Personal Computer

To backup personal computers, Synology Active Backup for Business Agent is required to be installed on the target personal computers. You can configure the backup tasks for personal computers on DSM. There are three backup types to protect your personal computers: entire device, system volume, and customized volumes.

Before You Start

Please note the following:

Note:

To create a backup task:

Once the agent is installed on the personal computer and the personal computer is connected to the server, a backup task of the connected server will be created according to the matched template. You can also create more than one backup task for each device.

  1. You do either of the following to start the backup creation wizard:
  2. Create Backup Task:

    Task name: Configure the name of the task. It is suggested to have a naming pattern for faster filter/search for the task.

  3. Select Target Device:

    This step only appears if no device is selected before clicking Create. A list of personal computers that have been connected to the server will be shown in this step.

  4. Backup Destination:

    Select a shared folder which is in Btrfs file system as the backup destination. During package installation, a Btrfs shared folder, ActiveBackupforBusiness, will be created automatically.

  5. Select Source Type:
  6. Schedule Backup Task:
  7. Select Retention Policy:

    In this step, you can choose either one of the following retention policy to apply to the created task:

  8. Backup now:

    The wizard allows an immediate backup regardless of the schedule.

To edit one or more backup tasks:

After creating the backup task, you can edit (or batch edit) the tasks. Except for backup destination, most of the settings can be modified. Please note that, when batch editing the tasks, the task name and the destination cannot be changed.

  1. Go to Task List.
  2. Select a task you wish to edit and click Edit. You can also edit tasks in batch by pressing Ctrl when selecting multiple tasks, and then click Edit.
  3. Click OK after editing the settings.

Note:

To delete one or more backup tasks:

Go to Task List to select the task, and then click Delete. After confirming the action, the selected task will be removed and the backed up data will be deleted from the destination.

The device would remain connected to the server even when no task attached to it. This device can always be found on the Device List, and you can create a task for the device at any time.

To enable Changed Block Tracking (CBT) technology:

To streamline the backup process, Changed Block Tracking (CBT) technology is adopted when backing up personal computers by default. To ensure CBT is functioning well, please make sure Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) on each protected device has been turned on.

The CBT technology adopted in Active Backup for Business leverages VSS to take snapshots for devices and identify the changed block between snapshots. VSS belongs to Microsoft's built-in technology, and thus it can avoid performance interference while Active Backup for Business is performing the CBT technology. After the first full backup, the CBT technology allows each device to transfer only the changed block to your NAS. Therefore, it helps you to save the bandwidth resource and speeds up the process of backing up.

Note:

To update the agent:

Agent can be updated by installing a newer installer directly on the device. To remotely update the agent, administrators can install the newer agent on multiple devices with the existing Microsoft Windows Active Directory Domain Services or go to DSM > Active Backup for Business. You can follow the below instructions to update the agent from Active Backup for Business:

  1. Go to Active Backup for Business > PC.
  2. Select the target device that needs an update and click Update Agent.
  1. Download the Active Backup for Business Agent installer from Download Center, and upload it to any folder of your Synology NAS with File Station. Please keep a note of the location of the installer.
  2. Log in to DSM with root permission on your computer. Please refer to this article for detailed instructions.
  3. Execute the below command to install the agent to your target devices.
    cp /[volume_where_you_uploaded_the_installer_to]/[name_of_the_folder_where_you_uploaded_installer_to]/[installer_name]/[volume_where_you_install_Active_Backup_for_Business]/\@tmp/

    For example, the location of the installer is /volume1/Files/Synology Active Backup for Business Agent-2.0.4-0621-x64.msi and Active Backup for Business is installed on volume1. The command would be:

    cp /[volume1]/[Files]/[Synology Active Backup for Business Agent-2.0.4-0621-x64.msi]/[volume1]/\@tmp/
  4. After setting up, the agent will be successfully updated.

To have a personal computer backed up as a physical server:

You may change the device type and have a personal computer protected as a physical server when the personal computer needs to be backed up and perform Instant Restore to VMware or Instant Restore to Synology Virtual Machine Manager (VMM).

  1. Select a device and click More.
  2. Click Change device type.

Restore Personal Computer

Note: