Incremental exchange information store backups always backup all of the data

[BadMrFrosty]

Hi,

Is there any reason why when backing up the information store in Exchange it always backups *everything*?

Its 45GB a day, which adds up quickly

Any advice?

Thanks,
BMF

[Ben_L_]

If the Backup Job Properties, go under Microsoft Exchange.  What is the Backup Method set to?

[BadMrFrosty]

Hi,

Copy (Database & Logs)

What should it be set to for a daily backup?

Also I would like to mention I need to be able to restore specific mailboxes, etc.

thanks,
BMF

[Ben_L_]

If you want to do incrementals on a daily basis, then you will need to change the backup method to incremenal.  The Copy setting, grabs everything for the backup.  It is essentially a full backup.

To do incrementals with the ability to restore individual items you will need to do the following (simplified instructions).

1. Setup a Backup to disk location.
2. Perform a full backup to the Backup to disk location
3. Perform incremental backups to the backup to disk location (you can use a different backup to disk location, but it has to be on the same volume as the full backup)

[BadMrFrosty]

Yes, but when I select incremental as the backup type the 'GRT' option is greyed out, so how can I restore individual mailboxes if it is not using GRT?

thanks,
BMF

[Ben_L_]

Sorry I forgot to mention, that to do incrementals with GRT enabled the jobs have to be created inside a policy.  If you're not sure how to setup policy based jobs I would suggest reading over these documents.

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/309465.htm - About Policy Based backups
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/310087.htm - About the Exchange Agent

[BadMrFrosty]

None of the links at the bottom of this page: http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/310087.htm work anymore.

So if I create the job with just any policy it should work?

Sorry I'm new to backupexec coming from retrospect.

BMF

[Ben_L_]

Yes, if you create the jobs from within a policy the incremental grt will be available.


I'm checking on why those links don't work anymore, I'll post an update once they are fixed.

[BadMrFrosty]

Hi,

I setup the job using the policy and it is still backing up 45 GB every day and then 45GB once a week, as well.

any other ideas?

-Drew

[Ben_L_]

I'd like to get some logs from the server if possible.  Follow the directions in this technote to gather the logs. Enter 111-111-111 as the case number, click view results instead of send via ftp when prompted and save out just the cab file.  Private message me when you have the cab file and I"ll give you the instructions for sending it to me.
http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/317331.htm

[Ben_L_]

I took a look at the logs this afternoon, thanks for getting those over to me.  But it looks like the Daily backup in the policy is still set to full instead of incremental.  Can you edit the daily template in the policy and verify that the Microsoft Exchange section has the Backup Method set to incremental?

[BadMrFrosty]

Thanks for the support, I finally figured out what you meant =)

I'll try it and see what happens.

BMF

[BadMrFrosty]

Since I changed the template for the policy I now get:

Backup- \\server.domain.com\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group
V-79-57344-759 - Unable to complete the operation for the selected resource using the specified opti...

every time the job runs...

[BadMrFrosty]

Also, it seems like the BEremote process on the backup server itself keeps stopping at random with no explanation, usually during when it is processing the exchange database.

BMF

[Ben_L_]

For the error message, try this technote. http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/321183.htm

If the beremote process is crashing I would suggest giving a call to support and having them take a look at the issue.