Testing Enterprise Vault backups

[jahanbin]

We are using SEV 8 SP4 with Exchange 2007 SP2

We are forced to test our backups every few months or so to make sure they are functioning properly.

We utilize netbackup with the SEV agent.

Is there a recomended test or procedure for performing these tests?

Obviously restoring a SEV partition would cause loss of data so I wouldn't want to do that.

Thanks,

Nima

[AndrewB · Accepted solution]

I have had to do this before for customers and the way we approached this was to restore the data to an alternate location such as a lab environment, then install and setup EV, follow the DR procedure, and finally run through your tests.

[jahanbin]

Thanks for the information.  Were the backups performed using netbackup SEV agent?  Do you know if backups performed using that agent can be restored to any file system and database? 

It may make sense for me to perform a restore to another location and compare the files just to see if everything is there or not.  Setting up a new test environment just for this test would be more work that I don't really have time for.

[Rich_W]

It may seem like a lot of work now, but if this is something you will need to do more than one time. Having a test lab will tell you one if you were to have a disaster you [and management] will know your DR plan works. You can use VMWare to restore your servers.

VMWare - $$

Time - $$

Working backup plan priceless…

[AndrewB]

Nima, did you need any further assistance with this?