Backup FAQ/en

Billing and Data Volume

At what point is the volume of data on the vault recorded and billed?

The volume of data stored on the Vault is recorded on the 15th of the month. Based on this reference date, the financial billing is subsequently processed at the end of the month.

What volume of data serves as the basis for billing?

Billing is always based on the volume of data in its native state—that is, the actual amount of data present on the system being backed up—
regardless of the extent to which the data is compressed during the backup process.

Here is an example:
If a 700 GB hard drive contains 400 GB of data, exactly that 400 GB is recorded as the billable data volume.
Even if the backup occupies only 300 GB on the vault due to compression, the basis for billing remains the original data volume of 400 GB.

How do I obtain a license for the Granular Restore Tool?

You will be asked for a license during the installation of the Granular Restore Tool.

Please send an email to support@terracloud.de with your customer number and the subject line "Granular Restore License".
We will then provide you with the appropriate license.

Retention and Recovery

What is the maximum retention period for backups?

The maximum retention period depends on the selected backup package.
With the TERRA CLOUD Backup Basic and Backup Standard packages, backups can be retained for up to 365 days.
This meets typical requirements for short- to medium-term data retention policies.

However, if you use TERRA CLOUD Backup Enterprise, significantly expanded retention options are available.
This package allows backups to be stored for up to 10 years, which is particularly relevant for companies with long-term compliance or archiving obligations.

What is the maximum number of restore points that can be saved?

Up to 50 backups can be permanently stored in a backup package.
Additionally, a buffer zone of 10 further backup sets is available; this is utilized before older backups are overwritten or recalculated.

Starting with the 61st backup set, an automatic recalculation of the 11 backup sets—including the aforementioned buffer zone of 10 safe sets—takes place.

What recovery options are available within the TERRA CLOUD backup solution?

The TERRA CLOUD backup solution offers a wide range of recovery options to reliably handle diverse scenarios—from restoring individual files to complete system recovery.

To begin with, individual files, folders, or entire drives can be restored.
In addition, bare-metal recovery (BMR) capabilities are available, allowing entire systems—including the operating system, configuration, and data—to be reconstructed in a fully bootable state.

Restorations can be performed either to the original system or to a different system, which is particularly useful in the event of hardware failures or migrations.
Furthermore, TERRA CLOUD offers various advanced options—such as an emergency service, the provision of an IaaS disaster recovery VM, automated BMR restorations, and rapid VM recovery—to keep downtime to an absolute minimum.

Components and Architecture

What tasks does the TERRA CLOUD Backup Agent component perform?

The TERRA CLOUD Backup Agent component is installed directly on the system to be backed up and serves as the central technical unit for all backup and recovery processes.
It communicates continuously with the backup portal and the vault, handling both the execution of scheduled backups and the performance of recovery operations.
The agent enables full backups of physical and virtual systems and also supports bootable recoveries.

In addition, the agent offers flexible operating modes, such as hybrid backups or direct cloud backups. It also allows for the granular recovery of individual files and folders.

The agent is managed and monitored centrally via the TERRA CLOUD Backup Portal (https://backup.terracloud.de), ensuring unified and efficient control of all backup instances.

What functions does the TERRA CLOUD Backup Portal component provide?

The TERRA CLOUD Backup Portal component provides a centralized, multi-tenant management interface for controlling all backup instances and customer environments.
The portal enables full administration of connected backup agents, including the creation and management of backup jobs, schedules, notifications, and other configurations.
In addition, the portal offers extensive recovery capabilities, ranging from the restoration of individual files to entire systems.
Another key feature is the ability to update and configure Windows agents directly via the portal.
At the same time, it provides comprehensive monitoring of all connected systems, allowing administrators to keep track of the status of backups and systems at all times.

Various reporting functions are available for analysis. Furthermore, software packages, documentation, and other resources can be downloaded directly from the portal.
An integrated news ticker provides information on the latest notices, updates, or important changes.

What role does the TERRA CLOUD Backup Vault component play in the overall system?

