Configuring backup policies
A backup policy defines what is backed up in a system and when is it backed up. Instead of defining what you want to back-up every time you execute the backup process, the policy allows an Administrator to define what is being retained, and the process happens automatically.
There are normally two primary goals for creating system backups: operational recovery and disaster recovery. Operational recovery is used to recover individual files, folders, or programs in case of accidental deletion or recover of an older version. Disaster recovery (DR) is used to recover an entire system in case of loss of the system. For DR purposes, it is generally suggested to backup the entire system, and use exclusions to keep from backing up certain files.
Windows Server Backup provides capabilities for both types of backups and restores. In this recipe, we will perform a DR-level backup of our system that allows for recovery of the entire system as well as individual components.