GBM AI on Windows Server

GBM AI 10.2 runs on Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2025 (x64), with the desktop or as Server Core. On a server it backs up with a Server licence, or during the 15-day Server trial.

Install#

Download GBM-AI-Setup-…-x64-Server-Trial.exe from the GBM AI download page. It is the same program as the other setups; it starts the Server trial, and Run scheduled backups even when nobody is signed in is ticked, so the backups run as a Windows service from the moment the server starts. Keep it ticked on a server: nobody is signed in there most of the time.

On Server Core there is no desktop: Setup installs the service only, with no window, no icon and no notification-area entry. Manage it with the gbm command, in C:\Program Files\Genie9\GBM AI:

1. Make the job in GBM AI on a PC with a desktop, then export it: Jobs ▸ ⋯ ▸ Export job JSON…, or gbm job export "<name>" -o job.json. An export leaves the encryption password out.
2. Copy job.json to the server and edit its folders if they differ there.
3. A job file carries no passwords. Save what the job needs on the server: gbm creds add \\nas\backups --user CONTOSO\backup for a share, gbm s3 add <name> --access-key <id> for a bucket; gbm asks for the password or the secret key.
4. gbm job import job.json saves it as a job of the server (--s3-profile <name> for a bucket job). An encrypted job needs its password: gbm job import job.json --password-stdin, or set GBM_PASSWORD first.
5. gbm job run "<name>" runs it now; gbm status and gbm job list show how things stand.

To run the service as a domain account there, open the command prompt as administrator: gbm service account CONTOSO\backup. Every command is in The gbm command line.

Any setup installed on a server starts the Server trial. A Home or Pro trial that was already running on it carries on as the Server trial, with its own dates.

The Server licence#

When the trial ends without a Server licence, backups pause and the app says This PC runs Windows Server: On Windows Server, GBM AI backs up with a Server licence. (E-LIC-014). The jobs and their schedules stay; they run again as soon as a Server key is entered. Restoring is never paused: every backup can be restored, licence or not.

What a server gets#

Everything in Pro. These are the parts that matter most on a server:

• Backups that cannot be changed. A job backing up to Amazon S3 or a compatible bucket can lock its sets with S3 Object Lock, so nobody can change or delete them before their date: Locking backups in S3.
• Checks of old backups. Old sets are read back now and then, and damage is found while the second copy can still fill in: Checking old backups.
• The service as a domain account. The service can run as an account the server's shares let in: Running backups with nobody signed in.
• A daily summary e-mail, at the hour you choose: Email alerts.
• Very large files (virtual disks, database dumps) are stored in parts of 4 GB: Choosing where backups go.

Not yet: databases and disk images. MySQL databases are coming to the Server licence; Microsoft SQL Server databases, and disk images with bare-metal recovery, are coming as add-ons bought on top.

Related articles#

• Installing GBM AI
• Editions compared
• Running backups with nobody signed in