Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)

The VSS integration allows Plakar Control Plane to back up and restore a directory on a live Windows host. Plakar connects to the Windows host over SSH, requests a VSS snapshot of the volume containing the target directory, then copies the files from the read-only snapshot over SFTP. It is also the base integration other Windows-specific integrations build on, such as Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Active Directory.

Currently no managed inventory has the capability of discovering Windows resources. You need to set up a self-managed inventory before adding a VSS resource.

When using a self-managed inventory, you must register your resources manually or import them from a CSV file.

To add a Windows machine as a resource, use Compute as the class. VSS resources do not require a subclass. For the endpoint, use the IP address or hostname of the target machine. See resources documentation for more information on how to set up resources on a self-managed inventory.

flowchart TD
  subgraph Windows["Windows Host"]
    VSS["VSS Snapshot"]
    Files["Filesystem
Root path"]
  end

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Source["VSS
Source app"]
    Backup["Backup process
Encrypt & deduplicate"]
  end

  Store["Kloset Store"]

  Source -->|"SSH: requests VSS 
 snapshot"| VSS
  VSS --> Files
  Files -->|"SFTP: file transfer"| Source
  Source --> Backup
  Backup --> Store

flowchart TD
  Store["Kloset Store"]

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Destination["VSS
Destination app"]
    Restore["Restore process"]
  end

  subgraph Windows["Windows Host"]
    Files["Filesystem
Root path"]
  end

  Store --> Restore
  Destination --> Restore

  Restore -->|"SSH: executes restore 
 operations"| Destination
  Destination -->|"SFTP: transfers 
 restored files"| Files

The following settings are available when configuring both source and destination apps.

• Port: The SSH server port. Defaults to 22 if left empty.

• Root: Required. The absolute path to the Windows drive and directory which should be backed up, e.g. /C:/Users/Administrator/Documents.

• Ssh Private Key: To authenticate with the remote machine, PCP uses SSH key-based authentication. Generate a dedicated SSH keypair for PCP and add the public key to the remote machine’s authorized keys before configuring this field (see Setting up SSH access on the Windows host below), then copy the private key in full, including the header and footer lines, into this field:

  -----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
  ...
  -----END OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----

• Username: Required. The name of an administrative user account to perform the backup or restore with, e.g. Administrator.

The vss integration relies on OpenSSH Server being installed, running, and reachable on the Windows host before it can be used, with a dedicated SSH key authorized for the administrative account Plakar connects as.

See Setting Up OpenSSH Server on Windows for step-by-step instructions on installing OpenSSH Server, opening port 22, and authorizing an SSH key.