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Create a Backup Job

The New backup job wizard walks you through five steps - Define, Dependencies, Access, Schedule, Review - and saves a job that runs on demand or on a schedule.

Before you begin

  • You hold the MetaMiner Tenant Admin permission (see Prerequisites and Access).
  • The Power BI environment is loaded in the MMC Power BI Explorer. The wizard builds its selection tree from it; if the environment is not loaded, the tree is empty.
  • To grant workspace access from the wizard, you can sign in to Microsoft with an account that can add people to those workspaces.

Steps

On the Power BI Backup tab, click New. The wizard opens at New backup job - Step 1 of 5: Define. Next stays disabled until the current step is complete; Previous goes back without losing your choices.

Step 1: Define

  1. Choose the Environment: (fixed if only one Power BI environment is enabled) and type a Job name:.

  2. In the selection tree, tick what to back up. Type in Search: to filter.

    Click Result
    An empty workspace box Whole workspace: every item, now and in future runs, plus workspace parts.
    A ticked workspace box Clears it.
    Items inside a workspace Partial workspace: those items plus workspace parts.
    A partial workspace's box Turns it into loose objects: the items stay ticked, the workspace parts are dropped. Click again to make it partial.

    Greyed items are record-only and cannot be ticked. The Selected list under the tree shows each pick as whole, partial or loose.

  3. Set the options on the right.

    Option Choices Default
    Contents Item definitions (always), Workspace access, Item access, Folders, Workspace settings Definitions, Workspace access, Folders
    Data tier None, .pbix, .abf (not available in this release) None
    Method Auto, Per-object, Bulk Auto

    See What Is Backed Up for what each content option captures.

    Method Behaviour
    Auto Recommended. One bulk export per workspace; what bulk cannot take (paginated reports, Gen1 dataflows, system items, a workspace without capacity) is captured one by one. Nothing is dropped.
    Per-object Every item captured on its own. Slower on large workspaces, but every object in the archive can be restored by itself.
    Bulk One bulk export per workspace, no fallback. The run fails if anything cannot go through. Loose objects are still captured one by one.

Image of the Define step with an environment, a job name, one whole and one partial workspace ticked, and the Contents, Data tier and Method options

../images/backup-restore/wizard-define.png

Step 2: Dependencies

  1. Review reports whose semantic model is outside your selection. Each model you can reach is listed as Include "model" (from workspace), ticked by default. Clear a box to leave that model out.

    A model in a workspace MetaMiner cannot access is listed as a warning only: reports using it will be dangling references on restore. If nothing is missing, the step says Nothing to resolve.

Image of the Dependencies step listing one includable semantic model and one warning for a model in an inaccessible workspace

../images/backup-restore/wizard-dependencies.png

Step 3: Access

  1. Check the service principal's access. The step names the service principal MMS backs up with and shows each selected workspace as has access, needs grant or couldn't verify.
  2. Click Grant beside a workspace, or Grant all (n), if any need it. Sign in to Microsoft if prompted. The step re-checks when the grant finishes; a failed grant shows the reason under the workspace, with Details... for Microsoft's full response.

Image of the Access step with one workspace showing has access and one showing needs grant with its Grant button

../images/backup-restore/wizard-access.png

Step 4: Schedule

  1. Click Modify Schedule to set when the job runs, or leave it as is for a manual job. Set to Manual clears an existing schedule.

    Field in the schedule editor Values
    Repeats Minutes, Hourly, Daily, Every weekday (Monday to Friday), Weekly, Monthly
    Every / Repeat on Interval, days or dates for the chosen repeat
    Starts on First date and time
    Ends Never, After a number of occurrences, or On a date

  2. Set the lifecycle options under the schedule.

    Option Default Effect
    Retention (days) 365 Scheduled jobs only: archives older than this are deleted, except the newest successful one. Greyed for a manual job, which keeps archives until you delete them.
    Notify (comma-separated emails) Empty Extra addresses to email on the run outcome.
    Also email on success Off By default only failed runs are emailed.

    Failed runs are always emailed to the job owner (the email on their MetaMiner user, or the default recipient in MMA email settings if the owner has none) plus the extra addresses.

Image of the Schedule step with a daily schedule description, retention set to 30 days and one notification address

../images/backup-restore/wizard-schedule.png

Step 5: Review

  1. Check the summary (job name, environment, selection, contents, data tier, method, retention, schedule, notifications) and the table of every object in the backup, with its Status and how it is In backup as (whole, partial, loose picked, loose dependency).

    Status Meaning
    Ready The service principal has access and nothing is unresolved.
    Warning Will be backed up, but a report's semantic model is not included.
    No access The service principal cannot reach this workspace. Go back to Access.
    Unknown Access could not be verified, for example a network issue.

  2. Click Test to dry-run the capture without producing a backup. Each row's Test column shows Pass or Fail; right-click a row for Details... or Copy results.

  3. Click Finish to save the job.

Image of the Review step after Test, with the summary block and the object table showing Status and Test columns

../images/backup-restore/wizard-review.png

Verify

The job appears in the Backup jobs grid with Validity Valid. If it shows Invalid, the reason names the workspace the service principal cannot reach; fix the access and edit and save the job again.

Edit a job

Select the job and click Edit (or double-click it). The same five steps open with the saved values. The environment cannot be changed; create a new job for another environment.

Troubleshooting

The selection tree is empty

The environment is not loaded in the Power BI Explorer. Open the Power BI Explorer tab, load the environment, then start the wizard again.

Test shows Fail for some objects

Hover the Test cell or use Details.... Common causes are listed in Troubleshooting. Remove objects Power BI cannot export from the job, or switch Method to Auto.

Next steps