mkurtzhals
asked on
Need Help with exchange backups.
Hello-
We have veritas and I believe we are backing up the entire info store and all mailboxes. Typically is it not recommended to have mailboxes backed up and just use the deleted email recovery option? So the scenario I am faced with right now is that veritas looks like it is backing up the info store and mailboxes every night to a 700 gig drive. So basically it is filling up and causing all kinds of problems. I am new to veritas so I am still trying to figure it out. It looks like the server at one time had a tape drive but is not functional. Does anyone have any advice about how I should setup backups in this scenario. Incremental then weekly full??
Thanks
We have veritas and I believe we are backing up the entire info store and all mailboxes. Typically is it not recommended to have mailboxes backed up and just use the deleted email recovery option? So the scenario I am faced with right now is that veritas looks like it is backing up the info store and mailboxes every night to a 700 gig drive. So basically it is filling up and causing all kinds of problems. I am new to veritas so I am still trying to figure it out. It looks like the server at one time had a tape drive but is not functional. Does anyone have any advice about how I should setup backups in this scenario. Incremental then weekly full??
Thanks
ASKER
Server 2003
exec 9.1
exec 9.1
All you need to backup are the Information Stores. These are what you need for a successful Exchange recovery. The mailboxes are not needed though they can be convenient at times if a user deletes an email and purges all deleted mail. You can then recover the message IF it was in the users’ mailbox at the time the backup job ran. You best bet is just to backup the Stores and avoid the painfully slow backup times of the mailboxes.
Suggestion #1
If you NEED the mailbox backups I would suggest you upgrade to Backup Exec 11d and utilize the Continuous Data Protection for Exchange. This keeps an up to the minute backup of you Exchange data.
Suggestion #2 if you don't like #1
If you are running Exchange 2003 w/ SP1 you can recover single mailbox items from the Information Store using ExMerge and Exchange Recovery Storage Groups.
http://msexchange.org/tutorials/Exchange_Server_2003_Mailbox_Recovery.html
http://msexchange.org/tutorials/How-Recovery-Storage-Groups-Work.html
Suggestion #1
If you NEED the mailbox backups I would suggest you upgrade to Backup Exec 11d and utilize the Continuous Data Protection for Exchange. This keeps an up to the minute backup of you Exchange data.
Suggestion #2 if you don't like #1
If you are running Exchange 2003 w/ SP1 you can recover single mailbox items from the Information Store using ExMerge and Exchange Recovery Storage Groups.
http://msexchange.org/tutorials/Exchange_Server_2003_Mailbox_Recovery.html
http://msexchange.org/tutorials/How-Recovery-Storage-Groups-Work.html
ASKER
So I should do a full backup of the store everyday?
Yes. What we do here is a 12:00pm Store backup to disk and then another one at 8:00pm to tape. The job to disk is overwritten each day and the ones to tape are archived.
This is really a conversation for the Exchange section but there is slightly more than just the information stores required. The MTA queue, replication and site information and any configuration files that will be required to recovery the server should it completely fail.
If you think about the IS on its own for a second, then there is no difference between full, diff or incremental as the files are changed all the time, and so they will always be backed up in full, even with an incr. backup schedule.
Personally, I would do offline backups, and make them full every day. This is the easiest way to ensure a consistent recovery in any scenario. Utilising Mailbox recovery options to allow users to recover emails upto 30 days old (ie, don't allow a user to empty the Deleted Items folder) and you can remove 99% of your file restores from exchange. The only scenarios you would need to consider a recovery would be
Restores older than 30 days
Entire mailbox corruption
Entire Server restore (either corruption or consistency with other systems)
Also consider offline/online backups carefully. Online are more prone to problems and slower but mean zero outage. Offline are quicker and more certain to restore, but mean an outage.
Finally, think about onsite/offsite storage of your media. If you use the above method and use online storage onsite for fast restores and have tape media offsite for security/peace of mind that should cover all the bases nicely!
Good luck
Barny
If you think about the IS on its own for a second, then there is no difference between full, diff or incremental as the files are changed all the time, and so they will always be backed up in full, even with an incr. backup schedule.
Personally, I would do offline backups, and make them full every day. This is the easiest way to ensure a consistent recovery in any scenario. Utilising Mailbox recovery options to allow users to recover emails upto 30 days old (ie, don't allow a user to empty the Deleted Items folder) and you can remove 99% of your file restores from exchange. The only scenarios you would need to consider a recovery would be
Restores older than 30 days
Entire mailbox corruption
Entire Server restore (either corruption or consistency with other systems)
Also consider offline/online backups carefully. Online are more prone to problems and slower but mean zero outage. Offline are quicker and more certain to restore, but mean an outage.
Finally, think about onsite/offsite storage of your media. If you use the above method and use online storage onsite for fast restores and have tape media offsite for security/peace of mind that should cover all the bases nicely!
Good luck
Barny
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I think something that is important is that his 700GB are filling up. Can somebody walk us through creating a Full backup everynight without running out of storage space? how do we set it up so that we can have a full copy of our data for 4 days and then have it start overwriting at day 1? how do I setup a Full Backup on Friday and have it run Incrementals on Mon-thursday without killing my space?
Thanks!
Thanks!
ASKER
Stephen you have nailed it on the head that is what i need setup
Server OS
Backup Exec
Exchange
Let us know then we can proceed.