Forum Discussion

aly_farouk's avatar
aly_farouk
Level 4
12 years ago

Configuring an Exchange snapshot policy with Instant Recovery

Hi there,

we r facing a problem in configuring an Exchange snapshot policy with Instant Recovery 

our environment is clustered master server of NBU 7.5.0.4 on windows 2008 r2

i followed the TN 

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO47317

 

and all its related TNs...but whenever i finish and click ok...this error pops up.

 

 

Any1 got what i am doing wrong in the configuration?

7.5
Backup and Recovery
Configuring
Error messages
NetBackup
  • RLeon's avatar
    RLeon
    12 years ago

    From the Nbu 7.5 Exchange Admin guide:

    NetBackup supports Instant Recovery backups with Exchange 2007 or later for non-clustered and non-replicated environments.

    The Instant Recovery and off-host options cannot be used with a replication or DAG backup.

     

    From the Nbu Snapshot Client Compatibility List, under
    VSS Snapshot Providers Support for Microsoft Windows >
    Exchange Comments >
    DAG snapshot compatibility in the table

    Recovery from local or off-host snapshot
    (I.e., Instant Recovery using software or hardware VSS providers)
    ...is not supported in a DAG environment.
    It will work if you are using standalone Exchange.

    Standalone Exchange selection lists do not have directives that begin with Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Groups:\.
    If a directive begins with that, then you cannot enable instant recovery.

     

    The TN:
    http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO47333#id-SF930596274

    ...is badly worded.

    This part in itself is correct, but not when Instant Recovery is involved:

    When you configure an Exchange snapshot backup policy, the only valid directives are: Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Groups:\ or Microsoft Information Store:\ (a database or storage group can be appended) .

    I guess it is just a case of bad placement of information.

  • RamNagalla's avatar
    RamNagalla
    Moderator
    12 years ago

    hi 

    could you show us the screen shot of policy attrubutes and the snapshot configuration window?

  • RamNagalla's avatar
    RamNagalla
    Moderator
    12 years ago

    hi,

    you have included the backup selection as"Microsoft exchage database avaliablity groups" and it seems its not supported for instance recovery.

    uncheck " retain snapshot for instance recovery' to save it successfull or re-think about the backup selection.

     

    <EDIT>.

    http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO47314#id-SF930552369

  • aly_farouk's avatar
    aly_farouk
    Level 4
    12 years ago

    Thanks for your reply,

    But as the below TN, you can select the Microsoft exchage database avaliablity group...or i got something wrong?

    http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO47333#id-SF930596274

     

    However,I tried on only one DB as seen in the screenshots below, same error...

    I tried on the Whole DAG, smae error appears

     

    any help...

  • RamNagalla's avatar
    RamNagalla
    Moderator
    12 years ago

     does it saving fine if you uncheck the " retain snapshot for instance recovery'", just for test.

    and yes, as per the tech note provided by you , the backup selection "Microsoft exchage database avaliablity groups" can be used with instance recovery.

    did you also try by unchecking " snapshot and copy snapshot to storage unit" in schedule.

    does it trunning into Licensing issue? not sure...

     

  • RLeon's avatar
    RLeon
    Level 6
    12 years ago

    From the Nbu 7.5 Exchange Admin guide:

    NetBackup supports Instant Recovery backups with Exchange 2007 or later for non-clustered and non-replicated environments.

    The Instant Recovery and off-host options cannot be used with a replication or DAG backup.

     

    From the Nbu Snapshot Client Compatibility List, under
    VSS Snapshot Providers Support for Microsoft Windows >
    Exchange Comments >
    DAG snapshot compatibility in the table

    Recovery from local or off-host snapshot
    (I.e., Instant Recovery using software or hardware VSS providers)
    ...is not supported in a DAG environment.
    It will work if you are using standalone Exchange.

    Standalone Exchange selection lists do not have directives that begin with Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Groups:\.
    If a directive begins with that, then you cannot enable instant recovery.

     

    The TN:
    http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO47333#id-SF930596274

    ...is badly worded.

    This part in itself is correct, but not when Instant Recovery is involved:

    When you configure an Exchange snapshot backup policy, the only valid directives are: Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Groups:\ or Microsoft Information Store:\ (a database or storage group can be appended) .

    I guess it is just a case of bad placement of information.

  • aly_farouk's avatar
    aly_farouk
    Level 4
    12 years ago

    Hello all...

    then instant recovery or off-host snapshots cannot be used with the clustered replicated DAG :(

    Then how can i take a snapshot for the DAG and keep it on a server to be used later for fast recovery ??

  • RLeon's avatar
    RLeon
    Level 6
    12 years ago

    This type of snapshot rollback (as the industry calls it) is not supported by NetBackup with Exchange DAG.

    The only exception to this, is when your DAG Mailbox node is a VMware VM.
    NetBackup supports backing up an entire DAG Mailbox node vmdk snapshot and restoring it whole.

    So in a way, it is a snapshot rollback, somewhat. (With OS and Exchange and everything)
    GRT restore is also supported.

    I recommend backing up the DAG the traditional way and not the vmdk way, as there are a few limitations with the vmdk method.
    Please refer to the Nbu Exchange guide for more details on this.

    Under the VM section in the guide:

    For DAGs, NetBackup protects at the node level of a DAG

     

  • aly_farouk's avatar
    aly_farouk
    Level 4
    12 years ago

    Thanks for your reply...

    OK..no snapshot from the software side...i will go for the hardware provider snapshot...hope that works

    thanks again...

  • RLeon's avatar
    RLeon
    Level 6
    12 years ago

    In my previous reply, referencing the Snapshot Compatibility List, hardware based VSS provider snapshots will not work with DAG either, Instant Recovery or not.
    Please go through the Snapshot Compatibility List.

  • aly_farouk's avatar
    aly_farouk
    Level 4
    12 years ago

    Thanks again...

    we were discussing that we take snapshot from the lun assigned to the DAG ...so a guy from EMC will come nad discuss that idea with him...really i do not know what is the tecnique used in case of taking snapshot of the lun...and whether GRT will work or not...but thanks again and I will go through the compatability list again...