Whats new in windows 2008 Active Directory

As an Active Directory administrator very curies about the windows 2008 features compare to the earlier version like windows 2003, Windows 2008 comes with the whole bunch of features, and am going to discuss specific about the features of Active Directory server roles in 2008

First I will list the features of Active directory 2008 and will discuss in detail of each in my upcoming article

Auditing

Now you can know the previous and present values for the changed attributes of the active directory object using the new auditing feature in windows 2008, as per the windows 2003 auditing you will only know the present values of the changed attribute

This is very useful features in windows 2008 since you can revert back the changes using the previous value of the attribute

Fine-Grained Passwords

By default in windows 2003 all the user account in the domain should use the same password policy configured in domain level, thats why we called domain is a security boundary, if you require a different password policy then you have to create new domain

In windows 2008 password policy can be configured for specific group of peoples with in the domain

Read-Only Domain Controller

Every one know about the BDC (backup domain controller) and it’s a same as the BDC but it only take the advantages from the BDC and it’s specifically designed for the today’s requirements like branch office setup and to managing the branch office

We all know how difficult to design and manage the domain controller from the branch office, some time it lead to the lingering object, but using the Read-Only Domain Controller
In the branch office where the physical security of the domain controller is in question, or domain controllers that host additional roles, requiring other users to log on and maintain the server

In any Active Directory environment if one Domain Controller not replicated with the partner Domain Controller more then one month, then it’s a very critical issue you have to rectify the replication problem as soon as possible or the Domain Controller needs to be decommissioned with in the tombstone lifetime, since its read-only domain controller no worries about the tombstone time.

Restartable Active Directory Domain Services

Hey good new, now no need to restart the domain controller for every time for the active directory maintenance.

In windows 2008 active directory is a services, you can stop or restart the services for maintenance without restarting the domain controller and restarting it in Directory Services Restore Mode is not required for most maintenance functions, however still some maintenance function require Directory Services Restore Mode

Database Mounting Tool

Active Directory Database mounting tool in Windows Server 2008 to create and view snapshots of data that is stored in Active Directory Domain Services, and no need to restart the domain controller. A snapshot is a shadow copy created by the Volume Shadow Copy Service, at different times so that you can better choose which data to restore after object deletion. This reduces the administrator time and no need to restore multiple backups to compare the Active Directory data.

Active Directory Database mounting tool can be called Snapshot Viewer, Snapshot Browser, and Active Directory data mining tool.

Active Directory Recycle Bin

You can restore the accidentally deleted Active Directory object, without Active Directory authoritative restore, this can be used for single object restore like a accidental deletion of user or OU and you can reduce the domain controller downtime

Active Directory module for Windows PowerShell

PowerShell available on windows 2003 itself, however it’s not fully supported for Active Directory, you can’t manage the Active Directive using the PowerShell in windows 2003

In windows 2008 Windows PowerShell provides command-line scripting for administrative, configuration, and diagnostic tasks

You can manage the Active Directory with Exchange Server, Group Policy, and other services and it’s very easy to use like a windows commands, you can easily pipe cmdlets to build complex operations

Active Directory Administrative Center

It’s new tool in windows 2008 R2 to manage active directory, we already have active directory users and computer to manage the active directory, using this new tool you can manage active directory in a new way

As an administrator you perform most of the task commonly that is daily, some how it’s hard to open an active directory user and computer and find the object and do the task, in this new tool Active Directory Administrative Center it’s very easy to do a common task like password reset and search the Active Directory object and others

Active Directory Best Practices Analyzer

This can be helped to identify and implement the best practices in the configuration of your active directory environment, this will scan your network and find the best practice violations,
Then you can correct that, to get the best out of Active Directory services in windows 2008.

Active Directory Web Services

Active Directory Web Services is give you the Web service interface to Active Directory domains and AD LDS instances (Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services)

Active Directory Database Mounting Tool uses the Active Directory Web Services as a front end, like that Windows PowerShell and Active Directory Administrative Center is used the Active Directory Web Services to access the directory service instances.

