A Number of Problems Backing up Exchange

[Palamino]

We used to use NT Backup to make backups of out Exchange and System State.  Having upgraded to 2008, we found that we could no longer use this, so we had to buy Symantec BE.

Ideally, we want to produce two single files; for example:

Exchange.bkf

SystemState.bkf

These would be full backups of the two items, and we wish to overwrite these each time the backup is taken.

I have installed and configured BE and set up two jobs, but there are a few remaining problems that i cannot find a cure for in the documentation:

-Backup File Names-

There does not seem to be a way to define a specific name for a backup.  As above, i would like to name one SystemState.bkf, and have this overwritten each backup.  However, BE names it (for example) B2D00001.bkf.  There is no apparent way to change this.

-Exchange directory structure-

As above, we want one file, e.g. Exchange.bkf.  However, BE produced loads of files in a Image01 directory.  It dumps logs, chk files, stms etc. in there.  This is not going to work for us.  We need a single file.

-Backing Up Exchange Logs-

When setting up the exchange backup, there is only an option for a full backup that includes exchange logs.  We want a full backup that does not include them.  They will just be a waste of space with our backup regime.

-Huge System State-

In the past, a system state backup has typically been a few hundred megabytes.  On BE with Win2008 it is apparently 30GB!  This is for a new installation at a small company!  It is not possible to select seperate elements within the system state to back up, so i cannot try excluding certain elements.  Is this normal for 2K8?  My hate for the new OS grows with every passing day.

If anyone has solutions for the above problems it would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Palamino]

Does anyone have any suggestions? There really is a time issue now.....

We can live with most of the problems, but the main problem now is the multiple files one.

We need the system state and the exchange backup to be one file, not many small ones.

Please help!

[Craig12]

Hey,

I also was annoyed by the fact that Backup exec keeps renaming the backup files...

You can get around it by doing the following:

1. Run the backup job

2. Go over to Devices, and find the device that was assigned to the job.

3. Once you click on the device you should see the Media Label for the job that was just run (B2D00001.bkf)

4. Rename this label to something meaningful like Exchange.bkf.

5. Set up the job to overwrite the previous backup, and subsequent backups will maintain the name Exchange.bkf.

[Palamino]

Thanks Craig, that sounds like it will sort out one of the problems.

The main remaining one is the fact that it will not save as a single file.  We are not sure if this is a problem with Backup Exec or with 2008.

Symantec's phone support is a joke.  I spent about an hour trying to get to speak to someone who could help, and was then put on hold and got disconnected.  We are starting to regret ever considering this software.

[Craig12]

Hey,

Why do you need the other part to be one file? I have pretty much the same setup on my machines.

I have a backup called ExchangeComplete.bkf and a folder called IMG00001. Both of these get overwritten each time I run the job. When it comes to restoring it is really easy to do. Just go to "Devices" and right click IMG0001 and go to restore. From "restore" you can restore individual mailboxes.

I haven't called Symantec Support about anything altough I am having a couple problems...

Have you backed up any Apple computers yet?

[Palamino]

Because we need to have a master copy, a current copy and to create a patch file between the two.

Doing this with hundreds of little files would be impossible.

Really we just want it to work like good old NT backup used to, but it seems that we may not be given that option.