BackupAssist v6 Licensing FAQs

How does the BackupAssist licensing model work?

The BackupAssist base license covers basic tasks, like file, System State and VSS application backup. For more advanced tasks, such as Exchange mailbox backup and Rsync Internet backup, you can purchase optional add-on products in addition to a BackupAssist base license.

Standalone products are also available, which can be licensed without a BackupAssist base license, but which have limited functionality. BackupAssist for Rsync Standalone, for example, can be licensed without a BackupAssist base license, but can only be used to perform Rsync backups.

The following table outlines the different BackupAssist products available and their capabilities:

Basic requirements

License required	Capabilities
BackupAssist	Files and folder backup VSS application backup (e.g. Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, Hyper-V) System State / Active Directory backup Exchange information store backup via NTBackup.

Advanced requirements

License required	Capabilities
BackupAssist Exchange Mailbox Add-on¹	Exchange mailbox and public folder backup Backup and restore individual mailboxes and public folders to PST. Restore a specific user’s individual mail items like calendar, emails, notes, etc.
BackupAssist SQL Server Add-on¹	SQL Server database backup Includes daily backups or near-continuous backups (every 15 minutes), as well as point-in-time database restore.
BackupAssist VM Granular Restore Console Add-on¹	Hyper-V Host/Guest backup and restore Easy restore of Guest Virtual Machines and individual files from any Guest Virtual Machine.
BackupAssist for Rsync Add-on¹ OR BackupAssist for Rsync Standalone	Rsync Internet backup Backup to any Rsync cloud provider or Rsync server via the Internet.
BackupAssist Zip-To-Tape Add-on¹	Backup to standalone tape drives Specifically designed for tape backups on Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2².
BackupAssist Open files Add-on¹	Open file backup when using NTBackup only Predominantly used on older Windows operating systems, such as Server 2000³.

¹ Add-on products require a base BackupAssist license to function.
² Refer to the question 'Will I need a BackupAssist Zip-To-Tape Add-on license?' for more information.
³ Refer to the question 'Do I need a BackupAssist Open files Add-on license?? for more information.

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If I need more than one BackupAssist add-on product, will I need more than one BackupAssist base license?

No. Only one BackupAssist base license is required for any number of add-on products. Add-on products can be purchased as required and activated at any time provided that a BackupAssist base license is present.

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Can I operate a BackupAssist add-on product without a BackupAssist base license?

No. Add-on products cannot be activated without a BackupAssist base license.

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What is covered by the BackupAssist base license, exactly?

The BackupAssist base license gives you the use of the:

NTBackup Engine on Server 2003, Server 2000 and Windows XP.
Drive Imaging Engine on Server 2008, business editions of Vista and Windows 7.
File Replication Engine on Windows XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 to create file copy backups.
Zip Engine, which runs compressed and encrypted backups to disk-based storage devices. (Tape backups require the BackupAssist Zip-To-Tape Add-on).
Scheduling, media rotation and reporting for all engines.

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Do I need a BackupAssist Exchange Mailbox Add-on license?

The BackupAssist base license includes the ability to back up the entire Microsoft Exchange information store using NTBackup, File Replication, Rsync, Zip or Windows Imaging.

The Exchange Mailbox Add-on is only required if you want to back up individual mailboxes and public folders, in addition to the Exchange information store. To do so you will need both a BackupAssist base license and an Exchange Mailbox Add-on license.

For more details on BackupAssist’s mailbox backup capabilities see our Exchange Backup Tour.

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Do I need a BackupAssist SQL Add-on license?

If you have a BackupAssist base license activated on your SQL Server, you can perform a VSS application backup of your SQL databases using NTBackup, Imaging, File Replication, or ZIP on Windows 2003 and later operating systems. You can restore SQL databases from a VSS application backup using the BackupAssist Restore Console. An SQL Add-on license is not required in this instance.

The SQL Add-on offers a number of advantages over a VSS application backup of your SQL Server, which have been outlined in the following table:

	BackupAssist SQL Add-on	VSS application backup
Local SQL Server backup
Remote SQL Server backup
Transaction log backup for near-continuous data protection
Point-in-time restore of SQL databases
Portable SQL backup files (in .BAK format)
Best practice of secondary backup of mission critical data

For more details, please refer to our SQL Whitepaper.

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Will I need a BackupAssist Zip-To-Tape Add-on license?

