Bare Metal Recovery with Synology Active Backup for Business

What is Synology Active Backup for Businesses

Synology Active Backup for Business is a comprehensive backup solution designed for businesses using Synology NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices. It is developed by Synology Inc., a leading provider of network-attached storage solutions. Active Backup for Business offers a unified platform for backing up various data types, ensuring the protection and recoverability of critical business information.

Benefits about Synology Bare Metal Backup Recovery

• No licenses, limitations are your available storage and concurrent number of backups.
• Storage efficient with de-duplication
• Agent based Backup of Windows 10/11 & Windows Servers
• Agent-less Backups of SMB File shares
• Granular permissions & Encryption Options
• Bare Metal Restore
• Self-service restore portal
• VMware and Hyper-V integrations
• Can do Automatic Backup Verification 27 Task
• Instant Restore for VMware, Hyper-V, & Synology Virtual Machine Manager
• Limited Support for Linux.

Requirements and Limitations

📌 Windows Recovery:

For Windows users, a preconfigured recovery media is available. To create this media, refer to the Recovery Media Creation Guide for detailed instructions. The following Windows versions are supported:

• Windows 10 Creators Update (all editions)
• Windows 10 (all editions)
• Windows 8.1 (all editions)
• Windows 7 SP1 (all editions)

Supported physical servers include:

• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows Server 2012
• Windows Server 2008 R2

A continuous network connection is essential for the entire recovery process. The Recovery Wizard must remain connected to the Synology NAS; otherwise, the recovery process will be interrupted.

It is recommended to install all required drivers before initiating the recovery. Additional drivers can be installed by clicking on the upper-right corner of the wizard and selecting "Load Drivers."

* Note: Please be aware that dynamic disks are not supported for complete device restoration.

📌 Linux Recovery:

Linux users can utilize a recovery media by downloading it from the Download Center. To create a USB recovery media, refer to the provided article. Supported 64-bit versions of various Linux distributions are as follows:

• CentOS: 6.10, 7.8, 8.1
• RHEL: 6.10, 7.8, 8.1
• Ubuntu: 16.04, 18.04, 20.04
• Fedora: 30, 31, 32
• Debian: 8.0 to 10

Supported file systems include ext2, ext3, ext4, and XFS. Ensure the presence of the following components on the target device:

• make 4.1 version or above
• libaio 0.3.110 version or above
• dkms 2.2.0.3 version or above
• gcc 4.8.2 version or above

Similar to Windows recovery, a continuous network connection is necessary throughout the entire recovery process. Install all required drivers before initiating the recovery for optimal performance.

How to Perform Bare Metal Recovery in Synology Active Backup for Business

You can back up Physical Server or VMware/Hyper-V virtual machines with Synology Active Backup for Business. Before performing a bare-metal recovery. The steps are as follows:

Step 1. Create Recovery Media

1. Open Active Backup for Business, locate the Windows Server and click Restore, then select Entire Device.

2. Download the Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator.

3. Extract the zip file and run launch-creator.

4. Select USB media or ISO media, and click Create.

5. Click Download to download the Windows ADK. Then you will then be able to create the recovery media.

6. Select the features and click Install.

Step 2. Perform a Bare Metal Restore using Active Backup for Business

Active Backup for Business enables you to perform a comprehensive bare-metal backup. In simple terms, it empowers you to effortlessly recover your system to either a new hard drive or an existing one, maintaining its exact state. This implies that the operating system, exactly as it was at the time of the backup, can be seamlessly restored on a different machine. Achieving this involves the process of downloading and booting from the dedicated restore media.

1. Boot the Windows server from the recovery media

2. Follow the Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard to restore the machine step by step

3. Enter the credential (NAS IP address, Username and Password) of the Synology NAS, then click Connect.

4. Select the Windows backup you want to restore from, and click Next.

5. Select Entire Device Restore and click Next. You can also select to restore a system volume or the manual restore process.

6. Select a version you’d like to restore from and click Next.

7. Review the settings and click Next. Finally, click OK to proceed the recovery process.

Ensuring Data Security and Recovery with AOMEI Cyber Backup

Having a robust backup solution is paramount, especially for Windows Server environments. AOMEI Cyber Backup – an enterprise backup solution plays a crucial role in safeguarding critical data and ensuring business continuity.

🔰 Comprehensive Data Protection:

AOMEI Cyber Backup offers comprehensive data protection for Windows Servers, VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V and SQL Server databases.

🔰 Efficient Recovery:

It enables quick and seamless restoration of the entire system to its original or a new hardware environment, minimizing downtime.

🔰 Flexible Scheduling and Automation:

It provides flexibility in scheduling backup tasks, allowing users to automate the process. This ensures regular and timely backups without manual intervention, enhancing the reliability of the backup strategy.

🔰 Incremental and Differential Backups:

The software optimizes storage space and speeds up backup processes through incremental and differential backup options, saving both time and storage resources.

🔰 Centralized Management and Monitoring:

It offers a centralized management console, simplifying the administration of backups across multiple Windows Servers.

Next, I will show you how to back up virtual machines using AOMEI Cyber Backup. You can click the following button to download the software.

Backup VMware Virtual Machines in Case of Data Loss

1. Navigate to Source Device>VMware>+ Add VMware Device to Add vCenter or Standalone ESXi host. And then click…>Bind Device.

2. Create backup task by hitting Backup Task>>Create New Task. Follow the Wizard to schedule virtual machine backup.

● Enter Task Name and select VMware ESXi Backup.

● Batch select large numbers of VMs for centralized backup.

● Select the Target to store the backup files such as local or network place. You can also backup VMs to an external hard drive.

● Schedule VMware backup task with different backup strategies. Specify full backup for the entire VM and incremental backup for the changed data, and set up the backup frequency as daily/weekly/monthly to run the backup task automatically.

● Select Cleanup to automatically delete the old backup copies that exceed the retention period you specified.

3. Click Start Backup. You can select Add the schedule only or Add the schedule and start backup now.

Created backup tasks will be listed and monitored separately, for restoring, progress checking and schedule changing. When restoring, you can also restore to new location to create a new VM in the same or another datastore/host directly from the backup, saving the trouble of re-configuring the new VM.

Conclusion

With a focus on simplicity and efficiency, Active Backup for Business streamlines the process of restoring systems to their exact state at the time of backup. This comprehensive approach to bare-metal recovery empowers users to swiftly and effortlessly bring their systems back to life, minimizing downtime and ensuring business continuity in the face of unforeseen events.