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Workstations and servers

Overview

File-level backup

File-level backup recovery

Image-level backup

Image-level backup recovery

Database backup

Database backup recovery

Overview

This article provides general information about data protection planning.

With Xopero ONE, you can protect multiple components of your infrastructure, including workstations and servers.

Backup & recovery

To protect your workstations and servers, you can use one of three main types of backups:

File-level — saves individual files and directories.
Image-level — protects the entire physical disk.
Databases — backs up your databases.

Similarly to backup types, Xopero ONE offers three methods to restore your data:

File-level backup — allows you to restore files directly from your storage. It can also be used to restore databases protected with file-level backup.
Image-level backup — enables restoring an entire disk, individual files from the backup, or the disk as an image file. You can also use BMR (bare-metal recovery) technology to recover data, allowing restoration between physical devices.
Database recovery — includes methods for restoring previously backed-up databases.

Good practices

Test the Xopero ONE system to determine when backups are performed and choose the best backup schedule. For example, you can schedule backups to run after working hours and enable automatic device shutdown after the backup in the plan settings.
The backup process typically uses the VSS service and device resources. To reduce resource usage, you don’t need to create multiple backup plans for different storages — instead, you can create a replication plan to copy data to another storage.

Useful links and items

Planning your backups

File-level backup

This article provides information about file-level backup in Xopero ONE.

File-level backup protects selected directories and individual files on your device.

Creating a backup plan

Log in to Xopero ONE Management Service, go to the Backup tab (Plans > Backup) and click the + Add plan button in the top toolbar.

Select Devices from the platforms list.

In the next aside, select Files & folders option and choose one or more devices for the plan to apply to (you can also select the plan to include all activated devices).

Define the name of the backup plan.

In the Data to protect section, select the data you want to include in the backup plan:

Global rules allow you to define locations that will apply to all selected devices. This method offers three options to choose from:
1. Path — allows you to manually enter the file or folder path.
2. System variable — enables the use of OS variables such as USERPROFILE, ALLUSERSPROFILE, or SystemRoot. ‼️When specifying a variable in Xopero ONE, percent signs % must be omitted.
3. Xopero variable — provides a predefined list of variables such as SYSTEM_DISK, ALL_DISKS, and HOMES.

Select from device — this method allows you to choose paths individually for each device by connecting remotely to its file system.

When creating a backup plan, you can use filters to gain better control over the files being backed up.

All information about filters and how to use them can be found in .

Filters are available only in the file-level backup plan.

Specify the backup location by choosing from the available storage options within your service.

Configure the Scheduler & data retention settings by defining when backups should run and which types of backup copies to use.

Set the retention policy to determine how long backups are stored — any copies exceeding this period will be automatically deleted.

Go to the Advanced settings section to customize additional options, including encryption, compression levels, and bandwidth limit. These settings provide greater flexibility and help optimize the backup process.

After completing the configuration, click the Save button. The protection plan will then automatically begin protecting your devices according to the schedule you defined.

You can also click Save&Run button to immediately start the backup process, regardless of schedule.

File-level backup recovery

In this article, you will learn how to restore data from a file-level backup.

Xopero ONE allows you to easily restore data — an entire backup, selected directories, or individual files — to any location.

Recovery process

Open the restore view in Xopero ONE Management Service using one of the following options:

Option A

Go to the Devices tab and click Restore next to the device whose data you want to recover. After selecting the device you want to restore, choose the plan containing the data you want to recover from the Backup plans drop-down menu.

At the bottom of the aside, you can see which agent is being used to access the storage. To change the device, click Change. Ensure the selected device has access to the storage.

Go to the Storages tab, select the storage containing the backup data, and click the folder 📂icon to browse the storage.

Select the device whose data you want to restore. Then, choose the backup plan and review the information about the agent used to connect to the storage.

After selecting the appropriate device and backup plan, the system will display the Backup copies section — here, you can choose the backup version you want to restore. Click the desired date, then select Restore.

The Select data to restore section displays a tree structure of directories and files. You can select specific directories or individual files to restore by marking the checkboxes next to them. To restore the selected data, click Restore selected. If you want to restore all items included in the backup plan, click Restore all.

