BE 11D, exchange agent - Exchange Information Store seems empty

[SiUk]

I have recently noticed that I am unable to see any objects under the Microsoft Information Store > First Storage Group folder on my backups that date back to about a month ago. When restoring from the older backups I can drill down to individual mailboxes but can no longer seem to do this and am worried that the exchange system is no longer being backed up.

The exchange (2003) server is backed up remotely on the local network from the backup exec 11d server -  it has had the remote agent software rolled out to it by the backup exec server (I have done this again recently to check it was up to date). System files on the exchange server are being backed up fine and can be seen on a restore job as usual.

Now, when creating a backup job I can only drill down as far as the Microsoft Information Store > First Storage Group item which I can select to add it to the backup job.

Is there a misconfiguration or bug in the software which has caused this?

I am currently running BE 11.0 Rev 6235 with all the live update patches applied. I have noticed a new revision (7170) is available and will be attempting to upgrade to this shortly to see if this fixes the issue.

-Si.

[Chris_Wilhelm]

I'm having the exact same issue, but only on some of the information stores.

On one server I have 3 storage groups, each of the storage groups has multiple information stores.  I created them all at the same time in the same manner.  For one reason or another, one of the information stores in the 3rd storage group will not let me "drill down" into the mailboxes that it contains.

[J_Peralta]

I noticed the same thing two days ago and started messing with it.  If you go to Tools>Options>Exchange there are two check boxes listed.  You can drill down to specific messages using either one.  They are:

“Enable the restore of individual mail messages and folders from information store backups”

or

“Enable legacy mailbox support"

Once the backup is finished, navigate to the proper server, click on the information store, and drill down until you get to "Top of information store" that is where the inbox is.

My problem though, is that I can't restore any e-mails from the backups, you can view them in the restore operation however, I just get an error when trying to restore.
Edit: https://forums.symantec.com/syment/board/message?board.id=115&message.id=16528

I think this is what you're looking for. 


Hope it helps.
J

Message Edited by J Peralta on 07-11-200702:24 PM

[SiUk]

Thanks for your reply. I have just enabled the legacy mode option but still could not browse to individual mail boxes when restoring or creating a new backup job - does a backup need to be made with these settings enabled before I can browse the information store in a restore job?

-Si.

[J_Peralta]

Yeah, you've got to actually run a backup with those settings.  Either setting should do basically the same thing.  I think symantec reccommends that you use the legacy method, which you have.  Just run the backup, then go to do a restore and click on the Information store and as long as you made the selection right, you should be able to see each folder and each message from every mailbox. 

Also it should be noted that before you run the job, right click on it and go to properties.  Then under Settings, go to the Microsoft Exchange and select "Enable the resetore of individual mail messages and folders from info store backups".  Click submit, then run the job.

Getting the restore to actually work might be more tricky.  It is for me.  If you can successfully backup the proper way and get the restore selections and you're actually able to restore a message or a mailbox, please let me know how.  I'm running out of ideas.

Thanks,
J

[D_B_5]

Sorry, I missed this thread or I would have chimed in earlier.

In regards to drilling into a storage group to see mailboxes for backup.  That is not part of the GRT technology.  When a backup job is run which has this option selected (the "Enable restore of individual items.." option) then you will see individual mailboxes in restore selections by drilling into the mailbox store under the backup sets.  However, you cannot do this on the backup job properties since the job has not "read" the exchange database yet.

There seems to be some confusion on this thread as to the new feature of "Enable restore of individual items.." and the Legacy Mailbox backup method.   The former is the new technology in 11D using GRT to restore mailboxes or messages directly from a database backup.  The Legacy option refers to using the Mailbox backup method through MAPI.  This is the old way and is very slow due to inefficiencies in MAPI.  

The checkbox to "Enable legacy..." is a cosmetic switch which will display, or hide, the "Microsoft Mailboxes" resource on the Exchange server when browsing it in backup job properties on the selection node.  It has no functional use on a database backup using GRT technology.

You do not want to use both methods however.  If you are experiencing erros which you cannot resolve until a hot fix, then using the legacy method gives you another way to backup and restore individual mailboxes since it is tried and true, albeit very slow.   Most people are not having issues withGR, some of course as with any new technology there are specific issues needing to be resolved.

[J_Peralta]

DB,

Based on what you're saying it sounds like in the properties of the job itself if the option "enable the restore of individual mail messages and folders from Information Store backups" is checked, it will allow the "drill down" he is referring to, regardless of whether you use the GRT setting (prefered) or the Legacy method (both located in Tools>options>MS exchange) Is that right? 

Thanks again for your help,
J

[D_B_5]

Yes.  As long as the enable resotre of individual items is selected in the job, then the restore selections will show the mailboxes underneath teh database.  The option for enabling legacy method in Tools\Options\Exchange only enables the display of the Mailbox resource in backup job selections.  That is a completely differten method of backing up mailboxes and is no longer the first choice due to the speed issues caused by MAPI.