Pre/Post Commands; Database Support - ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE ECHO - SERVER FOR WINDOWS User Manual

This option is effective for file/folders backup only. When creating a disk/partition image,
you cannot filter out any files.

5.3.3 Pre/post commands

You can specify commands or batch files to be automatically executed before and after
backup procedure
the . For example, you may want to remove some tmp files from the
disk before starting backup or configure a third-party antivirus product to be started each
time before the backup starts. Click Edit to open the Edit Command window where you
can easily input the command, its arguments and working directory or browse folders to
find a batch file.
The program does not support interactive commands, i.e. commands that require user
input (for example, "pause".)
The backup process will run concurrently with your commands if you uncheck the Do not
perform operations until the commands execution is complete box, which is
checked by default.

5.3.4 Database support

Database servers, such as MS SQL Server and MS Exchange, can be problematic to
backup, partially due to open files and indexes and partially due to rapid data changes.
Therefore it is usually recommended that the database be suspended just before the
backup (data capture). You can suspend the database and clear all caches to ensure that
all transactions are completed at the moment of data capture. If it become necessary to
restore a damaged database, it will be restored completely and be ready to access after
recovery.
1. Volume Shadow Copy Service
Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) provides the infrastructure for
backup on running systems by keeping up coordination between user applications that
update data on disk and backup applications. VSS is available in Microsoft Windows XP
and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating systems.
If your database is compatible with Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), then
checking the Enable VSS support box in Database support window will ensure
completion of all transactions before the backup process starts. The examples of VSS-
aware databases are Exchange, Oracle, SQL Server.
2. Before/after data capture commands
However, VSS is not available in server operation systems older than Windows 2003
Server, and not all databases support VSS. In these cases, the transactions completion
can be ensured by executing batch files or scripts that pause the appropriate Windows
services and automatically resume them after data capture.
An example of a batch file, suspending the Windows services for MS Exchange:
net stop msexchangesa /y /y
net stop "Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine"
An example of a batch file, resuming the Windows services for MS Exchange:
net start "Microsoft Exchange System Attendant"
net start "Microsoft Exchange Event"
net start "Microsoft Exchange IMAP4"
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