In the Data to restore section, you can modify the previously selected data that will be included in the restore process. To change or add data, click the Edit button.

The Restore to section allows you to define the destination for the restore process—here, you can select any device that is assigned to the Xopero ONE platform as the target location for your restored data.

In Restore directory section you can specify the exact location where the data will be restored. You can choose to restore it to the original directory or select a new directory.

In Restore settings section, you will find three additional options that can be enabled for the restoration process:

Overwrite existing data — determines whether existing files in the restore directory should be replaced with the restored ones.
Restore files permissions — restores the original file permissions.

Double-check your configuration and click the Start now button to begin the recovery process.

Image-level backup

In this article you will learn how to configure image-level backup using Xopero ONE Management Service.

Image-level backup creates a full snapshot of your system, including the operating system, applications, and data.

Overview

Drive image-level backup (aka disk image backup) by definition creates a complete, byte-for-byte copy of a hard drive, including the operating system, all installed applications, settings, and other data. In case of failure, drive image-level backup allows for a rapid and full restoration of the system to its previous state, either on the original or a new device.

Backups of Linux-based systems are created without snapshot integration (LVM/Btrfs/DMERA).

Creating a backup plan

Drive image-level backup plan can be applied to multiple devices at once.

Log in to Xopero ONE Management Service, go to the Backup tab (Plans > Backup) and click the + Add plan button in the top toolbar.

Select Devices from the platforms list.

In the next aside, select Whole OS option and choose one or more devices for the plan to apply to (you can also select the plan to include all activated devices, or select device groups for the plan to cover).

Define the name of the backup plan.

In the Data to protect section, select the data you want to include in the backup plan:

Global rules allow you to define locations that will apply to all selected devices. This method offers the Xopero variable option, which provides a predefined list of variables such as SYSTEM_DISK, ALL_DISKS, and HOMES.

Specify the backup location by choosing from the available storage options within your service.

Configure the by defining when backups should run and which types of backup copies to use.

After completing the configuration, click the Save button. The protection plan will then automatically begin protecting your devices according to the schedule you defined.

Image-level backup recovery

Granular recovery

Bare-metal recovery

Granular recovery

This article explains how to restore data from an image-level backup.

In Xopero ONE, there are three recovery options available for image-level backups, allowing you to choose the one that best suits your needs and preferences.

Initiating the recovery process

Open the restore view in Xopero ONE Management Service using one of the following options:

Option A

Go to the Devices tab and click Restore next to the device whose data you want to recover. After selecting the device you want to restore, choose the plan containing the data you want to recover from the Backup plans drop-down menu.

At the bottom of the aside, you can see which agent is being used to access the storage. To change the device, click Change. Ensure the selected device has access to the storage.

Go to the Storages tab, select the storage containing the backup data, and click the folder 📂icon to browse the storage.

Select the device whose data you want to restore. Then, choose the backup plan and review the information about the agent used to connect to the storage.

Choose one of the available granular recovery options to proceed (click one of the following links to continue):

The iSCSI target option allows you to quickly create and share an iSCSI resource over the TCP/IP protocol. You can connect this resource to any device without restoring backup copies to another location. This method is useful for granular restoration and enables easy file copying through the file explorer.

Select all disks by clicking Restore all, or choose a specific disk and click Restore selected.

The iSCSI worker section allows you to select the device that will host the iSCSI target. To change the device, click the Edit button.

Press Win + R simultaneously to open the Run window. Type iscsicpl.exe and click OK (or press Enter) to launch the iSCSI Initiator.

In the Targets tab, enter the IP address of the network interface from the Xopero ONE iSCSI configuration in the Target field, then click Quick Connect.

Select the disk you want to restore and click Restore selected.

Next, choose the image format from the available options:

Bare-metal recovery

Restore the entire system from an image-level backup copy.

Bare-metal recovery (BMR) restores your entire system from an image-level backup, including the operating system, applications, and all associated data.

