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Backup Multiple EV Servers under same site EV 10.0.1

ia01
Level 6
Partner Accredited

Hi,

Need some help setting up Backup Multiple EV 10.0.1 Servers under same site using either PowerShell script or NetBackup agent.

For example if we have 4 x EV Servers - 2 x Mailbox archiving and 2 x FSA Archiving under same site.

Any good guide available on how to configure and run backups if you have multiple EV Servers?

Many Thanks

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Accepted Solutions

GertjanA
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

Backup is DR only. The only 'granular' restore you have is the 'deleted item retention'.

The thing with EV is that everything is tight into everything else. Meaning that you cannot restore 1 VaultStore database, and the belonging partition, and then have EV work fine. It will always be a full 'point in time' restore.

If you make regular backups, and need to restore, you could do this to a 'test' environment. What I have seen is (provided you do not have enormous data sizes) people restore everything in a testlab, all data to one location, then fiddle around with the dns in that test-domain, so that the aliasses point to 1 server. that way, they can access the data, without needing to build a test-environment having an x-number of ev-servers.

For mail and journal archiving, where I am now, when a user requires a restore of an item, we get it from the Journal archive using DA. For FSA, this won't work, so you wil need to use this DR solution idea.

Regards. Gertjan

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GertjanA
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

Hi,

Preferably, you backup the whole environment with all servers in backup mode. This to prevent changes to index/data/sql while making backup.

for mail-archiving, if you use partitions, you need to backup regularly your open partition (and the indexes ofcourse) and the sql databases. The closed partitions can be backedup weekly. (as no data is added to those) If you use collections, then perhaps once every 2/3 days is advisable.

I am not sure about FSA archiving.

 

Regards. Gertjan

ia01
Level 6
Partner Accredited

Ah so all EV servers within the site needs to be in backup mode until all backup is done. If we are using Netbackup agent shall we use one policy for all EV Server or can we use multiple policy? If we use multiple policy then probably we cannot guarantee that all EV servers are in backup mode for the whole duration?

ia01
Level 6
Partner Accredited

Is it better to use the NetBackup Agent or better to use PS Script to pu EV into backup mdoe and perform flat file backup? Which option most customers does use generally?

GertjanA
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

Well, I have seen both.

We (large mail and journal archiving environment) use a scheduled task that calls the powershell scripts. Our environment is in backup mode for 4 hours. Backup is made by 'snapshotting' the environment, and then backing that up. As EV is not writing to the snapshots, that is ok. It takes about 90 minutes to fully snapshot the data and index locations. The SQL backups run for about 90 minutes, so we have a safe time-frame there.

I also know that others use the backuptool to call the powershell scripts to set and clear backup mode. (pre-backup and pos-backup scripts). That way, you can be sure that EV is set out of backup mode only if the backup has finished.

It can be done either way.

If you need fast en reliable backup, and have a budget, you might want to look at QuadroTech's EV NearSync. Also good for DR functionality!

Regards. Gertjan

ia01
Level 6
Partner Accredited

Thanks Gertjan, do you know whether there is any option for EV granular backup and restore at all, or the backup is just for DR purpose?

Many Thanks

GertjanA
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

Backup is DR only. The only 'granular' restore you have is the 'deleted item retention'.

The thing with EV is that everything is tight into everything else. Meaning that you cannot restore 1 VaultStore database, and the belonging partition, and then have EV work fine. It will always be a full 'point in time' restore.

If you make regular backups, and need to restore, you could do this to a 'test' environment. What I have seen is (provided you do not have enormous data sizes) people restore everything in a testlab, all data to one location, then fiddle around with the dns in that test-domain, so that the aliasses point to 1 server. that way, they can access the data, without needing to build a test-environment having an x-number of ev-servers.

For mail and journal archiving, where I am now, when a user requires a restore of an item, we get it from the Journal archive using DA. For FSA, this won't work, so you wil need to use this DR solution idea.

Regards. Gertjan