14 Microsoft Volume Shadow
Copy service
In this chapter
This chapter introduces the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy service (VSS) concept
and its role in the backup and restore process. It also outlines the backup and restore
flow when using this feature.
The chapter is organized as follows:
“Overview” on page 289
“Data Protector Volume Shadow Copy integration” on page 293
“VSS filesystem backup and restore” on page 295
For detailed information on the integration, see the HP Data Protector integration
guide. For detailed information on the filesystem backup and restore, see the Data
Protector online Help.
Overview
A traditional backup process is based on the direct communication between the
backup application (application, which initiates and performs backup) and an
application to be backed up. This backup method requires from the backup
application an individual interface for each application it backs up.
The number of applications on the market is constantly increasing. The necessity of
handling application specific features can cause difficulties in backup, restore, and
storage activities. An effective solution to this problem is introducing a coordinator
among the actors of the backup and restore process.
Concepts guide 289