If you are running BackupAssist on Windows Server 2008, or any recent Windows operating system that does not include NTBackup, you will need a BackupAssist base license and a BackupAssist Zip-To-Tape Add-on license to back up to a standalone tape drive using the Zip Engine.

For older Windows operating systems where NTBackup is present, such as Windows Server 2003, only a BackupAssist base license is required back up to a standalone tape drive. The Zip Engine does, however, offer several advantages over NTBackup, such as software compression and the ability to encrypt your tape backups with a password, which makes the Zip-To-Tape Add-on suitable for older operating systems as well.

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Do I need a BackupAssist Open Files Add-on license?

The Open Files Add-on is only required for Windows 2000 operating systems where the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) is not available. BackupAssist uses VSS on all later operating systems to backup open files on local disks. The BackupAssist Open Files Add-on is also only compatible with 32-bit operating systems.

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What is the BackupAssist for Rsync Standalone or BackupAssist for Rsync Add-on license used for?

The BackupAssist for Rsync Standalone and Add-on licenses are used to perform offsite backups via the internet to any Rsync cloud provider, including Amazon S3 Rsync, or RSync.net, or to your own Rsync Server. For more details on BackupAssist’s Internet backup capabilities see our Rsync Tour.

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What is the difference between a BackupAssist for Rsync Add-on license and a Standalone license?

A BackupAssist for Rsync Standalone license is suitable if you only need to perform internet backups. Even though a BackupAssist for Rsync Standalone license can be activated without a BackupAssist base license it cannot be used to perform any other type of backup other than Rsync Internet backups.

If you want to perform other types of backup, such as File Replication or Imaging, in addition to Rsync internet backups, you need to purchase a BackupAssist for Rsync Add-on license together with a BackupAssist base license.

In addition, BackupCare subscriptions can be purchased for a BackupAssist for Rsync Standalone license in order to monitor Rsync backups in the Centralized Monitoring Console*. BackupCare does not apply to a BackupAssist for Rsync Add-on licenses, and instead must be purchased for the associated BackupAssist base license.

*BackupCare and the Centralized Monitoring Console only apply to BackupAssist Gold Resellers.

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I have a Windows Hyper-V Server. What BackupAssist licenses will I need?

We recommend that you purchase both the BackupAssist base license and the BackupAssist VM Granular Restore Console Add-on. Used together, these components will allow you to create a single, one-pass image backup of the Host and use this to restore individual files from any of your Guest VMs. The add-on also includes the Hyper-V Config Reporter – a great tool that allows you to create a HTML report of your Hyper-V set-up instead of having to make a record manually. For more details, please take our Hyper-V Backup tour.

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How do I activate my BackupAssist licenses?

When you purchase BackupAssist products you will receive a license key for each product that you purchase.
To activate your license keys:

Launch the BackupAssist console and go to Help > Licensing.
Click on "Activate" to enter your product keys.
Enter each key individually, clicking Add another key if you have multiple license keys, and click Activate when all your keys have been entered.

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How do I transfer my BackupAssist license to a new server?

If you are performing a hardware upgrade, or you are decommissioning a server and wish to install or transfer BackupAssist to a new server, prior to uninstalling BackupAssist it is IMPORTANT that you deactivate your license keys. If you do not deactivate your license keys first, you will be unable to activate them on your new server.

To deactivate, launch BackupAssist and go to Help > Licensing, and select "Deactivate". You can then choose which product licenses you wish to deactivate. Once deactivation is complete, you can successfully install and activate BackupAssist on your new server.

If you have experienced a server failure, and were unable to deactivate BackupAssist, please email support_at_backupassist.com with your license key numbers for assistance.

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I already have a BackupAssist base license. How do I upgrade to the latest version?

To upgrade your BackupAssist licenses, visit our purchasing page and click on the Upgrades/Renewals tab. If you have a current Upgrade Protection/BackupCare subscription your upgrade will be free. To check your subscription status, scroll down the page to the appropriate section and enter your license key in the field provided.

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Do I need to upgrade my old BackupAssist base license before purchasing a new BackupAssist add-on license?

Yes. You will not be able to activate any add-on license unless it is the same version as your BackupAssist base license.

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How much does it cost to upgrade a BackupAssist add-on product license?

BackupAssist Add-on products can be upgraded free. However, you will need to upgrade your BackupAssist base license prior to upgrading your add-on licenses.