Microsoft Azure Backup Server v3

This article describes the features and fixes that are included for Microsoft Azure Backup Server (MABS) v3. It also contains the download link for MABS v3.

The following features are included in this update for Azure Backup Server v3.

Backup storage migration

By using volume-to-volume migration in MABS v3, you can move your backups on-premises for more optimized storage management. You can also move your data source to a different volume if a volume is near capacity and cannot be extended.

Prevent unexpected data loss

Assigning wrong volumes for backup storage can cause critical data loss. MABS v3 lets you disable such volumes by using Windows PowerShell. All volumes and mount points, except System Volumes, are available for MABS storage.

Custom size allocation

Modern Backup Storage (MBS) optimizes storage consumption by using storage when it is necessary. After you configure MABS for protection, it calculates the size of data that is being backed up. When multiple data are backed up together, this calculation can take a while. By using MABS v3, you can configure MABS to accept the storage volume size as default, instead of calculating the size of each file and folders that's being backed up.

Optimized CC for RCT VMs

MABS v3 optimizes network and storage consumption by transferring only the changed data during any Consistency Checks for RCT (the native change tracking in Hyper-V) VMs.

VMware VM protection improvements

VMware VM backup was in Preview mode in Windows Server 2016 that has MABS v2 installed. By using MABS v3, this is supported in production mode. MABS v3 will include support for vCenter/vSphere and ESX/ESXi licensed version 6.5, 6.0, and 5.5.

TLS 1.2 support

TLS 1.2 is a secure method of communication that is recommended by Microsoft. For MABS, TLS 1.2 is applicable for protecting workloads to cloud.

SQL Server 2017 support

MABS v3 can be installed together with Microsoft SQL Server 2017. You can either upgrade your SQL Server from SQL Server 2016 to SQL Server 2017 or use a fresh instance of SQL Server 2017 as an MABS database. By using v3, you can seamlessly back up the SQL Server 2017 workload.

Windows Server 2019 support

MABS v3 can be installed on Windows Server 2019. You can upgrade your system to Windows Server 2019 either before you upgrade or install MABs v3 or a later version.

This update fixes the following issues:

• No billing for protected collocated VMWare data sources in MABS v2.
• MAB server crashes while sending billing information for a clustered data source.
• Indefinite looping of RCT VM consistency check jobs because of I/O errors.
• When you create a protection group, MABS displays a warning message about exceeding data limits. This issue occurs even for small data sources when you are protecting Hyper-V virtual machines.
• The MABS UI stops responding after it starts if there are many recovery points for data sources.
• Hyper-V backups fail because of checkpoint time-outs on the Hyper-V server.
• MABS console crashes when the nightly pruning job runs for a long time.
• MABS status report does not display client/laptop recovery points.
• Consistency checks for Hyper-V VMs transfers more data than the size of the VMs.
• When you try to recover files and folders from Azure, some items that have a path length longer than 256 characters in the online recovery point are not visible in the UI.
• The UI stops responding for several minutes when a consistency check job is triggered.
• Severity is lowered from “Critical” to “Informational” for the alert that is raised when an online backup fails because new disk backups are present since the last online backup.
• BMR and System State data source backups consume more storage when you use Modern Backup Storage.
• Alternate synchronization jobs for files and folders on a deduped volume raise failed file alerts incorrectly.  Failed files log links in failed file alerts do not show the failed files.

Microsoft Download Center

This upgrade is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center. Refer to the following link for download and installation instructions for MABS v3:

Download Microsoft Azure Backup Server v3

For information about how to download Microsoft support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services

After you install MABS v3 or upgrade your MABS v2 installation to MABS v3, the Azure Backup Server will be version number 13.0.415.0. You can verify this by selecting the About button on the Help panel. You can upgrade to MABS v3 only from MABS v2.

Note If you currently use an earlier version than 13.0.415.0 of the Microsoft Azure Backup Server, also known as MABS v3, we recommend that you download this version and upgrade your MABS version. MABS v2 will be out of support by May 2019.