The TERRA CLOUD Backup Vault serves as the central backup destination for all data transmitted by the agent.
It handles the storage, management, and provision of the safe sets required for recovery operations.

The primary vault is located in the Hüllhorst data center.
The secondary vault is located in the Düsseldorf data center and is used for additional redundancy and resilience.

Thanks to this distributed structure, the vault component ensures that data is stored reliably, securely, and in geographically separate locations.

Which agent types are available within the TERRA CLOUD backup solution?

• Windows-Agent
• Linux Agent
• vSphere Client
• Hyper-V Agent

How can a computer be registered with the Vault again?

The "Re-register" function allows you to replace the agent's locally stored configuration with a computer configuration stored on the Vault, or to supplement the existing configuration.
This is necessary, for example, after reinstalling the agent, as the agent is not configured automatically upon reinstallation.
You can also use this function to supplement the current configuration—for instance, if you removed a backup job from the portal (and thus from the agent) while the data and configuration remained on the Vault.
After re-registering, the missing backup job will reappear in the portal.

Procedure:
1. Select the relevant agent in the backup portal. You will find the "Re-register" action under the "Vault Settings" tab.
2. Load the Vault profile created for the customer site; you can then execute the "Load computer" action.
3. All systems located on the relevant Vault will now be displayed on the right-hand side.
4. Once you have selected the relevant system and executed the "Save" action, the configuration will be restored.
5. Edit the existing jobs and enter the encryption password for each one. Then, synchronize every affected job.
6. Once synchronization has completed successfully, you can run the affected jobs.

VSS

Attached is a brief explanation regarding VSS:

What exactly is VSS?

• VSS stands for "Volume Shadow Copy Service"
• Translation: Volume Shadow Copy Service
• Implemented since Windows XP / Windows Server 2003; used to create versions (snapshots)
• A snapshot is a point-in-time image of a volume (read-only)
• VSS operates at the block level
• VSS technology is used in most backup solutions that back up Windows systems
• VSS errors are the primary source of issues with these backup solutions

Which components are part of VSS technology?

VSS Writer:

• Each VSS-aware application installs its own VSS writer on the system; this is required to bring the application into a consistent state.

VSS Requestor:

• Any program requiring consistent data can act as a requestor—in our case, the backup agent.

VSS Provider:

• The provider creates and manages shadow copies of data on the system.

How can a BMR backup of a Hyper-V host be created?

Experience shows that backing up physical Hyper-V hosts while VMs are actively running causes issues with Microsoft VSS.
Microsoft VSS attempts to place the *entire* system into a consistent state.
To achieve this, all virtual machines would also need to be paused.
Since agent-based backup does not trigger a VSS snapshot via Integration Services, problems arise in this scenario.

The general question arises as to why hypervisor servers should be backed up at all.
Here are some example articles from the web:

• http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/hyper-v-backup-strategies-dont-worry-management-os/
  
• https://www.backupassist.com/blog/support/10-tips-for-best-practice-hyper-v-backups/
  
• https://www.veeam.com/blog/hyper-v-hosts-to-back-up-or-not-to-back-up.html
  

Individual files and folders can be backed up without issues; problems only occur with BMR (Bare Metal Recovery).

For this reason, it is not supported; see Feature Overview
With host-based backup (version 8.60 and later), ONLY the VMs can be backed up, not the host itself (nor any files or folders on it).

We recommend agent-based backup (from within the VM) to utilize the full functionality of the backup solution.

If a Hyper-V host fails completely, it should be reinstalled and added back to the cluster.

Customer Location and Performance

How can backups be handled if the customer has only a very slow internet connection?

In this case, using a hybrid backup solution is recommended.
This model utilizes a local backup satellite operated on-site, which initially receives backups locally.
As a result, large volumes of data do not need to be transmitted immediately over a slow internet connection.

Are there alternatives for transferring an initial backup to the cloud without internet transmission?

