exchange 2010

I guess this is Ent edition then why 600GB database ??

Why not divide the database into multiple Databases so that we have quick backups and also if any DB issues happen it wont affect all Mailbox\users.

Obvious Disabling circullar logging will surely increase the time as it will then have more data to backup :(

- Rancy

If its taking a long you can have a different solution if you would agree .... this would mean you have full backup every week and you have backup of logs 5 days so no data loss ... similar to what your doing now.

Take Full Exchange DB backup over weekend .... starting Saturday so you have enough time and not much production server use.
Over the entire week you can take a Incremental backup (for this you need to have Circular logging disabled) - If your disabling please make sure you have Good enough Space !!

Please share your thoughts :)

- Rancy

600 GB is total of few databases and it is enterprise. Any impact generally if we enable circular logging.

Not much as the function remains the same for Exchange ..... just once you enable you have to very closely monitor the disk if the dont have very good Free space as you dont know how many logs files do get created for each Database on a given day .... right

- Rancy

Circular logging is ideally disabled only on few times like
Move Mailbox
Disk space issues

As if its disabled and DB drive crashes you can recover only till last restore however if you have log files you can reply these and get to the most recent data :)

- Rancy

i have neverfail running (replication as active / passive) . this way we have a copy of full set on secondary. Is this ok we can avoid backing up daily basis.

Absolutely ..... when you take a Full backup Weekly and Incremental on Weekdays you just reduce the Backup time and it will have the data backed up as usual the only difference is you don't have DB backup everyday but if you every want to restore for lets say till Thursday you can always restore the Full for Sat\Sun and then also restore Incremental for Monday\Tuesday\Wednesday and\or Thursday as per the requirement .....

- Rancy

In Exchange 2010, circular logging is disabled by default. By enabling it, you reduce drive storage space requirements. However, without a complete set of transaction log files, you can’t recover any data more recent than the last full backup. Therefore, in a normal production environment, circular logging isn’t recommended.

In the standard transaction logging used by Exchange 2010, each database transaction is written to a log file and then to the database. When a log file reaches one megabyte in size, it’s renamed and a new log file is created. Over time, this results in a set of log files. If Exchange stops unexpectedly, you can recover the transactions by replaying the data from these log files into the database. Circular logging overwrites and reuses the first log file after the data it contains has been written to the database.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298080.aspx

omprakash_nath: Thanks !! I guess thats what i said :)

WilsonJohn: The recommendations have been given to you based on all my experience working with Exchange from E2k too E2k10 ..... so my recommendation should give you more flexibility.

One more thing .... as you say your total Database size is 600GB ... do you know whats the Free\White space available on each database respectively to see if you can gain some space ??

To check free space for each database you can check for eventID 1221 ... its generated each day for each database :)

- Rancy

I did not receive a proper reply regarding my setup with neverfail. this high availibiliy product keeps an exact copy on other server. My question is , whether enabling circular logging will impact the server performance.

Is "High Availability" DAG or LAG ?
Look if you have Enabled circular logging ? it will create log files on both the servers ... but once the backup is completed on the Active server .... secondary server will automatically deleted the log files working with Replication service.

- Rancy

Sorry i meant "Look if you have Disabled circular logging"

Let me know if you still have any Queries\Concerns .... will try me best to answer and clear your doubts.

Just one thing i have the Circular logging disabled in my environment meaning it creates log files and after backup they all are removed.

- Rancy

We use a product called "Neverfail" for exchange 2010 high availability . This is a 3rd party product.

Exchange 2010 has its own in built feature of DAG and LAG that can replicate keep multiple copies and High Availability ..... not sure how 3rd parties work.

Ideally it shouldnt be an issue but i dont know the product or its features\settings :(

- Rancy

Rancy , if exchange has DAG then is it advisible to enable circular logging. My understanding with DAG is , first  server data will get replicated on second which means we have a copy of data something like backup. Neverfail is similar like DAG in exchange 2010.

Thanks Rancy. I am clear now.
wilson John