General information

BMR (bare-metal restore, also known as bare-metal recovery) enables rapid system recovery using a system image created with disk-imaging software. The image file restores the entire operating system and its underlying configurations in minutes, completely bypassing the lengthy process of manual OS and application re-installation. Because BMR allows you to quickly return a physical machine or server to its full operational state following a data-loss event or hardware failure, it serves as a cornerstone of an effective disaster recovery strategy.

Initiating a bare-metal recovery will completely erase all existing partitions and data on the target system disk. The process deletes the current disk structure, recreates the original partition layout from the backup, and then restores the operating system and files onto the machine.

In Xopero ONE, the BMR process is streamlined into four primary steps:

Create an ISO file that includes the pre-configured Xopero ONE backup agent.
Write the ISO file to a USB flash drive—or any alternative bootable media—to create a recovery drive.
Boot the target device (the device you intend to restore the system image to) using the newly created ISO media.
Log in to the Xopero ONE Management Service (XMS) and start the recovery process.

The following steps outline the process of creating an ISO image with a pre-configured backup agent using the SVS Creator utility.

utility from the official Xopero website and extract the contents of the ZIP archive to a separate folder.

Run SVSCreator.exe to open the creation wizard.

The following steps outline the process of booting the target device using the previously created recovery drive.

Boot the target device using the newly created recovery medium to initialize the image-level backup restoration process.

After the device boots, the SVS application will automatically launch and display the following menu options:

The following steps describe the recovery process in Xopero ONE Management Service.

Click the 💻 laptop icon in the top-right corner of the management service panel.

Find the target device, select it, and click Activate to assign a license to it.

Database backup

Preparing Linux to backup Oracle

Changing Oracle database mode

Changing the temporary dump folder

Oracle database backup

MySQL database backup

Microsoft SQL database backup

PostgreSQL database backup

Preparing Linux to backup Oracle

This article describes how to prepare a Linux operating system for backing up an Oracle database environment.

Oracle database backup involves generating a database dump using backup scripts and then backing up the resulting dump file.

Linux preparation process

Xopero ONE agent requires the availability of the rman and sqlplus tools. Before starting, ensure that these tools are installed and accessible.

Using the Linux command line, log in to the account used for backing up your Oracle database and execute the following commands:

echo 'connect target /; quit' | rman

echo 'SELECT INSTANCE_NAME FROM V$INSTANCE;' | sqlplus / as sysdba

If these tools are unavailable (example below) you need to configure the environment variables.

Edit the /home//.bash_profile file and add the following records:

export ORACLE_SID=<database_ID>

export ORACLE_HOME=database_directory

The database_directory specifies the location of the Oracle database.

export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH

Now, after logging in again, executing the following commands should complete successfully.

echo 'connect target /; quit' | rman

echo 'SELECT INSTANCE_NAME FROM V$INSTANCE;' | sqlplus / as sysdba

Once done, your Linux system should now be ready to backup an Oracle environment.

Changing Oracle database mode

This article describes how to change the Oracle database mode.

Changing the Oracle database mode is crucial for the correct backup execution.

Executing the following operations will temporarily make the Oracle database environment unavailable.

Prerequisites

Before starting the Oracle database backup task, make sure that the database mode is set to ARCHIVELOG. To verify that the mode is configured correctly or to change it, open the command line as the user configured in the backup plan and run the sqlplus tool using the following command:

sqlplus / as sysdba

You can then close this tool using the QUIT; command.

Verifying the settings

To verify that the database mode is correctly set to ARCHIVELOG, run the following command:

SELECT LOG_MODE FROM v$database;

If the database mode is set to NOARCHIVELOG, change it to ARCHIVELOG.

Changing the database mode

You can switch the database mode from NOARCHIVELOG to ARCHIVELOG using the following commands:

SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;

STARTUP MOUNT;

ALTER DATABASE ARCHIVELOG;

ALTER DATABASE OPEN;

QUIT;

Now, verify that the database mode has been changed successfully by running the following command:

SELECT LOG_MODE FROM v$database;

Useful links and items

Changing the temporary dump folder

This article describes how to change the temporary folder used for database backup dumps.

Database backup involves generating a database dump and then backing up the resulting dump file.

Data to protect

When creating a backup plan, in the Data to protect section, select the folder where database dumps will be stored. You can choose either Select from device or Select path or variable — switch between these options by clicking on the text in the list.

If the specified folder is deleted, you will not be able to select it from the list of available folders on the device — in that case, switch to Select path or variable.

Changing the temporary dump folder

Create a new temporary folder.
Go to the Plans tab and edit the plan you want to change or create a new one.
In the Data to protect section, uncheck the old folder and select the new one (if you're creating a new plan, simply select the newly created temporary folder from the list).
Next, go to Advanced settings, then Backup scripts, and update the script arguments to the new database dump location.
Save the changes.

If you delete the old directory first, you will not be able to deselect the folder in the Select from device section — switch to Select path or variable and remove the old directory.

Oracle database backup

This article describes how to configure the Oracle database environment in Xopero ONE.

The Oracle database backup process in Xopero ONE consists of two stages:

Creating a database dump using backup scripts.
Backing up the created dump file.

The first stage is executed through Xopero ONE using the

MySQL database backup

This article explains how to use backup scripts to create a MySQL database dump and include it in a backup plan.

In Xopero ONE, you can back up a variety of databases, including Oracle, Microsoft SQL, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

General information

The MySQL database backup process in Xopero ONE consists of two steps:

Creating a database dump using backup scripts.
Backing up the database dump.

The first step is performed through Xopero ONE using the backup scripts feature. The second step is a standard file-level or image-level backup executed directly by Xopero ONE.

By using the mysqldump tool, Xopero ONE supports all MySQL versions that are officially supported by Oracle.

Log in to XMS, go to the Backup tab (Plans > Backup) and click the + Add plan button in the top toolbar.

Select Devices from the platforms list.

Microsoft SQL database backup

This article explains how to configure the Microsoft SQL database environment using Xopero ONE.

The Microsoft SQL database backup process in Xopero ONE consists of two steps:

Creating a database dump using backup scripts.
Backing up the database dump.

The first step is performed through Xopero ONE

PostgreSQL database backup

This article explains how to configure the PostgreSQL database environment in Xopero ONE.

In Xopero ONE, you can back up a variety of databases, including Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft SQL, and PostgreSQL.

Prerequisites

To maintain data consistency, Xopero recommends using a dedicated backup type: a file-based backup with a pre-backup script for the PostgreSQL database.

The pre-backup script can also be used to generate a database dump before performing a disk-level backup.

Database backup begins with a script that requests the database server to create a dump in a temporary directory. Once the dump is complete, Xopero ONE backs up the generated dump file.

Xopero ONE uses the pg_dump utility to back up PostgreSQL databases.

Backup configuration

Log in to XMS, go to the Backup tab (Plans > Backup) and click the + Add plan button in the top toolbar.

Select Devices from the platforms list.

In the next aside, select one of the available options and choose one or more devices for the plan to apply to (you can also select the plan to include all activated devices).

Define the name of the backup plan.

Configure your backup plan according to your needs (more information about the backup plan setup can be found in and articles).

Go to the Advanced settings section and click Edit to customize additional options.

Scroll down to the Backup scripts section and click the Pre-task script toggle to turn it on.

Select the script dedicated to backing up the PostgreSQL database environment.

Type your database username into the Database user field.

Choose the user password by opening the Password Manager, where you can either add a new password or select an existing one.

Set up the script arguments — it should be entered in the Script arguments field as follows:

database — the name of the database to back up. A backup plan can target a single database or all databases. To back up all databases, use the --all parameter instead of specifying a database name.

You can enable the two additional options using the checkboxes:

Wait for the script to continue the task — the application will wait until the dump is ready.
Fail the task if the script fails — if the script fails, the system will notify you of the backup error.

Double-check your settings and click Save to close the Advanced settings aside.

After completing the configuration, click the Save button. The protection plan will then automatically begin protecting your devices and databases according to the schedule you defined.

Database backup recovery

Restoring Oracle database

Restoring MySQL database

Restoring Microsoft SQL database

Restoring PostgreSQL database

Restoring Oracle database

This article explains how to restore an Oracle database from a backup.

An Oracle database can be restored to its original location or to a new temporary directory.

