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Exchange 2007 Mailbox Backup with Netbackup 6.5.5

Ytsejamer1
Level 3

Hey everyone,

We have been using Netbackup for quite some time and been taking exchange streaming database backups for both our old 2003 and now our current 2007 servers.  I found this article: https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/exchange-backup-and-restore-netbackup-65-part-ii, and created a new mailbox backup policy per that article.  The backup ran and a screaming (sarcasm) 500-600KBps... Our streaming backups go at a nice 15-20MBps rate.  With backup windows being small, there's no way I can backup 400GB+ of mailboxes on four servers in a decent amount of time at 500KBps. 

Does anyone have any hints or tips that might improve the performance of the backup?  Our exchange 2007 servers are running 6.5.5 of the netbackup client, Windows 2008 SP2, all updates, etc.  No other tweaks or settings have been changed on the netbackup clients. 

Thanks!

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Marianne
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Perfectly normal due to the way mailbox backups are done - it needs to logon to each mailbox individually and compare attachments with other attachments already backed up (SIS). See this TN for troubleshooting tips as far as Mailbox backups are concerned: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH38737 
Look at this section of the TN:
"The first concern expressed by most people with regard to mailbox backups is performance. It is important to note with mailbox backups, throughput is expected to perform at speeds that are 10% of the exchange information store throughput. Some things which can be done to improve performance include: ..."

 

You are however using a version of NBU that supports GRT  - the ability to backup the Information Store and be able to restore individual items from this single, full IS backup. You do need Basic or Advanced Disk to configure GRT backups.

Please have a look at this collection of HOWTO videos:  http://symantec.com/docs/HOWTO41825

See the following under the Exchange 2007 heading:

Configuring Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 Granular Restore Technology (GRT) backups with NetBackup...

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Marianne
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

Perfectly normal due to the way mailbox backups are done - it needs to logon to each mailbox individually and compare attachments with other attachments already backed up (SIS). See this TN for troubleshooting tips as far as Mailbox backups are concerned: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH38737 
Look at this section of the TN:
"The first concern expressed by most people with regard to mailbox backups is performance. It is important to note with mailbox backups, throughput is expected to perform at speeds that are 10% of the exchange information store throughput. Some things which can be done to improve performance include: ..."

 

You are however using a version of NBU that supports GRT  - the ability to backup the Information Store and be able to restore individual items from this single, full IS backup. You do need Basic or Advanced Disk to configure GRT backups.

Please have a look at this collection of HOWTO videos:  http://symantec.com/docs/HOWTO41825

See the following under the Exchange 2007 heading:

Configuring Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007 Granular Restore Technology (GRT) backups with NetBackup...

Ytsejamer1
Level 3

Thank you very much for the reply.  The information was fantastic and pointed me in the right direction.  I followed the instructions, but I'm a little unclear as to making sure GRT is getting me what I want.  I have a single service account in our environment used to do backups.  It's a domain admin, and as far as exchange, it is a full exchange administrator and local admin on each exchange server...2003 and 2007.  It's mailbox is on say, server4 (2007).  I did a backup of server1 (2003), and the mailbox specified is the service account.  The backup with granular recovery enabled did complete successfully.  But when I try and look at the backup job to restore, i can't expand the first storage group and see the mailboxes backed up on that server.

Do I need a separate mailbox/svc account sitting on each exchange server...having domain admin and full exchange admin rights? 

Marianne
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Does successful mean status 0? Status 1 is not good enough for GRT...

About the User Account for the different Exchange Servers - what account do the Exchange Admins use to manage/logon to  Exchange System Manager? The same rights are necessary for the NBU mailbox (that must also start the NBU Client Service) on each of the Exchange servers.

If all Exchange Servers are in the same AD, I guess a single user might be OK. Please speak to Exchange Admins for their advice.

The following must be done on all Exchange servers:

Exch 2003:

Open Exchange System Manager.
 Right-click the Exchange Organization and select Delegate Control.
On the Users or the Groups screen, click Add.
 In the Delegate Control dialog box, provide the following information.
Group or User    Specify the name of the account that was created above.
Role    Select Exchange Full Administrator.


Exch 2007:

Open the Exchange Management Console.
 In the Exchange Management Console, right-click on Organization Configuration and click Add Exchange Administrator.
 On the Add Exchange Administrator page, click Browse and select the user to which you want to delegate control.
 Click the Exchange Server Administrator role.
 Under Select the server(s) to which this role has access, click Add.
 Select the servers to which you want to delegate control and click OK.
 Click Add.

