Netbackup 7.5.0.5 for Exchange 2010 Bug

[Jeff_Foglietta]

Hey All.

Thought I would share my latest experience with the group. Issue: Constant message level restore failures status 2810. Message level restores however were successful when redirected to to Netbackup service account within Exchange.

There would appear to be a bug in the 7.5.0.5 Netbackup client software which does not allow message level restores. After configuring all hosts involved with meticulous detail I had reached the end of my rope. I turned to Symantec support and worked with them for 3 days. It was finally suggested that I upgrade the Mailbox and CAS servers to 7.5.0.6 and see if that resolves the problem. I was assured that these client servers running a later version than the Master and media servers would no longer be an issue as it once was in the past. Well I performed the upgrade, the problem was resolved and I am here to share some details about this configuration. Here are some notes for properly setting up Netbackup for exchange 2010 with multiple mailbox servers and CAS servers.

Environment:

Virtual master server - Windows 2008 R2 Standard

Netbackup 5230 Appliance covfigured as a media server

2 Exchange Mailbox Servers - Windows 2008 R2 Standard

2 CAS servers (Load Balanced)  - Windows 2008 R2 Standard

Netbackup 7.5.0.5 server software on Master and Media servers

Netbackup 7.5.0.6 client software on Exchange mailbox and CAS servers

Tweaks:

Exchange server:

After creating a service account for Netbackup to use in Exchange backups and restores make certain that the mailbox is active and unhidden.

In the Exchange powershell execute the following commands so message level restores can take place:

        New-ManagementRole -Name EWSImpersonationRole -Parent ApplicationImpersonation

        New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role EWSImpersonationRole -User <Service Account Name> EWSImpersonationRoleAssignment

As a precaution add the mailbox and CAS servers to the master and media servers local hosts files.

Important note when using CAS servers in a load balanced configuration:

In a load balanced CAS configuration such as this one, the Exchange Mail System is configured to point to a "virtual" CAS host to reach the dag. When configuring Exchange in NetBackup the actual CAS hosts get the Client software loaded on them and it is these hosts that are included in the Exchange configuration. The problem arises where Exchange is configured to look for the virtual CAS host and failure ensues because the host is unknown to NBU. In this case the hosts entry will need to be the IP address of a single node in the CAS array, NOT the IP of the virtual CAS host, and the fully qualified and short name alias of the virtual CAS host. When Exchange looks to access the dag via the Virtual name of the CAS this entry will effectively point Exchange to a single node in the cluster.

In the Master server properties under "Distributed Application Restore Mapping" include each of the mailbox servers and CAS servers (including the virtual hostname) with FQHN and short name entries for each.

As usual do not forget to start the NBU client services with the service account name created for NBU on each of the mailbox and CAS servers. This should include both legacy services as well and of course edit the client properties of the dag (Windows Client ---> Exchange) with the NBU service account mailbox to use for restores.

Hope the group finds this information useful. Always an adventure, isn't it? :)

All the best!

[NBU_man]

Jeff - I have a similar config and we use DNS for name resolution - so no hosts files. I can run restores from any CAS server and the master, but not using the Java Admin console on my PC; from here I get status 2810 and 5

Can you clarify which hosts file you're suggesting updating with a single node from the CAS array ?

Note that the Help button on Windows Client -> Exchange states that the mailbox for message level backup & restore is no longer used in NetBackup 7.0

Thanks,

Stuart.