Offline domain join

Offline domain join makes to join a member server to the domain even the domain controller not reachable from the member server

And this can be very useful for bulk deployment, when the system starts, it will automatically joined to the domain, this will reduce the administrative effort

Managed Service Accounts

Normally applications and services uses the Local Service and Network Service and Local System accounts, it’s easy to configure and shared among multiple applications and services and cannot be managed on a domain level

You can use the domain account for the application (services), this can isolate the privileges for the application, but it’s very hard to manage these domain accounts like password management

We have two new types of accounts, Managed service accounts and virtual accounts in windows 2008, now you can easily manage the service principal names (SPNs), it will provide Automatic password management

Active Directory Management Pack

You can monitor the Active Directory service on windows 2008 using the Active Directory Management Pack (MOM, SCOM)

Designed specifically to monitor the performance and availability of Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), also monitors the overall health of AD DS and alerts you to critical performance issues.

Windows Backup for Exchange 2010

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 technologies have pushed the limits towards lowering expenses and increasing the options for dealing with high availability and data protection scenarios. Companies may now choose to enhance their backup procedures covering new high availability scenarios using the Database Availability Group technology. Others might consider not doing backups at all, using the Microsoft Native Data Protection technology i.e. running a Backup-less Exchange Organization.

In order to backup Exchange Server 2010, we will need an Exchange-aware backup application. We could use the Windows Server Backup included in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 Operating Systems, Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2010, or backup software from other vendors.

There are several important facts concerning Exchange Server 2010 backup to be considered:

• Streaming backups are no longer supported, only Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS backups).
• In Exchange 2010, Storage Groups don’t exist anymore. Thus transaction logs are now associated with mailbox databases.
• A mailbox database is no longer owned by an Exchange Server. Instead, it is now owned and managed from the Exchange Organization level.
• We must include Domain Controllers in our Exchange Server backup strategies, since most of the Exchange Server configuration settings are stored in Active Directory.
• It is recommended that we use more than one database for our mailboxes, in order to have a more efficient backup and restore strategy. Each database should contain mailboxes from users with common business needs, such as managers, finance, legal, etc.
• Mailbox databases don’t have size limitations, large mailboxes and databases are supported.
• Exchange 2010 Standard Edition is limited to five databases whereas the Enterprise Edition is limited to one hundred databases. These may include both mailbox and public folder databases.

Installing Windows Server Backup

In order to backup Exchange 2010 with Windows Server Backup, we should install it locally on the Exchange Mailbox Server Role. This is included in both Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2. In addition the installation of Windows Server Backup also requires the appropriate group membership, such as Backup Operators or Administrators group.

One way to install Windows Server Backup is using the Server Manager graphical interface as shown below. Please be aware that the command line tools in Windows Server Backup are not supported so we will not

Install windows server backup

Windows Server Backup can also be installed using Windows PowerShell by executing the following cmdlets:
Import-Module ServerManager
Add-WindowsFeature Backup

Performing an Exchange Server Backup

Let’s open the Windows Server Backup console from the Administrative Tools Menu, and choose to perform backup once. (Note: In real-world scenarios we would schedule backup to run on selected days, for example every day or once a week, depending on our backup strategy).

From the backup wizard, we will select the option to perform a custom backup and select the logical drives where the database and transaction logs are located.

For example, to backup the mailbox database called Managers, we first have to know the exact location of the mailbox database as well as its associated transaction logs. Therefore we execute the following cmdlet at the Exchange Management Shell:
Get-MailboxDatabase -Identity Managers | ft edbfilepath, logfolderpath

As the cmdlet result shows, in this case we have to choose both drives E and F since the mailbox database is located on drive E and its associated transaction log files are located on drive F. The selection at the backup wizard is shown in the picture that follows:

Select drives for backup

In this window, we will choose Advanced Settings.

From the dialog that opens we choose the VSS Settings tab, and select VSS full Backup.

VSS Full Backup

Next, we will specify the destination of the backup files. This can be a Local or a Remote shared folder. Of course, it is not recommended to perform a backup on the same volume where the database or transaction logs are located, since if drive failure occurs, the backup data would be lost too.