(All of the above is in the NBU for Exchange Admin Guides).

Ytsejamer1
Level 3

Yes...that is exactly how I have it set up.  The service account we use are Exchange Full Administrators in 2003 ESM and is listed as Exchange Server Administrator on each 2007 server.  Your directions are spot on.  I had that configured already.  I did get a status 0 after the backup job completed successfully...i just wasn't able to expand the list of mailboxes under the mailbox database.

Nonetheless, I think I'm on my way...i'll keep at it and see what comes up.  Thank you so much for your thoughful replies and good information!

Marianne
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Please double-check NFS configuration on Exchange servers as well as Media server.

GRT configuration was not included in the NBU 6.5 for Exchange manual, it was introduced with 6.5.3 Release Update:  http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH61304

Best info regarding NFS installation and config in NBU 7 manual: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH127056

Ytsejamer1
Level 3

Thanks for the new link...Re: TECH61304... here are the NFS install instructions for Windows 2003 (doesn't specify exchange 2003 client or media/master server):

Installing Microsoft Services for NFS on Windows Server 2003
Microsoft Services for NFS need to be installed on Windows Server 2003. This option is available on the Windows Server installation CD.
1.   Install Microsoft Services for NFS from the Windows Server installation CD.
   - Start the Windows Components Wizard.
   - Click Other Network File and Print Services and then click Details.
   - Click  Services for NFS and then Details.
   - Ensure the following items are checked:

- Client for NFS
- Microsoft Services for NFS Administration
- RPC External Data Representation
- RPC Port Mapper (This was not mentioned in the video/transcript directions..see below)

2.   After the installation is complete, ensure that Client for NFS is running. (It is running on exchange 2003 client)
3.   When the installation is complete, open the Services control panel and ensure that Server for NFS is stopped and disabled. (uhhh...it didn't say to install Server for NFS...it said to install Client for NFS)
4.  Set the Port Mapper to start automatically

    a. In the Device Manager, click View and then Show Hidden Devices
    b. Under Non-Plug and Play Devices, select portmap to pull up its properties.
    c. Under portmap Properties, click Start to start the driver.  
    d. Still under portmap Properties, change the Startup Type of the portmap driver to be Automatic.  Click ok.

5. Confirm the environment PATH variable includes the path to mount command:  default location is "C:\WINDOWS\MsNfs\". (Not sure where to check this)
   Repeat this step for each client. (oh...maybe this is directions for the client...why would I install Server for NFS on the client mentioned in step 3?)

----------------------------------------------------

But in the video and transciption link about configuring NFS : http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO41843&key=15143&actp=LIST.  These are the directions I followed to the letter.

NFS Configuration on the Exchange 2003 client
We will work on the NFS configuration on the Windows 2003 R2 hosts. First, we will look at the Exchange 2003 server running on Windows 2003 R2 SP2. 
We click on the Windows Start menu, then Control Panel, and then Add or Remove Programs
Under the Add or Remove Programs dialog, we click on the Add/Remove Windows Components button and this will bring up the Windows Components Wizard dialog. 
Under Components we scroll down, click on Other Network File and Print Services to highlight it, and then click on the Details button. 
Under Subcomponents of Other Network File and Print Services we click on Microsoft Services for NFS and then click the Details button again. 
Under Subcomponents of Microsoft Services for NFS we check the checkboxes for Client for NFS, Microsoft Services for NFS Administration, and RPC External Data Representation
We then click OK, then OK again, then click Next.
 
Lastly...clear directions on the 2003 master/media server
NFS Configuration on the Windows 2003 master/media server  (This is what we have for our 6.5.5 server)
Next, we will configure NFS on the master/media server running on Windows 2003 R2 SP2. We will perform the same actions on the master/media server for the NFS components install, however we will select different components. Under Subcomponents of Microsoft Services for NFS we check the checkboxes for both RPC External Data Representation and RPC Port Mapper. We then click OK, then OK again, then Next. After the NFS components install, we click Finish and then close the Add or Remove Programs dialog. To configure the portmap service to start automatically at server restart, open a command prompt and issue the command shown:
sc config portmap start= auto
This command should return the status "[SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS".
----------------------------
 
Which is the correct configuration to follow?  The last link you provided is a bit murky in its directions.  Thanks again for all the insight.