Acronis True Image 2020. If you don’t want to lose files anymore, Acronis True Image is the best. Acronis Backup is the most advanced backup solution for local and remote Mac users. With enhanced backup validation and blockchain-based authentication of your backups with Acronis Notary, Acronis Backup is the most reliable backup solution for your Macs on the market today.
-->You can use the Azure Backup service to back up on-premises machines and workloads, and Azure virtual machines (VMs). This article summarizes support settings and limitations for backing up machines by using Microsoft Azure Backup Server (MABS) or System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM), and Azure Backup.
Mac server / client solution for SME backup.”. Back up every email account in the organization and restore individual emails with attachments to the original account or a new account. Migrate every email from one account to another one time or on a schedule. Advanced Tape Support. Centralized and scalable backup: Backup multiple Mac OS X clients to a single master backup server without impacting users and applications; Packaged dependencies: Mac OS X Client is an easy to install package with pre-built dependencies. Simple, flexible backups: Supports full and incremental backups.
About DPM/MABS
System Center DPM is an enterprise solution that configures, facilitates, and manages backup and recovery of enterprise machines and data. It's part of the System Center suite of products.
MABS is a server product that can be used to back up on-premises physical servers, VMs, and apps running on them.
MABS is based on System Center DPM and provides similar functionality with a few differences:
- No System Center license is required to run MABS.
- For both MABS and DPM, Azure provides long-term backup storage. In addition, DPM allows you to back up data for long-term storage on tape. MABS doesn't provide this functionality.
- You can back up a primary DPM server with a secondary DPM server. The secondary server will protect the primary server database and the data source replicas stored on the primary server. If the primary server fails, the secondary server can continue to protect workloads that are protected by the primary server, until the primary server is available again. MABS doesn't provide this functionality.
You download MABS from the Microsoft Download Center. It can be run on-premises or on an Azure VM.
DPM and MABS support backing up a wide variety of apps, and server and client operating systems. They provide multiple backup scenarios:
- You can back up at the machine level with system-state or bare-metal backup.
- You can back up specific volumes, shares, folders, and files.
- You can back up specific apps by using optimized app-aware settings.
DPM/MABS backup
Backup using DPM/MABS and Azure Backup works as follows:
- DPM/MABS protection agent is installed on each machine that will be backed up.
- Machines and apps are backed up to local storage on DPM/MABS.
- The Microsoft Azure Recovery Services (MARS) agent is installed on the DPM server/MABS.
- The MARS agent backs up the DPM/MABS disks to a backup Recovery Services vault in Azure by using Azure Backup.
For more information:
- Learn more about MABS architecture.
- Review what's supported for the MARS agent.
Supported scenarios
Scenario | Agent | Location |
---|---|---|
Back up on-premises machines/workloads | DPM/MABS protection agent runs on the machines that you want to back up. The MARS agent on DPM/MABS server. The minimum version of the Microsoft Azure Recovery Services agent, or Azure Backup agent, required to enable this feature is 2.0.8719.0. | DPM/MABS must be running on-premises. |
Supported deployments
DPM/MABS can be deployed as summarized in the following table.
Deployment | Support | Details |
---|---|---|
Deployed on-premises | Physical server Hyper-V VM VMware VM | If DPM/MABS is installed as a VMware VM, it only backs up VMware VMs and workloads that are running on those VMs. |
Deployed as an Azure Stack VM | MABS only | DPM can't be used to back up Azure Stack VMs. |
Deployed as an Azure VM | Protects Azure VMs and workloads that are running on those VMs | DPM/MABS running in Azure can't back up on-premises machines. |
Supported MABS and DPM operating systems
Azure Backup can back up DPM/MABS instances that are running any of the following operating systems. Operating systems should be running the latest service packs and updates.
Scenario | DPM/MABS |
---|---|
MABS on an Azure VM | Windows 2016 Datacenter. Windows 2019 Datacenter. We recommend that you start with an image from the marketplace. Minimum Standard_A4_v2 with four cores and 8-GB RAM. |
DPM on an Azure VM | System Center 2012 R2 with Update 3 or later. Windows operating system as required by System Center. We recommend that you start with an image from the marketplace. Minimum Standard_A4_v2 with four cores and 8-GB RAM. |
MABS on-premises | MABS v3 and later: Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019 |
DPM on-premises | Physical server/Hyper-V VM: System Center 2012 SP1 or later. VMware VM: System Center 2012 R2 with Update 5 or later. |
Note
Installing Azure Backup Server isn't supported on Windows Server Core or Microsoft Hyper-V Server.