For initial backups that cannot be efficiently transferred to the cloud due to a very slow or unstable internet connection, it is possible
to export the backup data to a USB hard drive and send it directly to TERRA CLOUD.
Alternatively, the data can be uploaded from another location to an FTP account provided by us.
Upon receipt, our team imports the data directly into the corresponding vault.

You can find further information on the exact procedure in the following wiki article: Link

How should a DATEV SQL database be backed up?

Backing up a DATEV SQL database involves certain specific considerations compared to backing up a "standard" SQL database.
Typically, the administrator does not have full access to the database, meaning the SQL plug-in cannot be used.
Additionally, file-based backups may encounter issues because the timestamp of the database file (MDF file) is sometimes reset.
Transaction logs do not need to be truncated, as circular logging is configured for the DATEV SQL database.

Recommended backup strategy:
The system should be protected using an image-based BMR backup, as the timestamp of the database file is irrelevant with this partition-based backup method.

Migration

How does the migration of existing customers' backups to a TERRA CLOUD Backup Enterprise platform work?

Initial Situation:
You currently have Backup Standard or Backup Basic packages booked for your customers and wish to migrate your customers' backups to a new TERRA CLOUD Backup Enterprise Vault.

Note regarding TERRA CLOUD Backup Satellites:
The TERRA CLOUD Backup Enterprise add-on is required to migrate TERRA CLOUD Hybrid Backup packages.
This provides you with three options when booking TERRA CLOUD Backup Enterprise Hybrid accounts:

1. New Order: You receive a new Vault account combined with a new satellite
   (migration of existing data backups is possible as part of the migration to the platform)
2. Migration Order: Use this option to migrate an existing Vault account and satellite to your platform
   (the existing account is migrated, and the satellite is connected to your Basevault)
3. Upgrade Order: With this option, a new Vault account and a new satellite are provisioned, e.g. B. to switch to a larger satellite
   (the old Vault account must be specified for the migration)

Preparation:
Please prepare for the migration process by taking the following steps:

1. Order the TCBE Vault system for your company at the desired location (please note the provisioning time of up to 10 business days).
2. Once your new Vault system has been provisioned, place an order for a Vault account for each of your customers (you can assign the Vault accounts to the respective customers).
3. Create a comparison list—e.g., in Microsoft Excel—matching the old Vault account (e.g., 12345-DRMEY) with the newly ordered Vault account on your TCBE Vault (e.g., 12345-DRMEYER).
4. A support ticket for the migration process is automatically generated when your Vault system is provisioned; please use this ticket to coordinate the timeframe for the migration.
   

Migration Procedure:
The TERRA CLOUD team initiates the process on the morning of the scheduled migration day.
You will receive an email notification indicating which accounts have been started for migration. Immediately after the migration starts, you can configure the new backup destinations for the agents, as described in the instructions for adjustments in the Backup Portal.
Please note that backups cannot be performed during the migration, as both accounts are locked while the process is underway.
Migrations typically complete on the same business day, allowing scheduled backups from the agents to run against the migrated data on the dedicated vault.

How does the migration work technically?
The migration process initiates a copy operation that transfers the configured computers, backup jobs, and safesets from the old account on the shared vault to the account on the TCBE vault system.

How many end customers can be migrated per day?
Generally, approximately 5 end customers can be migrated per day; this depends on the size of the respective accounts (approx. 1.5 TB of natively protected data).

What happens to the old accounts after the migration?

Once the entire migration process is complete, you must cancel the old accounts; otherwise, you may be billed twice.

Naturally, a support team member is available as a contact person should you have any questions during the migration process.

Monitoring and Control

What monitoring and reporting capabilities does the backup solution offer?

The TERRA CLOUD backup solution offers various options for monitoring and analyzing backups.
The central hub is the backup portal, which allows for the monitoring of all connected systems.
It also provides reports and status overviews, enabling a quick assessment of the backup status.

Additionally, Server-Eye sensors can be deployed to facilitate more in-depth technical monitoring.
These sensors are flexible to install and provide detailed insights into the status of backup agents and backup processes.
For specific requirements, it is also possible to develop custom sensors by analyzing the XML files generated by the agent.

