Don't Ever Not Backup Your Exchange

[varuna]

This information is applicable to NT Server 4.0 & Exchange Server 4.0, 5, 5.5.

The Exchange agent for AS has caused me lots of problems in the past and sometimes has resulted in me having no backup of exchange for a day or so, (just enough time for my Exchange to go BANG).

Anyone who has tried to restore Exchange with minimal recovery data will tell you that it's not easy. Using NTBackup is a great way of feeling that little bit safer.

It can be used alongside AS or instead of (my choice). I backup my exchange box with a locally attached DLT drive using NTBackup .The only bad thing about using NTBackup is you don't have any brick level capability, but as far as stability is concerened it cannot be beaten.

I use the following line to perform my backups scheduled using WINAT:

ntbackup backup DS \\KAPPA IS \\KAPPA /v /d "KAPPA IS DS FULL" /b /t normal /l c:\exbackup\exbackup.log /e

KAPPA = NETBIOS name of server.

If anyone is thinking of using this as a permanent or interim solution while their AS server is down then check out the following links:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q146306

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q152313

If this helps anyone, please let me know.

TTFN

V








No Pain No Gain