Back up the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) system

To recover from any scenario, you must back up all needed information and store a copy off site. A backup plan should be created and rehearsed for all Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) components and services to make sure that if a disk or other failure occurs, the maximum amount of data is recoverable.

Backup requirements summary

Backup requirements vary according to the servers involved. The following table is a summary of what to back up for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises).

Server	What to back up	Comments
Domain controller	Full System State	None.
SQL Server	MSCRM_CONFIG OrganizationName_MSCRM master msdb ReportServer ReportServertempdb	The OrganizationName_MSCRM and ReportServer databases should have full database backups and transaction log backups. For databases that are rarely updated, such as msdb, you may select only full database backup. Backups of the master and msdb databases aren’t required by Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) but should be part of an overall backup strategy.
SharePoint	Backup recommended if SharePoint integration is enabled.	If you have enabled SharePoint document management, we recommend that you back up the SharePoint databases. For more information, see the SharePoint documentation.
Exchange Server	Backup not required by Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises).	Backup may be required for Exchange Server. For more information, see Backup, restore and disaster recovery.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Server	web.config (Default location: c:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\CRMWeb) Windows registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSCRM	The web.config file is required only if the file has been changed from the default settings. Windows registry subkey.

Selecting a backup technology and type

Dynamics 365 Server includes Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) support that can be used in conjunction with System Center Data Protection Manager to centrally manage the backup and restore operations for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises). For more information, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 VSS Writer and Data Protection Manager.

Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2012 supports external and internal hard disks, optical media drives, removable media drives, and Hyper-V virtual machines for local storage. Additionally, Windows Server 2012 supports online backup by using Azure Online Backup. More information:Azure Backup

To perform a scheduled backup, as a best practice, use an external hard disk that supports at least USB 2.0 or IEEE 1394.

In Windows Server, you can perform three types of backup:

• System state backup, which includes all the files that are required to recover Active Directory.

• Critical-volumes backup, which includes all the volumes that contain system state files.

• Full server backup, which includes all volumes on the server.

Backing up SQL Server, including Reporting Services

Windows Server Backup uses Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) to protect SQL Server application data. An alternative solution that can be used while SQL Server runs is the built-in backup features of SQL Server.

If you use SQL Server Management Studio to create a backup of the SQL Server databases, you can run a backup job from the Backup and Restore Wizard to include database backups that Reporting Services created. Schedule the backup routing in Reporting Services to run first, followed by a backup job run in the Backup and Restore Wizard. More information:Back Up and Restore of SQL Server Databases

Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) creates at least two Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises)-specific databases on SQL Server. In addition, Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) requires the default master and msdbSQL Server databases for database services and the default report server SQL Server databases for Reporting Services. The databases that make up a Customer Engagement system on SQL Server are as follows:

• OrganizationName_MSCRM

• MSCRM_CONFIG

• ReportServer

• ReportServertempdb

• master

• msdb

Note

For multitenant deployments, your Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) deployment will include more than one OrganizationName_MSCRM database.

The SQL Server backup plan should address each of these databases to make sure that Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) could recover if one, or all, databases fail. If your organization already has SQL Server or another database application, your database administrator may have a database backup strategy. However, if this is the first database application in your organization, you can create and maintain scheduled jobs to perform the necessary backups by using the Maintenance Plan Wizard in SQL Server Management Studio. To start the Maintenance Plan Wizard, in Reporting Services, expand the server, expand the Management folder, right-click the Maintenance Plans folder, and then select Maintenance Plan Wizard.

Your backup plan for the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) databases provides you a backup set that includes a full database backup and some number of transaction log backups, depending on the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) installation and the frequency with which you determine whether you must have backups.

For databases that are updated infrequently, such as the msdb database, you might perform only full database backups. The OrganizationName_MSCRM, MSCRM_CONFIG, and ReportServer databases should have both full database and transaction-log backups.

Databases on which transaction log backups will be performed must have the Full recovery model database property set. You can set this property through SQL Server Management Studio.

Schedule full database backups frequently enough to reduce the number of restores after a failure. For example, if one day's data loss is acceptable, you can back up the transaction log one time per day, and back up the database one time per week. If only one hour's maximum data loss is acceptable, you can back up the transaction log one time per hour. To reduce the number of restores, back up the database one time per day.

To create a database maintenance plan for scheduled backups, run the Maintenance Plan Wizard from SQL Server Management Studio. Select the option to back up the database as part of the maintenance plan for a full database backup. Select the option to back up the transaction log as part of the maintenance plan for a transaction log backup.

Your computer that is running SQL Server should also be designed with a level of fault-tolerance that is correct for a database server. This includes a RAID-5 disk array for your databases and a RAID-1 (mirror) for your transaction logs. With the correct level of hardware fault-tolerance, restoring from backup should be a very uncommon occurrence.

Backing up Microsoft Dynamics 365 Server

Backing up and restoring the Dynamics 365 Server basically involves the following data:

• Dynamics 365 Server database files (explained previously)

• Dynamics 365 Server program files

• Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) website files

For information about how to back up solutions and customizations that have been implemented outside of the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) application, contact your solution vendor.

Note

We recommend that you keep a record of your current Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) update version. Therefore, if failure recovery is required, the appropriate update can be reapplied.

By default, all Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) program files are located in the following folders:

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics 365 Reporting Extensions\

By default, the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) website files are located in the following folder:

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\CRMWeb

See Also

Microsoft Dynamics 365 data protection and recovery
Exporting and importing customizations and solutions