Destination Type

On the Specify Remote Folder page, under Location, we enter \Backup-ServerExchange Backup as the location where the backup files are to be copied, and choose Inherit in order to allow access to the backup data to all users having permissions over the folder. Thus permissions over this folder should be restricted to Backup Operators or Administrators only.

Specify Remote Folder

We click Next and at the confirmation page we click Backup.

When the Exchange database and transaction logs backup completes, we should see a message reporting successful backup, as shown below:

Backup Results

Conclusion

In this article you have learned how to backup the Exchange Server mailbox databases using the Windows Backup feature included in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2. As from the next article part we will proceed with recovering deleted email items.

Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 SP1 with Hyper-V

Introduction

In this article, you will learn about Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2007 SP1, and how it can backup Hyper-V configuration information and virtual machines. In addition to reviewing DPM 2007 SP1’s functionality, you will understand how to update Hyper-V and virtual machines for backup using DPM 2007 SP1.

Microsoft DPM 2007 SP1 Overview

If you are looking for a backup solution that supports Hyper-V, take a look at Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2007 SP1. DPM 2007 SP1 leverages the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to allow you to perform backups of Hyper-V configuration information and virtual machines.

More specifically, DPM 2007 SP1 provides backup and recovery for the following Microsoft virtualization products:

• Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V (full and Server Core installations)
• Hyper-V Server 2008
• Virtual Server 2005 R2

DPM 2007 SP1 also supports backup and recovery of Hyper-V clustered servers. In addition, DPM 2007 SP1 is a backup and recovery solution for Windows Server 2008 and other Microsoft applications such as Exchange Server 2007, SQL Server 2008, and Office SharePoint Server 2007. If you want more details on the full range of supported products, take a look at the product website.

Microsoft DPM 2007 SP1 and Hyper-V Backups

Depending on the requirements of your environment, you may choose to perform Hyper-V host-level backups, virtual machine based backups, or backups of applications running in virtual machines. With a Hyper-V host-level backup, you install a DPM agent only on the Hyper-V server, not on each individual virtual machine. This type of backup enables the equivalent of a bare-metal recovery for a virtual machine. However, with this method you cannot recover individual guest operating system or data files. If you require the ability to recover individual virtual machine files and implement host-level backups, you could restore the entire virtual machine to an alternate directory and then restore only the set of files needed to the appropriate virtual machine VHD(s). If you need to provide backup and recovery for only a specific application running in a virtual machine, DPM 2007 SP1 also supports the deployment of an agent to the virtual machine guest operating system.

In order to recover an entire virtual machine, individual files, or an application, you can perform a Hyper-V host-level backup of a virtual machine in conjunction with backups of specific data files or applications using a DPM agent deployed inside the virtual machine guest operating system. However, you should ensure that you work diligently and create a backup schedule for each server that does not include simultaneous backups, or you must ensure that you configure the physical server with the right processor, memory, disk, and network resources to support concurrent backups.

Virtual Machine Online Host-Level Backups

DPM 2007 SP1 can perform online backups of Hyper-V virtual machines for guest operating systems that are supported by Integration Services, as well as virtual machines running on Virtual Server 2005 R2 with guest operating systems supported by Virtual Machine Additions. More specifically, the guest operating system must support the Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Integration Services component, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Integration Services Component

When DPM 2007 SP1 performs an online backup of a virtual machine, it directs Hyper-V to pause the virtual machine, creates a shadow copy, and then Hyper-V resumes execution of the virtual machine. DPM 2007 SP1 continues to process the shadow copy and copies the backup data set to tape or to another DPM server without significant service interruption.

Virtual Machine Offline Host-Level osBackups

DPM 2007 SP1 also supports offline backups of virtual machines with non-VSS-ware guest operating systems. In order to perform an offline backup, DPM 2007 SP1 directs Hyper-V to transition the virtual machine into a saved state, creates the shadow copy, and then Hyper-V brings the virtual machine back online. With this offline backup process, DPM 2007 SP1 minimizes virtual machine service interruption.