TERRA Management can also be used to provide basic monitoring functions.

Furthermore, the backup portal supports email notifications that can be sent to one or more recipients.
This ensures administrators are automatically informed about errors, warnings, or successful backups.

Which triggers are available to start a backup?

Various trigger mechanisms are available for executing backups.
The most important and frequently used mechanism is the schedule, which can be configured individually for both servers and clients.
This allows backups to be performed automatically at fixed times or at defined intervals.

Additionally, Windows triggers are available for Windows clients.
These enable backups to start automatically when the system shuts down or starts up.
This ensures that devices—particularly mobile ones or those rarely powered on—can be reliably included in the backup strategy.

Is a backup automatically aborted if package or volume limits are exceeded?

No, the backup will not be aborted in this case.
The backup process continues to run to completion, ensuring no data is lost and the backup finishes as planned.

However, exceeding the package or volume limits results in an automatic upgrade of the backup package.
This incurs additional costs, which are billed based on the increased usage.

Security and Integrity

What happens if a server is infected by malware or a virus and a backup runs immediately afterwards? Are earlier safe sets compromised as a result?

Safesets created by the backup agent are stored on the respective vault or satellite exclusively as read-only files.
Once a safeset has been created, it cannot be modified or overwritten.

This ensures that no malware can compromise existing backups.
Even if a backup is performed immediately after an infection, all previously created safesets remain completely intact and unchanged.

Storage and Data Management

Is the backed-up data stored in a geo-redundant manner in the TERRA CLOUD?

Backup data stored in Hüllhorst is regularly replicated to the secondary vault at the Düsseldorf data center.
This ensures geo-redundant data storage, providing additional resilience.

The same applies to backup data stored in Seuzach (Switzerland).
This data is replicated to the secondary vault at the Frauenfeld data center (Switzerland).

The secondary vault is used exclusively for data recovery; direct backups to this vault are not supported.

Is it possible to store backup data locally?

Booking a hybrid backup service allows backup data to be stored locally.
In this scenario, a "satellite" is deployed—operating either as a physical server or a virtual machine on-site.

The satellite is configured as the primary vault within the backup portal.
At scheduled times, it automatically replicates its locally stored backups to the central Basevault at the Hüllhorst data center.
From there, data is further replicated to a secondary Basevault at the Düsseldorf data center, ensuring geo-redundant storage.

Furthermore, restores can be performed directly from the local satellite, offering significant advantages—especially in cases of slow internet connections.

When using a hybrid backup, can the satellite be permanently bypassed so that backups are made directly to the base vault?

In a hybrid backup setup, the satellite is an integral and technically essential component of the overall solution.
It handles local backup storage as well as scheduled replication to the TERRA CLOUD.
Therefore, permanently bypassing the satellite is not possible.

However, under certain conditions, the satellite can be temporarily bypassed—for instance, if it has not yet been delivered or is temporarily unavailable due to a technical issue.
In such exceptional cases, and following consultation with Support, the agent can back up directly to the Base Vault.

However, permanent use of the hybrid backup without the satellite is not possible.

Are there password restrictions for the backup agent?

There is a 31-character limit for all passwords used with the TERRA Cloud Backup Agent.
This includes:

• Encryption passwords
• Password hints
• SQL credentials
• VRA credentials
• Oracle credentials
• SMTP credentials
• Vault credential passwords
• etc...

Only the following characters are permitted for use in the encryption password and hint fields: a-z, A-Z, Á-ÿ, 0-9, spaces, !@#$%^&*()_-+=[]{}|'":;<.>\/?

How can I change the encryption password for a backup job?

You have the option to reset the encryption password. To do this, navigate to the relevant backup job in the backup portal and select "Edit job."
You can then set a new password. Please note that backups created with the old encryption password can only be restored using that same password.
Please be aware that a new initial backup will be created after the encryption password is changed.

Can a lost encryption password for a backup job be reset?

The encryption password for the backup job cannot be reset by TERRA CLOUD Support.
Please check whether a password hint has been saved for the job.