VMware based Exchange 2010

[fldk]

Hi,

I have a question regarding a backup of an Exchange 2010 (Windows 2008 R2) server running on a VMware platform.

Backup of the exchange data is done through daily diffential GRT enabled backups using Backup Exec 2010 R2 and one full every weekend.

However, a backup is also created of the server as a whole VMware image using Backup Exec 2010 R2's VMware agent. This runs once a week (Non GRT enabled).

Here's the issue:

When ever the VMware backup runs it uses the VSS writers to do a snapshot of the exchange database which causes it's flag to be reset and any following differential backups to fail.

I'll admit that i don't that much about Backup Exec or what is best practice for backing up a live virtual server with an exchange database on it, but i would think that it was enough to just use VMware's snapshot capability thus leaving the database "untouched"?

Are there any settings in the backup job that i can adjust to obtain this?

Or is it not possible (or advisable) to do a backup of the exchange server at all without using VSS writers for the exchange database?

I hope you can help. Thank you for your assistance.

[Colin_Weaver]

Bacially this has also come up against SQl - we can't stop teh VMware snapshot form being marked as the last backup type - which results in incremental and differential sequences using the standard remote agent backup to be affacted.

Why don't you investigate the application GRT capability against Exchange of the VMWare backup instead

Or as you only do the VMware backup once a week makes sure that backup finishes just prior to running the full backup using the remoet agent and then run your differentials