Microsoft Dynamics 365 VSS writer service

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Applies To: Dynamics 365 (on-premises), Dynamics CRM 2016

The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) Writer Service provides added functionality for backing up and restoring Microsoft Dynamics 365 databases through the VSS framework.

VSS is a set of Component Object Model (COM) application programming interfaces (APIs) that provides standardized interfaces, enabling backup and restoration software, such as Systems Center Data Protection Manager, to centrally manage the backup and restore operations on a variety of applications. VSS also implements a framework that enables volume backups to be performed while applications on a system continue to write to the volumes.

In this topic

Dependencies

Permissions required

Features

Steps required to use with System Center Data Protection Manager

Dependencies

  • System Center 2012Data Protection Manager (DPM)

  • SQL Server VSS Writer. The SQL Server VSS Writer service, which is available with Microsoft SQL Server, must be started for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 VSS Writer service to work correctly.

Important

Earlier versions of System Center DPM aren’t supported.

Permissions required

The Microsoft Dynamics 365 VSS Writer runs as a service and can be run either under Network Service or a domain user account. For information about the required permissions, see Minimum permissions required for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Setup and services.

Features

The Microsoft Dynamics 365 VSS Writer supports:

  • Backup and restore of the configuration (MSCRM_CONFIG) and multiple organization (organizationName_MSCRM) databases.

  • The Microsoft Dynamics 365 application doesn’t need to be offline while databases are backed up.

  • During a database restore, the application is automatically taken offline, and after successful restoration, brought back online again.

The Microsoft Dynamics 365 VSS Writer doesn’t support:

  • Backup and restore of Microsoft SharePoint databases that are integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365. For these databases, use the SharePoint VSS Writer.

  • Backup and restore of Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services databases that are used for Microsoft Dynamics 365 reporting. For these databases, use the SQL Server VSS Writer.

Steps required to use with System Center Data Protection Manager

The following command needs to be executed in the DPM Management Shell on the computer where System Center 2012 DPM is running so that Data Protection Manager can recognize the Microsoft Dynamics 365 VSS Writer. The user running the command must be a member of the administrators group on the local computer.

Set-DPMGlobalproperty -dpmservername DPM_SRVR_NAME -registeredwriters APPS_VSS_WRITER_ID

DPM_SRVR_NAME is the name of the computer where System Center 2012 DPM is running.

APPS_VSS_WRITER_ID is the unique identifier of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 VSS Writer service, which is always 74bf91e0-e0fa-4ba9-9258-48f4fd1d0445.

See Also

Microsoft Dynamics 365 data protection and recovery
Back up the Microsoft Dynamics 365 System
MSDN: Volume Shadow Copy Service
Data Protection Manager

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