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Backup directly from the nodes in a Exchange Dag Enviroment using netbackup

AndresV
VIP
Partner    VIP   

Hi Guys

Hi guys,

Is there a way to backup exchanges databases, including the option to use GRT, using the nodes and not the DAG itself?

we configure a backup network but we could not add the dag IP address to this backup network, we added an additional nic to each node so NBU can communicate to the node using this nic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

What path did you find? I copied the following key directly out of regedit using Copy Key Name. Do this on your Exchange server node where NetBackup is installed.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veritas\NetBackup\CurrentVersion\Agents\Exchange

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11 REPLIES 11

Lowell_Palecek
Level 6
Employee

I think you can back up an individual Exchange server even if it's a member of a DAG. Use Microsoft Information Store:\ as your backup selection, just like you would do with a standalone server.

However, you don't need to. NetBackup doesn't use the DAG's IP address and NetBackup does not try to connect to the DAG by DAG name. Many DAGs these days don't have IP addresses.

The NetBackup Discovery Framework service on each Exchange server (NetBackup client) looks up in the Registry whether it belongs to a DAG, and if so pushes the DAG name up to the master server. On the master server, NetBackup uses the discovery results to choose an Exchange server to represent the DAG. The DAG lookup is done by name, and the node is accessed by name.

To make DAG resolution work, and also to make GRT work, you need to configure Exchange credentials in the client host properties for every node where NetBackup will run. I make each Exchange server visible as a client in the NetBackup administration console by configuring a dummy Windows-NT policy for each node.

AndresV
VIP
Partner    VIP   

Hi, 

Thank you very much for your response.

I´m kinda confused here because in the clients I have "node1" and the backup selections always is "Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Groups:\DAGNAME\Microsoft Information Store\DB01 - by the way I have 40 databases (DB01-DB40), I cant resolve dag name only node name.

Another thing, Should I checked the option "Perform snapshots" in the attributes tab as long I try to backup exchange as standalone?

I have tested a backup on one of my DAG nodes and confirmed that it works. Here's what you need to do:

1. Name the node as the policy client. The policy type should be Exchange. Snapshot backups should be selected. You have to configure the snapshot, but really all you have to do is open the configuration dialog box and ok it. "VSS" should already have been selected as the snapshot type.

2. The backup selection needs to be just "Microsoft Information Store:\". Nothing more.

3. You need to set a parameter in the Registry to tell NetBackup to ignore the DAG.

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veritas\NetBackup\CurrentVersion\Agents\Exchange
Name: Exchange_DAG_Info
Type: DWORD
Value: 1

The Exchange_DAG_Info probably already is there, with a value of 3. That means NetBackup treats the client as a member of a DAG. As such, a backup selection of "Microsoft Information Store:\" is invalid. Before I changed the value to 1, my snapshot failed in bpresolver with status 72. After I changed it, bpresolver wasn't called, and my backup succeeded.

"I can't resolve dag name only node name."

See my first reply. You don't need to. For most current Exchange environments, the DNS cannot resolve the DAG. That's why NetBackup on each node discovers the DAG name to which it belongs, and pushes the info up to the master server. NetBackup processes on the master then choose a node by host name to represent the DAG. No DNS lookup of the DAG is needed. All that's required is for NetBackup to be able to look up the nodes by name.

AndresV
VIP
Partner    VIP   

I really appreciate your answers, I couldn't find the Exchage_DAG_Info key so I will create it.

Either this path KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veritas\NetBackup\CurrentVersion\Agents\Exchange but I found Agents folder in another path 

What path did you find? I copied the following key directly out of regedit using Copy Key Name. Do this on your Exchange server node where NetBackup is installed.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veritas\NetBackup\CurrentVersion\Agents\Exchange

AndresV
VIP
Partner    VIP   

Thank you very much for your help, backups are running fine. just one thing in the node 2 I had to add Exchange_Dag_info key and set "1"

My backups are working right now. One last question, in the "Clients" tab should be listed only one node or all the exchange nodes? 

Yes, setting the value to 1 tells NetBackup to ignore the DAG.

I haven't tried this a lot. Look at your backup and see if you missed any databases. If you did, add the client that has the active copy of the database. Don't do this unless you need to. Your backup will tell you.

I checked the backup test I did on a node of my DAG. I got all the databases that had copies on that node, regardless of whether the copies are active or passive.

Therefore, I caution you to not include multiple clients in your policy if any database has copies on more than one of the clients you select. This can lead to confusion and data loss when Exchange truncates logs after the backup.

What you need to do is to arrange your topology so that all the active database copies are on a subset of your Exchange nodes, which do not have any passive database copies. Then include those nodes in your policy.

What you really need to do is to trust NetBackup's DAG discovery mechanism as described in my earlier posts. NetBackup doesn't need to be able to resolve the DAG name in the DNS. NetBackup will always select a node by name on which to execute bpresolver. Then bpresolver will produce a worklist telling the job manager (nbjm) how to distribute the backup jobs among the Exchange nodes. In this way, bpresolver will protect you from the two data loss scenarios - either missing a database, or backing up a database on more than one client and truncating log files twice.

AndresV
VIP
Partner    VIP   

Hi Lowell,

Sorry to bother you again, but I found something weird in the exchange node.

After I changed Exchange_Dag_Info value, the backups were great from the node1 and from node 2 as well. Yesterday I tried to perform a full back up again and I got the error 4207.

So I went to the registry and turns out the Exchang_Dag_Info entry is gone, nothing there. Not even "1" or "0", completely removed.

Could Netbackup delete this value by itself?

I don't know how this value can be removed. I do not see such an action in the code.

I think you're making extra complication for yourself. Have you tried the following, repeated from my previous response?

What you really need to do is to trust NetBackup's DAG discovery mechanism as described in my earlier posts. NetBackup doesn't need to be able to resolve the DAG name in the DNS. NetBackup will always select a node by name on which to execute bpresolver. Then bpresolver will produce a worklist telling the job manager (nbjm) how to distribute the backup jobs among the Exchange nodes. In this way, bpresolver will protect you from the two data loss scenarios - either missing a database, or backing up a database on more than one client and truncating log files twice.