162 PART 2 | Managing and Maintaining Microsoft Windows Security Volume Shadow Copy Service Microsoftbackuputilitiesmakeiteasytomaintainintegrityduringbackupsfor applicationsthatsupportthe Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) .VSSsupportsutilities andapplicationsincreatingsnapshotsofarunningWindowssystem.Microsoftbackup utilityusesVSStoalertapplicationslikeStructuredQueryLanguage(SQL)Serverand Exchange.Thisallowsthebackuptotakeasnapshotofthesystem.VSS-awareapplications stopwritingtodatafilesuntilthesnapshotcompletes.Theapplicationscancontinue writing,butwillworkwiththebackupprocesstoensureblocksthatareabouttobe writtenarebackedupfirst.Inthisway,Windowsensuresdataintegrity. the restore utility copies everything from the backup media to a location on your hard disk. When you complete a well-planned restore operation, you'll have to take few additional steps to get running again. Workstation, Server, Network, and Internet Backup Techniques Workstation Backups Workstations store and process some information locally. It is important to ensure all your workstations back up important files. Some organizations overlook workstation backups. This results in data loss when problems arise. Often, locally stored data is an integral piece of organizational data. For example, software developers often copy programs to their local workstations to make changes. It is not unusual for developers to have several dozen programs on their local workstations. When they finish making program changes and testing the changes, they copy their work back to a central repository. What happens if a software developer encounters a problem that results in losing one or more local programs? You will lose all the work invested in program changes unless frequent backups for Workstation Domain computers keep current secondary copies of work in progress. Even if members of your organization do not copy files from a central source to edit locally, backups will protect your workstations from loss. Nearly every workstation user stores local documents, spreadsheets, presentations, custom settings, and other data that would take time to reconstruct. At the very least, backing up workstations will save time if a user loses data. Microsoft includes an updated Backup and Restore utility with Windows 7. It has been upgraded from its Vista predecessor to make backing up and restoring workstations simpler. The Windows Backup and Restore Wizard asks you to provide answers to three main questions to configure your backup scope and schedule. Figure 8-2 shows the Windows Backup and Restore utility in action.