Requirements to Backup Hyper-V and Virtual Machines using DPM 2007 SP1

If you have DPM 2007 servers deployed in your environment, you must perform the following actions before you can successfully back up and recover Hyper-V configuration information and virtual machines using Hyper-V host-level backups:

• Update Hyper-V servers using KB956697 and KB959962
• Update virtual machine Integration Services
• Install DPM 2007 SP1
• Deploy DPM 2007 SP1 protection agents to Hyper-V servers

KB956697 contains an update for the VMMS service that ensures that the Hyper-V VSS writer is recognized and properly used during VSS-based backups. KB959962 contains updated files for core Hyper-V components, including Integration Services. The updated Integration Services must be installed on supported virtual machines for successful DPM 2007 SP1 backups.

Updating Hyper-V Servers with KB959962

Among other files, installing KB959962 copies a new Vmguest.iso file to the Hyper-V server. This file contains an updated version of the Integration Services that you must install on each supported virtual machine if you want to perform a back up using DPM 2007 SP1.

One way to easily check the Integrations Services version currently installed in a virtual machine is to check the version number displayed in the Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy driver properties. Here are the steps:

• Open the Hyper-V Manager Console, right-click the virtual machine, and select Connect to start a Virtual Machine Connection session
• Log into the virtual machine guest operating system, and open the Device Manager in the Control Panel
• In the Device Manager, expand System Devices, right-click Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy, and select Properties
• In the Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Properties dialog box, click the Driver tab
• As shown in example in Figure 2, the Driver Version property lists the Integration Services version number. In this case, 6.0.6001.18016 is the Integration Services version that was originally released with Hyper-V

Figure 2: Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Driver Version

Updating Virtual Machine Integration Services

If you need to update the Integration Services version of one or more virtual machines, follow these steps:

• Open the Hyper-V Manager Console, right-click the virtual machine, and select Connect to start a Virtual Machine Connection session
• Log into the guest operating system with an account that has local administrator credentials
• As shown in Figure 3, click on the Virtual Machine Connection application Action menu, and select Insert Integration Services Setup Disk

Figure 3: Virtual Machine Connection Application Action menu

• Start Windows Explorer in the virtual machine and double-click the DVD drive
• As shown in Figure 4, when the Upgrade Hyper-V Integration Services dialog box appears, click OK to start the installation

Figure 4: Upgrade Hyper-V Integration Services dialog box

• When the installation completes, click Yes to restart the virtual machine
• After the virtual machine restarts, reconnect using the Virtual Machine Connection Application, and verify that the Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Driver Version property is 6.0.6001.22334 or later

Upgrading to System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 SP1

If you already have DPM 2007 installed on some servers, you can download the DPM 2007 SP1 update from the Microsoft Web site and install the update on each DPM 2007 server.

Here are the major steps that you want to use to perform Hyper-V server-level backups:

1. Before you begin, ensure that you do not have any backup jobs in progress or about to start.
2. Open Windows Explorer, navigate to the directory where you stored the DPM 2007 SP1 update, and double-click the DPM 2007 SP1 update file to begin the installation.
3. On the Welcome page shown in Figure 5, check for warnings or errors, take appropriate actions, and then click Next.

Figure 5: The DPM 2007 SP1 Installer Welcome page

1. On the Microsoft Software License Terms page, review the information and then select I Accept, if you agree with the license terms.
2. Click Next to begin the DPM 2007 SP1 installation
3. On the Installation Success page, click Close.
4. Restart the Hyper-V server.