How to restore an Oracle database from backup

The first step in restoring an Oracle database from backup is to restore the database files from storage to a temporary directory. These files will then be imported into the Oracle database environment.

To restore files backed up using a file-level backup plan follow this guide.

Xopero recommends restoring the database files to their original directory to avoid potential permission issues in a different location.

If the database files are restored to a temporary directory, run the following command in the CLI:

/opt/XoperoONEBackupAgent/Xopero.Device.App --oracle-restore database_ID backupuser /home/backupuser/oracle/oracle_database_dump

/opt/XoperoONEBackupAgent/Xopero.Device.App — path to the Xopero ONE application
--oracle-restore — parameter used to restore the Oracle database
database_ID — ID of the database to be restored
backupuser — user with permission to restore the database
/home/backupuser/oracle/oracle_database_dump — path to the directory containing the restored database files

If the restore completes successfully, information about the restored database will be displayed on the screen:

Restoring the database to the source host when part of it is unavailable

If part of the database is currently unavailable (for example, if a user deleted a table), the restoration process described above may fail, as the deletion is a more recent operation in the database.

The solution is to run the modified command:

/opt/XoperoONEBackupAgent/Xopero.Device.App --oracle-restore database_ID backupuser /home/backupuser/oracle/oracle_database_dump true

The last optional parameter, required only when restoring to the source host, should be set to true. This ensures Xopero sets the SCN (System Change Number) to the point immediately after the backup.

Setting this parameter resolves issues with unrestored parts of the database. The restoration method described in the first section of this article will still work, but it may not always produce the expected results.

Restoring MySQL database

This article explains how to restore a MySQL database from a backup.

MySQL database can be restored to its original location or to a new temporary directory.

How to restore MySQL database from backup

The first step in restoring a MySQL database from backup is to restore the database files from storage to a temporary directory. These files will then be imported into the MySQL database environment.

To restore files backed up using a file-level backup plan follow this guide. If your database was backed up using an image-level backup, use granular recovery to restore it as described in this article.

Xopero recommends restoring the database files to their original directory to avoid potential permission issues in a different location.

Once the database files are restored, the next step is to import them into the MySQL environment. To restore the database to the MySQL server, use a database management tool.

This guide uses the MySQL command-line utility.

To restore the database, log in to the database server using the following command:

SERVER_ADDRESS — the address of the MySQL server where the database will be restored
USER — the username of the database user

Next, type:

DATABASE_NAME — the name of the database where the dump file will be restored

‼️ If the corrupted database still exists in MySQL, first drop it and recreate the database using the following command:

The database backup is restored using the SOURCE PATH_TO_FILE command, replacing PATH_TO_FILE with the full path to the previously restored database file. The syntax is as follows:

Restoring Microsoft SQL database

This article explains how to restore a Microsoft SQL database from a backup.

Microsoft SQL database can be restored to its original location or to a new temporary directory.

How to restore Microsoft SQL database from backup

The first step in restoring a Microsoft SQL database from backup is to restore the database files from storage to a temporary directory. These files will then be imported into the Microsoft SQL database environment.

Xopero recommends restoring the database files to their original directory to avoid potential permission issues in a different location.

Once the database files are restored, the next step is to import them into the Microsoft SQL environment.

Open the Microsoft SQL Management Studio.

In the opened window, select Device as the backup source and provide the path to the folder containing the *.bak database dump file.

After selecting the *.bak file, click OK.

The database has been successfully restored and is now listed in the directory tree.

Restoring PostgreSQL database

This article explains how to restore a PostgreSQL database from a backup.

PostgreSQL database can be restored to its original location or to a new temporary directory.

How to restore PostgreSQL database from backup

The first step in restoring a PostgreSQL database from backup is to restore the database files from storage to a temporary directory. These files will then be imported into the PostgreSQL database environment.

Xopero recommends restoring the database files to their original directory to avoid potential permission issues in a different location.

Once the database files are restored, the next step is to import them into the PostgreSQL environment.

Enter the following command:

This command does not create the database. If you want to import the database dump file into a non-existing database, you must create the database first. If you want to restore the dump file to an existing database, you must drop the database, create it again, and then import the dump file.

The database has been successfully restored