Exchange 2003 Backup And Restore > System State. 2

[boston33]

Hello,

We have 1 Windows 2003 Server. It is a Domain Controller and an Exchange 2003 Server.

We backup to online storage. We are charged by the amount of storage.

Currently, we only backup the Exchange 2003 Information Store.(Mailbox and Public Folder stores).

In the event of a hard drive failure, would this be enough to recover the Exchange 2003 Information Store?(If we backup the System State, it would be us over our contracted storage amount with our backup company.).

Do we need to backup the System State to recover the Exchange data?

Thanks for your help.

 

[bustamove]

Do you backup your AD at all? if yes, system state should be included. i don't think you need system state if exchange is on a separate box.

 

[ShackDaddy]

If you have more than one DC, then you don't need to back up system state, since a disk failure on one DC wouldn't kill AD. If you only have one DC, you'd need to make sure that you have some way to recover AD for Exchange to be recoverable.

If your space is really so tight that you can't fit a System State backup, then you probably can't afford any growth in your mailstore either. I'd figure out if this problem can be solved with your online backup provider or find a new one.

ShackDaddy
Shackelford Consulting

 

[ntfsDOTsys]

And remember system state backups only work reliably on the same server (ie - SAME hardware). If the hardware changes it is almost guaranteed NOT to work.

A+, Network+, MCP
========================================>
My first computer was the Atari 400 (heh)

 

[jkupski]

If you have more than one DC, then you don't need to back up system state, since a disk failure on one DC wouldn't kill AD.

That's not really good advice--what if your data center burns down?

 

[ShackDaddy]

The specific question was about disk failure, Exchange recovery and limited space to use with online backup. I explicitly answered the question in that context. I didn't say he shouldn't be doing system state backups at all. Try to read things in context.

ShackDaddy
Shackelford Consulting

 

[bustamove]

i am just wondering...how big is your exchange store and the system state? It is easier to squeeze 1-2% out of mail store for system state data. ask them to delete a few large attachments...

i have 100 GB+ mail store, but system state is less than 500MB

 

[boston33]

The exch. information store is about 40GB.

We are going to backup the System state and look for other ways to reduce the size, such as email attachments.(We are a little concerned that the system state doesn't restore well on different hardware, but we can deal with it).


Thanks for your help.

 

[ShackDaddy]

Remember that email retention policies will keep deleted email from actually leaving the store for 30 days, so you won't get immediate space savings unless you do a SHIFT+Delete on those large attachments. Even then, you may need to wait for the next online defrag to recover some of that space.

ShackDaddy
Shackelford Consulting

 

[bustamove]

i think hard delete shift+delete still go to deleted item retention. i.e. you can get it back using DumpsterAlwaysOn registry.

delete large attachment is not an one time shot solution, it is a process users do on a regular basis, save or archive them somewhere else.