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AmericanPie's avatar
AmericanPie
Level 4
13 years ago
Solved

How BE 2010 works backing up exchange

Hi everyone,

I'm heavy into presentation/explanation of how things work in IT for our company.

I'm now into backups now and need to explain how it works. I would like to know how BE works exactly when it comes to backing up exchange. How does it do it exactly? Does it make a copy of the DB then puts it to tape? Is the backup realtime when it runs the job?

Just to explain our network. 2 ESX hosts 7 servers in total (5 VM's). 2 DC's 1 exchange 1 accounting 1 file. The physical servers are a backup server with BE 2010 installed with an autoloader attached SAS and 1 key card server. GB switches and a UPS with a battery pack. 1 SAN

Small side question for me, if for some reason like an exchange BE failure. If I backup during the day will that make a big impact? Personally, I don't think so since it is a solid network.

I know I'm asking a lot. But all answers are appreciated.

 

Thanks

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  • CraigV's avatar
    CraigV
    13 years ago

    Hi,

     

    BE will use VSS to create a snapshot of the Exchange Information Store at the time of the backup. The IS is then backed up to your tape/B2D/dedupe target, and once done, BE will then rollup the logs into the Information Store and delete them.

    You essentially have a point-in-time copy of your Information Store that you can restore too. BE also uses GRT (Granular Restore Technology). Using the Exchange agent (skimping on money by not buying the agent is not advised!), BE backs up the FULL Information Store, but on a restore, allows you to restore individual items, or the entire IS if you need too. Hence the Granular part of GRT. Very powerful, VERY useful in not having to restore the whole IS to a standby Exchange server to pull out 1 contact that was deleted.

    Running backups during the day might work. I've done it before when I have had to get a backup through, and I have done so with no complaints from users. Ideally you need to consider how busy your network is; how busy your servers are during the day; any maintenance tasks that might run during the day etc.

    Ideally you want to backup your servers at their least busiest time to lessen the load the backup run places on them.

    Thanks!

  • CraigV's avatar
    CraigV
    Moderator
    13 years ago

    Hi,

     

    BE will use VSS to create a snapshot of the Exchange Information Store at the time of the backup. The IS is then backed up to your tape/B2D/dedupe target, and once done, BE will then rollup the logs into the Information Store and delete them.

    You essentially have a point-in-time copy of your Information Store that you can restore too. BE also uses GRT (Granular Restore Technology). Using the Exchange agent (skimping on money by not buying the agent is not advised!), BE backs up the FULL Information Store, but on a restore, allows you to restore individual items, or the entire IS if you need too. Hence the Granular part of GRT. Very powerful, VERY useful in not having to restore the whole IS to a standby Exchange server to pull out 1 contact that was deleted.

    Running backups during the day might work. I've done it before when I have had to get a backup through, and I have done so with no complaints from users. Ideally you need to consider how busy your network is; how busy your servers are during the day; any maintenance tasks that might run during the day etc.

    Ideally you want to backup your servers at their least busiest time to lessen the load the backup run places on them.

    Thanks!

  • CraigV's avatar
    CraigV
    Moderator
    13 years ago

    ...just to add: BE does the backup and restore of Exchange while the application is live. No need to dismount any Information Stores to do either and cause unnecessary downtime for your clients.

    Thanks!

  • AmericanPie's avatar
    AmericanPie
    Level 4
    13 years ago

    Thank you Craig. Not just for answering but putting it perfectly for anyone to understand.

    I also have run backups during the day for the exact same reason as you. Just to get a recent copy. Because we all know from time to time backups fail. I ran it during the day and nobody has notice. I just figure with Gb switches it would handle the load for 4 hours and it did. Both servers (exchange and backup) serve 1 purpose therefore felt that the impact would be very minimal. You explanation also helps me explaining why it is minimal.

    Thanks again