74 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2009You can also apply custom filters, using the common Windows masking rules. Forexample, to exclude all files with extension .exe, add *.exe. My???.exe will exclude all.exe files with names consisting of five symbols and starting with “my”.This option is effective for file/folders backup only. When creating a disk/partition image,you cannot filter out any files.6.3.3 Pre/post commandsYou can specify commands or batch files to be automatically executed before and afterthebackup procedure. For example, you may want to remove some tmp files from thedisk before starting backup or configure a third-party antivirus product to be started eachtime before the backup starts. Click Edit to open the Edit Command window where youcan easily input the command, its arguments and working directory or browse folders tofind a batch file.The program does not support interactive commands, i.e. commands that require userinput (for example, “pause”.)The backup process will run concurrently with your commands if you uncheck the Do notperform operations until the commands execution is complete box, which ischecked by default.6.3.4 Database supportDatabase servers, such as MS SQL Server and MS Exchange, can be problematic tobackup, partially due to open files and indexes and partially due to rapid data changes.Therefore it is usually recommended that the database be suspended just before thebackup (data capture). You can suspend the database and clear all caches to ensure thatall transactions are completed at the moment of data capture. If it become necessary torestore a damaged database, it will be restored completely and be ready to access afterrecovery.1. Volume Shadow Copy ServiceMicrosoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) provides the infrastructure forbackup on running systems by keeping up coordination between user applications thatupdate data on disk and backup applications. VSS is available in Microsoft Windows XPand Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating systems.If your database is compatible with Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), thenchecking the Enable VSS support box in Database support window will ensurecompletion of all transactions before the backup process starts. The examples of VSS-aware databases are Exchange, Oracle, SQL Server.2. Before/after data capture commandsHowever, VSS is not available in server operation systems older than Windows 2003Server, and not all databases support VSS. In these cases, the transactions completioncan be ensured by executing batch files or scripts that pause the appropriate Windowsservices and automatically resume them after data capture.An example of a batch file, suspending the Windows services for MS Exchange:net stop msexchangesa /y /ynet stop “Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine”An example of a batch file, resuming the Windows services for MS Exchange:net start “Microsoft Exchange System Attendant”
