O operations.
To reduce downtime and restarts required for application installations and updates, Windows Server 2012 R2 can use the update process to mark in-use files for update, and then automatically replace the files the next time the application is started. In some cases, Windows Server 2012 R2 can save the application’s data, close the application, update the in-use files, and then restart the application. To improve overall system performance and responsiveness, Windows Server 2012 R2 uses memory efficiently, provides ordered execution for groups of threads, and provides several process-scheduling mechanisms. By optimizing memory and process usage, Windows Server 2012 R2 ensures that background processes have less performance impact on system performance.
Windows Server 2012 R2 provides improved guidance on the causes of unresponsive conditions. By including additional error-reporting details in the event logs, Windows Server 2012 R2 makes it easier to identify and resolve issues. To automatically recover from service failures, Windows Server 2012 R2 uses service recovery policies more extensively than its predecessors. When recovering a failed service, Windows Server 2012 R2 automatically handles both service and nonservice dependencies. Any necessary dependent services and system components are started prior to starting the failed service.
In earlier versions of Windows, an application crash or hang is marked as not responding, and it is up to the user to exit and then restart the application. Windows Server 2012 R2 attempts to resolve the issue of unresponsive applications by using Restart Manager. Restart Manager can shut down and restart unresponsive applications automatically. Thanks to Restart Manager, you might not have to intervene to try to resolve issues with frozen applications.
Failed installation and nonresponsive conditions of applications and drivers are also tracked through Action Center, and the built-in diagnostics display a warning message. By tapping or clicking the Action Center icon in the system tray, you can view recent messages. If you tap or click a message, Windows Server 2012 R2 opens the Message Details page in Action Center, which might provide a solution for the problem.
You also can view a list of current problems at any time by following these steps:
1. In Control Panel, under the System And Security heading, tap or click Review Your Computer’s Status.
2. In Action Center, a list of known problems is displayed. For some issues, you’ll be able to select a related View Message Details button to display a Message Details page. If a solution is available, tap or click the link provided to download the solution or visit a related website to get more information.
While you are working with Action Center, you can have Windows Server check for solutions to problems by tapping or clicking the Check For Solutions link on the Maintenance panel.
Windows Server 2012 R2 attempts to resolve issues related to running out of virtual memory by providing Resource Exhaustion Detection And Recovery. This feature monitors the systemwide virtual memory commit limit and alerts you if the computer is running low on virtual memory. To help you to correct this issue, it also identifies the processes consuming the largest amount of memory, enabling you to close any or all of these high resource-consuming applications directly from the Close Programs To Prevent Information Loss dialog box. The resource exhaustion alert is also logged in the system event log.