Does NTBackup work with out stopping services?

[mcship]

Using the NTBackup feature, does it backup the priv.ebd, pub.edb and dir.edb with out having to stop services?

I'm running NT 4.0 SP6a with Exchange 5.5 SP3

I'm getting ready to upgrade my Exchage server to SP4 and the latest patches, wanted to make sure my backup is worth somthing first.

Thanks..

 

[Trackhappy]

NTBackup backs up the databases without stopping the services, but not as files. You select the Exchange tree, not the file system. If you want the physical files you have to stop the services.

 

[mcship]

So if I've backed up the file system seperatly and then do a NTBackup of the Exchange tree then it's safe to say I have good backup, right, and then I can move forward on my updates, right?

Thanks

 

[Trackhappy]

Yep. When you do the NTBackup, also select the System State for good measure and you should be fine. If you are doing a major upgrade, I'd also do an off-line file-level backup of the databases, and make very sure you have documented the drive structure and Exchange configuration details like Organisation, Site and Server names and what connectors are installed. In a worst case scenario you need all this info to restore a server completely. Oh and don't forget the Domain Controller backup.

 

[30362]

Depending on how paranoid you are you may want to check out a product called PowerControl from Ontrack.

You can perform an online backup of the Exchange tree using NTBACKUP and then use PowerControl to extract the PRIV.EDB and PUB.EDB files to your harddrive. PowerControl will then allow you to drill down into the PRIV or PUB like you would a PST file and see all the mailboxes, calendars, tasks, notes, contacts and any other mailbox attributes.

I like PowerControl because I don't have to double the time my backup takes by doing a brick level as well as on online backup.

I still recommend doing a periodic offline backup though...