Management support
Issue | Details |
---|---|
Installation | Install DPM/MABS on a single-purpose machine. Don't install DPM/MABS on a domain controller, on a machine with the Application Server role installation, on a machine that's running Microsoft Exchange Server or System Center Operations Manager, or on a cluster node. Review all DPM system requirements. |
Domain | DPM/MABS should be joined to a domain. Install first, and then join DPM/MABS to a domain. Moving DPM/MABS to a new domain after deployment isn't supported. |
Storage | Modern backup storage (MBS) is supported from DPM 2016/MABS v2 and later. It isn't available for MABS v1. |
MABS upgrade | You can directly install MABS v3, or upgrade to MABS v3 from MABS v2. Learn more. |
Moving MABS | Moving MABS to a new server while retaining the storage is supported if you're using MBS. The server must have the same name as the original. You can't change the name if you want to keep the same storage pool, and use the same MABS database to store data recovery points. You'll need a backup of the MABS database because you'll need to restore it. |
MABS support on Azure Stack
You can deploy MABS on an Azure Stack VM so that you can manage backup of Azure Stack VMs and workloads from a single location.
Component | Details |
---|---|
MABS on Azure Stack VM | At least size A2. We recommend you start with a Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 image from Azure Marketplace. Don't install anything else on the MABS VM. |
MABS storage | Use a separate storage account for the MABS VM. The MARS agent running on MABS needs temporary storage for a cache location and to hold data restored from the cloud. |
MABS storage pool | The size of the MABS storage pool is determined by the number and size of disks that are attached to the MABS VM. Each Azure Stack VM size has a maximum number of disks. For example, A2 is four disks. |
MABS retention | Don't retain backed up data on the local MABS disks for more than five days. |
MABS scale up | To scale up your deployment, you can increase the size of the MABS VM. For example, you can change from A to D series. You can also ensure that you're offloading data with backup to Azure regularly. If necessary, you can deploy additional MABS servers. |
.NET Framework on MABS | The MABS VM needs .NET Framework 3.3 SP1 or later installed on it. |
MABS domain | The MABS VM must be joined to a domain. A domain user with admin privileges must install MABS on the VM. |
Azure Stack VM data backup | You can back up files, folders, and apps. |
Supported backup | These operating systems are supported for VMs that you want to back up: Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel (Datacenter, Enterprise, Standard) Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2 |
SQL Server support for Azure Stack VMs | Back up SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2012 SP1. Back up and recover a database. |
SharePoint support for Azure Stack VMs | SharePoint 2016, SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2010. Back up and recover a farm, database, front end, and web server. |
Network requirements for backed up VMs | All VMs in Azure Stack workload must belong to the same virtual network and belong to the same subscription. |
DPM/MABS networking support
URL access
The DPM server/MABS needs access to these URLs:
http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt
*.Microsoft.com
*.WindowsAzure.com
*.microsoftonline.com
*.windows.net
Azure ExpressRoute support
You can back up your data over Azure ExpressRoute with public peering (available for old circuits) and Microsoft peering. Backup over private peering isn't supported.
With public peering: Ensure access to the following domains/addresses:
http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt
microsoft.com
.WindowsAzure.com
.microsoftonline.com
.windows.net
With Microsoft peering, select the following services/regions and relevant community values:
- Azure Active Directory (12076:5060)
- Microsoft Azure Region (according to the location of your Recovery Services vault)
- Azure Storage (according to the location of your Recovery Services vault)
For more information, see the ExpressRoute routing requirements.
Note
Public Peering is deprecated for new circuits.
DPM/MABS connectivity to Azure Backup
Connectivity to the Azure Backup service is required for backups to function properly, and the Azure subscription should be active. The following table shows the behavior if these two things don't occur.
