883 - ESE: How to change the VSS backup type

The Enterprise Server Edition (ESE) uses VSS to back up components that support it, e.g. SQL Server.

By default, ESE will perform a full VSS backup.

The VSS backup types supported by the ESE are:

• FULL (default)
• INCREMENTAL
• DIFFERENTIAL
• LOG
• COPY

Note: For a full desciption of VSS backup types, refer to this article.

To change the default VSS behaviour of your ESE Agent:

1. In your ESE installation folder, open the a5backup.properties file (usually located within C:\Program Files).
2. Edit the line containing the option "vss.backup.type" set to the types listed above. (Add the line if it doesn't exist.)
   Example:
   vss.backup.type=COPY
3. Save the file.
4. Stop and then restart the Agent's Windows service.