backup exec, exchange 2000, mailboxes and information store

[ryandale]

Hey all,

I always seem to have a few errors in backup exec when backing up Exchange Mailboxes. Is it even recommended to back these up or is backing up just the Information Store ok?

So my question is, is it necessary to back up both Exchange Mailboxes and Exchange First Storage Group? If yes, why?

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[ryandale]

ok, well i couldn't wait to start this next full backup so what i did was backup the information store only. I am backing up a few mailboxes for quick retrieval of deleted items (ceo, cto, etc)

question...if I only backup the Information Store would I be able to restore one mailbox at a time or only the entire Information Store?

 

[steveot]

What version of Exchange? If you have Exchange 5.5 or 2000, yet can create a recovery server and restore the IS to it to extact mailboxes...so yes you will need to restore the IS. If you have exchange 2003 - then you could create a recovery group in exchange system manager and restore the IS to the recovery group and extract the mailbox. There is a third party utility by Ontrack called Powercontrols that is quite intresting as well. It allow you to extract a mailbox from a IS backup on tape or backup to disk files. I have seen people use this. They duplicate the backup tape to disk - then use powercontrols to get the mailbox out

 

[Zelandakh]

Ryan,
Backing up the IS is for disaster recovery. It retains the single instance storage of Exchange. It also flushes the committed trnsaction logs. This is a must.
Backing up at brick level allows you to restore an individual email or mailbox quickly and easily.

Choices: Store level only and use either OnTrack or Quest's Aelita Recovery Manager to extract brick level from a store level backup (even extracting directly from tape).

Are you getting minor errors about corrupt emails? If so, that is a known issue and there is a technote on the Veritas site for it.