MABS to Azure | Subscription | Backup/Restore |
---|---|---|
Connected | Active | Back up to DPM/MABS disk. Back up to Azure. Restore from disk. Restore from Azure. |
Connected | Expired/deprovisioned | No backup to disk or Azure. If the subscription is expired, you can restore from disk or Azure. If the subscription is decommissioned, you can't restore from disk or Azure. The Azure recovery points are deleted. |
No connectivity for more than 15 days | Active | No backup to disk or Azure. You can restore from disk or Azure. |
No connectivity for more than 15 days | Expired/deprovisioned | No backup to disk or Azure. If the subscription is expired, you can restore from disk or Azure. If the subscription is decommissioned, you can't restore from disk or Azure. The Azure recovery points are deleted. |
Domain and Domain trusts support
Requirement | Details |
---|---|
Domain | The DPM/MABS server should be in a Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012 domain. |
Domain trust | DPM/MABS supports data protection across forests, as long as you establish a forest-level, two-way trust between the separate forests. DPM/MABS can protect servers and workstations across domains, within a forest that has a two-way trust relationship with the DPM/MABS server domain. To protect computers in workgroups or untrusted domains, see Back up and restore workloads in workgroups and untrusted domains. |
DPM/MABS storage support
Data that's backed up to DPM/MABS is stored on local disk storage.
Storage | Details |
---|---|
MBS | Modern backup storage (MBS) is supported from DPM 2016/MABS v2 and later. It isn't available for MABS v1. |
MABS storage on Azure VM | Data is stored on Azure disks that are attached to the DPM/MABS VM, and that are managed in DPM/MABS. The number of disks that can be used for DPM/MABS storage pool is limited by the size of the VM. A2 VM: 4 disks; A3 VM: 8 disks; A4 VM: 16 disks, with a maximum size of 1 TB for each disk. This determines the total backup storage pool that's available. The amount of data you can back up depends on the number and size of the attached disks. |
MABS data retention on Azure VM | We recommend that you retain data for one day on the DPM/MABS Azure disk, and back up from DPM/MABS to the vault for longer retention. This way you can protect a larger amount of data by offloading it to Azure Backup. |
Modern backup storage (MBS)
From DPM 2016/MABS v2 (running on Windows Server 2016) and later, you can take advantage of modern backup storage (MBS).
- MBS backups are stored on a Resilient File System (ReFS) disk.
- MBS uses ReFS block cloning for faster backup and more efficient use of storage space.
- When you add volumes to the local DPM/MABS storage pool, you configure them with drive letters. You can then configure workload storage on different volumes.
- When you create protection groups to back up data to DPM/MABS, you select the drive you want to use. For example, you might store backups for SQL or other high IOPS workloads on a high-performance drive, and store workloads that are backed up less frequently on a lower performance drive.
Supported backups to MABS
For information on the various servers and workloads that you can protect with Azure Backup Server, refer to the Azure Backup Server Protection Matrix.
Supported backups to DPM
For information on the various servers and workloads that you can protect with Data Protection Manager, refer to the article What can DPM back up?.
- Clustered workloads backed up by DPM/MABS should be in the same domain as DPM/MABS or in a child/trusted domain.
- You can use NTLM/certificate authentication to back up data in untrusted domains or workgroups.
Next steps
- Learn more about MABS architecture.
- Review what's supported for the MARS agent.
- Set up a MABS server.
- Set up DPM.
Backing up your Mac is simple and important. We recommend it for everyone.
Back up with Time Machine
Time Machine is the built-in backup feature of your Mac. It’s a complete backup solution, but you can use other backup methods as well.
Create a backupStore files in iCloud
You can also use iCloud and iCloud Drive to store files, such as your photos, documents, and music.
Set up iCloud and iCloud DriveRestore your Mac from a backup
When you have a backup, you can use it to restore your files at any time, including after the original files are deleted from your Mac.
Restore from a backupBackup Server Virtual Machine
Prepare your Mac for service
Making a backup is an important part of preparing your Mac for service, especially because some types of repair might require erasing or replacing your hard drive.
Get your Mac ready for serviceHow much space do I need for a backup?
To see the size of a specific file or folder, click it once and then press Command-I. To see storage information about your Mac, click the Apple menu in the top-left of your screen. Choose About This Mac and click the Storage tab. For Time Machine backups, it's good to use a drive that has at least twice the storage capacity of your Mac.
Related topics
Free up storage on your Mac
macOS can save space by storing your content in the cloud. This isn't a backup, but it includes new tools to make it easier to find and remove large or unwanted files before you make a backup.
Use Optimized Storage in macOSServer Backup Macos
Erase or format a storage device
You can use Disk Utility if you need to erase or format a storage device.
Learn how to use Disk UtilitymacOS Community
If you can't back up your Mac
We'll find the best support options for you.