Add backup jobs for a Windows cluster

After the Windows Agent and required plug-ins are installed on cluster nodes and added in Portal as described in Add a Windows cluster, you can add backup jobs to protect the Windows failover cluster.

To fully protect a Windows cluster, you must back up:

In a SQL Server cluster, you must also back up the SQL Server databases to provide point-in-time database recovery.

When a backup job runs on a virtual server, the job is automatically directed to the active cluster node. However, if failover occurs when a backup is in progress, the backup will fail and must be run again.

To add backup jobs for a Windows cluster:

  1. In Portal, add the backup jobs shown in the following table:

    Job

    Computer where job is created

    Cluster component protected

    Job description

    A

    Virtual server for the cluster core

    Quorum disk

    Image or local system job that backs up the quorum disk. See Add a Windows Image backup job or Add a Windows Local System backup job.

    B
    (one job for each cluster node)

    Each node in the cluster

    Physical nodes in the cluster

    On each node in the cluster, a Bare Metal Restore (BMR) backup job created using the Image Plug-in or Windows Agent. See Add a Windows Image backup job or Add a Windows Local System backup job.

    C
    (one job for each cluster role)

    Virtual server for each cluster role

    Cluster disks

    On the virtual server for each cluster role (e.g., file server or SQL Server), an Image or local system job that backs up cluster disks for the role. See Add a Windows Image backup job or Add a Windows Local System backup job.

    D
    (for SQL Server clusters only)

    Virtual server for the SQL Server role

    SQL Server databases

    SQL Server Plug-in job that backs up all SQL Server databases. See Add a SQL Server Plug-in backup job.

  2. Schedule the backup jobs to run in the order shown in Step 1.