Zmanda Windows Client Users Manual

Introduction

Zmanda Windows Client (or ZWC) backs up data from Microsoft Windows clients to an Amanda backup server. It is compatible with the following operating system versions:

• Windows XP Pro (Service Pack 2) running on the x86 platform
• Windows 2003 server running on the x86 platform
• Windows Vista running on the x86 platform

Windows clients must open inbound TCP ports 10080 and 10081, and outbound TCP ports 700:800.

Downloading and Installing Zmanda Windows Client

Important Note: During installation, an amandabackup user account is created on the Zmanda Windows Client using local rules (i.e., Domain Controller/Domain/Standalone Workstation) for password creation. These OS users run backup and restore processes. When you change the account passwords eventually, be careful to ensure that security policies (such as strong passwords, password expiration) are followed. If an amandabackup user password expires, the Zmanda Windows Client service will fail to start, returning a Login Failure message.

1. Download the Zmanda Windows Client software from the Zmanda network downloads page. Please have your Zmanda network Username and Password ready; you will need them to access the download page. Depending on the licenses you have purchased, the downloads page will let you download one (or more) of the following archive packages:
   
   ZWCInstaller-Desktop-264-32bit.zip
   ZWCInstaller-Desktop-264-64bit.zip
   ZWCInstaller-Server-264-32bit.zip
   ZWCInstaller-Server-264-64bit.zip
   
   The different packages correspond to the different setup programs necessary for 32- and 64-bit server and desktop installation options.
   
   Desktop versions are required for Windows XP and Vista, server versions are required for Windows 2003 and 2008 server. You should install the 32-bit version on 32-bit platforms and the 64-bit version on 64-bit platforms.
2. Extract the zip file to the appropriate Windows machine and run the Setup.exe program.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions. When asked to select an installation directory, you may want to change from the default location (C:\Program Files), as the Zmanda Windows Client internal databases can consume a lot of disk space and also affect the performance of other applications that depend on the same disk when processing backups. You will also need to set a password for the amandabackup user on the Windows client. You will also need to know the Fully Qualified Domain Name or IP address of the Amanda server to which this client will back up. Multiple Amanda servers can be added using comma-separated syntax.
4. If there were any problems or errors, refer to the error logs as described in the next section.

Installation Troubleshooting

If the installation failed for some reason, the ZWC installer rolls back the installation to the last working configuration.

The installation program logs messages to the following locations:

• The Windows $temp directory (MSIMM:DD:HH.txt) The MSI-generated files are named by date and time rather than by the software being installed.
• Successful installation messages are logged to C:\Program Files\Zmanda\Zmanda Client for Windows\Debug\LogFile.txt
• Installation failures are logged to C:\zwc_install.log.

Installation can fail for a variety of reasons. For example, the user set a Password not conforming to Windows requirements, or running the installation program without the necessarily permissions. The log messages will explain what went wrong.

Changing the Location of the Installation Data Directory

Depending on the size of backup sets and the number of backup runs scheduled for your organization, the Zmanda Windows Client can consume a lot (>1G) of disk space, and also affect the performance of other applications that depend on the same disk while backups are running. The files that tend to grow are listed below:

• c:\program files\zmanda\zmanda client for windows\MySQL\data is where the catalog file(s) are stored. If you move these files, the new location must be specified in the ZWC my.ini file.
• c:\program files\zmanda\zmanda client for windows\misc is where the backup set header files are stored. This location can be changed using the ZWCConfig utility.

If you find that the ZWC installation is consuming too much disk space while processing backup sets, you can move location of these files. There are two methods of doing this:

• By uninstalling ZWC and re-installing it on a different volume (preferred).

• By manually moving the catalog and backup set header files and editing the my.ini file and Windows Registry to specify the new locations (see the steps listed below).

1. Use the Control Panel to stop both the ZWCService and the ZWC-MySQL services.
2. Move the data directory under ZWC_Installation_Directory\MySQL\Data to the new location. For example, move C:\Program Files\Zmanda\Zmanda Client for Windows\MySQL\data to F:\MySQL\data
3. Open the my.ini located in ZWC_Installation_Directory\MySQL\my.ini and put the following entry under the [mysqld] section:
   
   ----------------------------------------------
   [mysqld]
   datadir=SQL_data_dir
   
   ----------------------------------------------
   where SQL_data_dir is the new data location.
   
    
4. Run the ZWCConfig utility. In the Advance tab, edit the location of temp dir.
5. Start the ZWC-MySQL service.
6. Start the ZWCService service.

Backing Up Windows Clients

Restoring a Windows Client

The Restore procedure for a Windows client similar to the procedure for other clients. Note that you cannot restore a Windows backup to a Linux/Unix destination host.

"ERROR: Client Reported Error while Restoring
Error restoring the selected files"

Windows system state backup and recovery

Windows System State refers to a collection of several key operating system elements and their files. Backing up the Windows System State is crucial for a successful disaster recovery strategy. Zmanda Windows Client can back up the Windows System State of Windows 2003 Server (with or without AD), Windows XP, and Vista clients. Windows System State is always a full backup (level 0).

The system state can be restored to the original location or a different location. Partial restoration of Windows System State can be done only to a different directory location. Windows System State files require special handling to back up because they are always locked.

Depending on the type of Windows system, Zmanda Windows Client software backs up the following System State information in comprehensive and coherent fashion:

Changing the password for the amandabackup user

During the installation process, the amandabackup user is created and a password is set. To change the password, shut down the Zmanda Windows Client service, then use the Windows Control Panel utility to edit the amandabackup user account. Use the same procedure as for any other Windows-based password protected service. Restart the Zmanda Windows Client service when you are done. Note that the service must restart without any errors for the changed password to take effect.

Zmanda Windows Client configuration utility

The Zmanda Windows Client configuration utility (ZWCConfig) can be used to change Windows client logging levels, adding/removing Amanda servers and to create windows templates. A template is a list of directories on the Windows client that are to be backed up as group, offering the same functionality that Disk List Entries provide on the Amanda server.

Log on to the workstation as the Administrator and start ZWCConfig utility by clicking Start->Programs->Zmanda Client for Windows->ZWCConfig. To create a template, click the Template tab. Specify a template name and the list of files and folders to be included in the template. The following screen shows the creation of mydocs template that backs up the adminstrator's documents folder.

The Zmanda Windows Client templates can be added to Amanda client configuration using Zmanda Management Console. Navigate to Backup Where and choose Windows Template as the object to backup to display the following:

Host Name is the name of the Window system being backed up, which can be either an IP address or a fully qualified domain name. Template specifies the path to the template file on that host. See the ZMC's Backup What help for more detailed information about the other fields and ZMC operation.

Changing ZWC configuration parameters requires administrator to restart Zmanda Windows Client service. Zmanda Windows client service can be restarted from the Windows services user interface (Administrative Tools > Services). An example services screen is shown below.

Invoking Pre- and Post-backup Scripts

You may have a need to perform automated operations before and after a backup run, such as deleting temporary files, starting or shutting down services, or other such operations that can be performed from a Windows script or batch file.  By editing the template file described in the previous section, you can specify such scripts to run automatically either before or after a backup run for a given backup set.

Simply add a <PRE_BACKUP_SCRIPT> or <POST_BACKUP_SCRIPT> tag to the template.txt file for a given backup set. The tag's content is the path to script. For example:

<DLE_Template>
        <DLE_NAME>juventus</DLE_NAME>
        <DLE_TYPE>USER-DEFINED</DLE_TYPE>
        <FILE_LIST>
                <FILE_NAME>c:\data</FILE_NAME>
        </FILE_LIST>
        <PRE_BACKUP_SCRIPT>C:\preScript.bat prebackup.txt</PRE_BACKUP_SCRIPT>
        <POST_BACKUP_SCRIPT>C:\postScript.bat postbackup.txt<POST_BACKUP_SCRIPT>
</DLE_Template>

If the prebackup script fails, the backup returns ZWC_ENG_ERR_PRE_SCRIPT (error code 278).

If the  postbackup script fails, error will be logged and backup status will be success.

Compatibility with previous versions of the Zmanda Windows Client

If you have created backup images using Amanda Enterprise edition Windows Client 2.6.1 or older, the older version of the client is required to recover the files to a Windows machine. Contact the Zmanda Support team for assistance. Alternatively, you can use the current version of Amanda Enterprise to recover the files to the backup server and then move them manually to the client.