Enabling Local Data Protection in DPM 2007 SP1

If you have a small test environment or lab, you can install DPM 2007 SP1 on a Hyper-V server and create local backups of the Hyper-V configuration and virtual machines. However, this configuration is not recommended for production environments. In fact, DPM 2007 SP1 will not allow you to perform local backups until you enable the Local Data Protection setting. Fortunately, it is a really simple process that can be performed using the DPM management shell and entering the following command:

Set-DMGGlobalProperty –AllowLocalDataProtection $true

If you want to disable Local Data Protection, use the following command:

Set-DMGGlobalProperty –AllowLocalDataProtection $false

Deploying a DPM 2007 SP1 Protection Agent

Before you can perform host-level backups of virtual machines on remote Hyper-V servers, you must install a DPM protection agent on that server. After installing the DPM 2007 SP1 update, you can utilize the DPM 2007 Administrator Console to enumerate servers joined to the Active Directory that it is able to protect, and present them as targets for a DPM protection agent deployment. You can control the installation of DPM protection agents using the DPM 2007 Administrator Console, Active Directory Group Policy, and other management tools such as System Center Configuration Manager 2007 or Systems Management Server 2003.

Configuring DPM 2007 SP1

After new DPM protection agents are deployed to your Hyper-V servers, you need to configure DPM 2007 SP1 beginning with the allocation of disks to create a storage pool. A storage pool includes one or more dynamic volumes that are used exclusively to store DPM backup data sets. They cannot be shared with other applications, or used to store any other data. Be aware that DPM 2007 SP1 formats new dynamic volumes, so any data previously stored is lost. DPM 2007 SP1 supports Direct Attached Storage (DAS), Storage Area Networks (SAN), and iSCSI disk storage. However, it does not support removable USB/1394 disks.

After you configure a DPM 2007 SP1 storage pool, you must configure a protection group to perform host-level backups of virtual machines. A protection group defines all of the details of the backup, including the Hyper-V configuration information, virtual machines, and other resources that you want to include in the backup data set. A protection group also defines the backup schedule, the backup retention range, the tape backup schedule (this is optional, but highly recommended), and recovery points.

Conclusion

Hyper-V, with its built-in support for the Volume Shadow Copy Service, allows you to use System Center DPM 2007 SP1 to implement a backup and recovery plan for your virtualization environment. If Integrations Services are available for the virtual machine guest operating system and the Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy driver is installed, DPM 2007 SP1 can perform a backup without significant service interruption (online backup). DPM 2007 SP1 also allows you to perform backups of virtual machines that do not support Integration Services by placing the virtual machine in saved state for the short period of time needed to create a shadow copy (offline backup). If you are interested in more details, including how to deploy System Center DPM 2007 SP1 protection agents, as well as how to configure storage pools and protection groups, take a look at my video posted on the VirtualizationAdmin.com site.

Installing and Configuring Windows Server Backup for Hyper-V

Introduction

Windows Server 2008 provides a built-in backup solution called Windows Server Backup (WSB). Windows Server Backup uses the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to backup and restore your server. WSB provides the normal backup and restore features of an enterprise backup program: operating system, volumes, folders and files. In addition WSB supports backup and restore at an application level if the application provides a VSS compatible “writer”. In this article you will learn how to configure WSB with the support for Hyper-V VSS writer.

Windows Server Backup

Windows Server Backup is a “feature” in Windows Server 2008, but by default it is not installed. To install WSB so that you can configure it to support Hyper-V do the following:

1. Launch Server Manager
2. Select the Features node
3. Click the Add Features option, the Add Features wizard will launch (Figure 1)

Figure 1

1. Expand the Windows Server Backup Features node (Figure 2) and select Windows Server Backup. Optionally select the Command-Line tools.

Figure 2

1. Click Next
2. Click Install to begin the installation

Configuring for Hyper-V

Windows Server Backup can support additional VSS writers, but it does not have an ability to import or register the VSS writer, you must do that by hand. When you install Windows Server Backup it has no additional VSS writers registered. To add support for the Hyper-V VSS writer you must create the Windows Server Backup registry locations and register the GUID for the applications VSS writer. This can be done using REGEDIT or using a .REG file.

