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Command Line NTBackup

Hello-

I am trying to create a bat script, that would use Windows NTbackup program to do the following using command line:

- backup Data, System State and Exchnage
- Mail a notification upon creation, with log files attached
- Keep three days worth of backups

What I want, is to ask:

1. Is it possible, to know the name of the log file that the backup generats, and store it in a variable. This should include the path of this file as well ?

2. Can anyone please help me with keeping the latest 3 files for NTBackup and delete the rest from a folder ?

Has anyone implimented this using NTBackup ? I know there are better solutions like Veritas available, but NTBackup and a batch script is the only choice I have.

TIA

Lee W, MVP

I have done something much like this. The system state must be a seperate job. In addition, you will likely need a 3rd party mail program to mail the info to you - I prefer gbmailer (command line; sends the contents of a text file).

Here's a copy of the message I receive after backup:

Backup Request Executed on Fri 05/13/2005 at 1:00:02.93 by administrator

Job Variables:
BackupDrive=J:
BackupFile=J:\all\20050513. 10002.bkf
BackupLogFile=20050513. 10002.log
BackupType=Differential
JobName=all
SysState=J:\sysstate\20050513. 10002.bkf

Existing backups on this backup disk:
------------------------------------------
J:\all\20050510. 10002.bkf
J:\all\20050511. 10005.bkf
J:\all\20050512. 10002.bkf
J:\sysstate\20050510. 10002.bkf
J:\sysstate\20050511. 10005.bkf
J:\sysstate\20050512. 10002.bkf

Disk Space Before Backup Began: 52,028,325,888

Executing Commands:

ntbackup backup "@C:\WINDOWS\backups\all.bks" /j "Differential Backup" /f "J:\all\20050513. 10002.bkf" /d "Differential - all" /v:yes /r:no /l:s /m Differential /snap:off /rs:no /hc:off
ntbackup backup "@C:\WINDOWS\backups\sysstate.bks" /j "System State Backup" /f "J:\sysstate\20050513. 10002.bkf" /d "System State" /v:yes /r:no /l:s /m normal /snap:off /rs:no /hc:off
Disk Space After Backup: 48,510,865,408

Lee W, MVP

There has been a problem including the log files - I'm not quite sure what it is, but it should be something I can figure out when I get the chance.

I'll post the script shortly.

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Lee W, MVP

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KaliKoder

ASKER

Thanks Leew, you have got a very good script, it has some good pointers. I would get back to you shortly.

KaliKoder

ASKER

Thank you very much for your help Leew. I was able to achieve the objective. I took the lines from your script, where you actually copy the log file generated and give it a unique name with dd:mm:yyyy-mm:ss format. This was very important to me, because having that in the name means no two log file names can be the same. I then copied them to a specific directory at the end of the script and used the mailsend program (a command line freeware) that sends an email to a list of folks listed in a text file, with a predefined message also listed in a text file, and also attaches the files you specify.

Thanks again