Exchange 5.5 Backups

[MusicManJoe]

Hello All,

I have just been given the OK to revamp the backup system on our exchange server (Woo-Hoo!!), who better to ask then you guys?
The only system I have used is BackupExec (not by choice) and have never been really happy with it. Can anyone suggest something else, or is BE the way to fly?

Thanks, Joe

 

[gmcdonnell]

Which version of BackupExec are you using? BackupExec 6.x is pretty primitive but the product has improved greatly since then. 7.3 was a very solid product and I have it installed at a lot of my clients. The 8.x version is great too - 8.6 will back up to disks, which is super if you have a SAN. I haven't used version 9 yet.

The only viable commercial alternative is ArcServe, which I find very lacking compared to BackupExec. Some folks do prefer it, so it may be one of those things about liking what you know.

/gary mcdonnell

 

[MusicManJoe]

Hello Gary,

Thanks for your response. I am using version 8 of Backup Exec.

Thanks Joe

 

[Andyleates]

From what I hear, the latest version of ArcServe (Brightstor or something) is marginally better that BackupExec.

Andy Leates MCSE CCNA MCP+I

 

[netect]

I agree Brightstor(ArcServe) is comparable if not better. Both of them you get fit with all the agents to purchase and so on. I feel if you are backing up at the Data Center level you might want to stay with a Veratas product. I will like to know why you are not pleased to better answer you question.

 

[MusicManJoe]

Well,

I have used BE at two sites. The first I built all from scratch, in other words, nothing "inherited". at that site I have a lot of issues with corrupt catalogs. Though Veritas support was always able to assist.

At the site I am currently at, I did inherit the system, I get frequent failures for assorted reasons, such as "unable to open file, skipped" and things like that. This is a rather old machine which BE is running on, so perhaps I am not being fair...

Thanks Joe

 

[netect]

Ok, this is one of the reasons I like Brightstor. Base on the error you get their knowledge base have been helpful. You put in the error id and it is pretty accurate on finding the answer. To setup your backup baseline you will need to exclude some of the temp file extensions that are annoying, and install certain patches and service packs to solve predefined problems.

 

[muddyjohn]

We use Brightstor and we hate it. By far backup exec is better.
We have had nothing but failures in our restore and backup efforts with Brightstor.
Anyone want to buy ours? I'll sell it and go to ebay and buy backup exec.

 

[GaviD]

We have recently upgraded to BE 9.0 and it is great.
There are a few issues you need to look at when doing the install.
1) Make sure that all permissions are set correctly, esp WRT individual mailbox backups.
2) If you are running NAV for MSE, you will need to disable it during the individual mailbox backups, or else you will get a backup speed of about 8MB / min. Use the Windows scheduler & some .bat files with net stop commands to do this.