Finding the Hyper-V VSS Writer GUID

Before you can add a VSS writer to Windows Server Backup you need to know the Writer ID GUID. You can use the VSSADMIN tool to list all currently installed VSS writers on the machine and see their GUIDs. To use VSSADMIN to find the GUID, do the following:

1. Launch a command prompt as administrator
2. At the command prompt, type the following: VSSADMIN List Writers >C:TEMPVSSWriters.txt
3. After a few seconds the list of all VSS writers that are installed and registered with the VSS service will be written to the C:TEMPVSSWRITERS.TXT file.
4. Open up the C:TEMPVSSWRITERS.TXT file with notepad and search for Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer
5. Under that Writer name you will find the Writer ID GUID {66841CD4-6DED-4F4B-8F17-FD23F8DDC3DE}

Making the Changes Using REGEDIT

To make the changes using REGEDIT, do the following:

1. Launch REGEDIT (Figure 3)
2. Traverse to the following key

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindowsServerBackup

3. Create a key called WindowsServerBackup

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindowsServerBackup

4. Select Windows ServerBackup key and create a key under it called Application Support

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindowsServerBackupApplication Support

5. Now create a key under Application Support for the Hyper-V VSS writer GUID 66841CD4-6DED-4F4B-8F17-FD23F8DDC3DE

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindowsServerBackupApplication Support66841CD4-6DED-4F4B-8F17-FD23F8DDC3DE

6. Under Hyper-V VSS GUID key, create a value of REG_SZ called “Application Identifier” and set the value to “Hyper-V VSS Writer”

Figure 3

Making the Changes Using a .REG file

While using REGEDIT is easy enough to do, if you need to make this change on multiple servers or if you want to minimize errors it is better to create a .REG file for import. Creating a .REG file requires a standard ASCI text editor like Notepad. You can create it by hand or you can make the modifications on a single machine using the REGEDIT approach and then export the registry key and it will create a .REG file for you.

The .REG file needs to contain the registry changes that you need to make. This includes both the keys and values that need to b created or modified. In this situation, you need to create three registry keys and one value. The following shows the .REG file that is required to make the configuration changes to support the Hyper-V VSS writer.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindowsServerBackup]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindowsServerBackupApplication Support]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindowsServerBackupApplication Support{66841CD4-6DED-4F4B-8F17-FD23F8DDC3DE}]

“Application Identifier”=”Hyper-V VSS Writer”

Copying these lines and placing them into Notepad and save into a file called WSB-Hyper-V.REG.

Once you have the .REG file, you can copy this to another Hyper-V server, install Windows Server Backup and then right click the WSB-Hyper-V.REG file and select Merge (Figure 4).

Figure 4

An optional approach to creating the .REG file is exporting the information from a configured server. Create the registry entries using the REGEDIT approach, once you are done you can right click the WindowsServerBackup key and select Export (Figure 5).

Figure 5

Use the name WSB-Hyper-V.REG in the Export Registry File dialog and click Save (Figure 6).

Figure 6

Hyper-V Backup Considerations

Now you have Windows Server Backup configured to support Hyper-V, there are some things you need to know when creating backups of the Hyper-V host and virtual machines.

1. When backing up the Host you must backup the C: drive at a minimum to get the Hyper-V configuration information.
2. You cannot backup specific virtual machines, you can only backup volumes.
3. If you want to ensure that you have backed up specific virtual machines, you must backup each volume that contains pieces of the virtual machine. If you keep configuration files in the default location on C:, but you store the virtual machine hard disk files on a different drive, you must backup both volumes to be able to restore the virtual machines.
4. When you restore you must select Application based “restore”.
5. Restoring virtual machines is an all or nothing approach. You cannot restore files within a virtual machine, just the entire virtual machine. Once the virtual machine is restored, you can mount it and copy files out.

Conclusion

Windows Server Backup is an inbox solution for backing up and restoring Hyper-V hosts and virtual machines. It is not installed by default, but installation is a simple process that does not require a reboot. By default, Windows Server backup does not support the Hyper-V VSS writer but can be configured to support Hyper-V by registering the Hyper-V VSS writer in the registry. Registration can be accomplished by hand using REGEDIT or in an automated fashion by importing a .REG file. Using the .REG file is the recommended approach to configuring Hyper-V VSS writer support to eliminate errors and automate the process.