Exchange Bricks Level backup query

[Moffet]

Hey guys,

We currently backup the Exchange edb files from the file system on the server (Priv.edb is about 7GB) but we also backup the entire exchange server using the Bricks Level backup in the Exchange Agent. Do we need to backup the file Priv.edb?

We have started running out of space on our backup tapes and need to trim the amount of data we backup.

We back up the entire contents of the server daily so we can do a full restore should the worst happen. If we were to exclude the Priv.edb and had to restore with that file missing, would that file be recreated by doing a full restore of the Exchange Server from Bricks Level? Or would we have to create a new file and then run the bricks level restore? How would we do this?

We can't do an incremental backup because the full backup would run out of space on the tape.

Cheers for any advice,

Moffet

 

[Cyklops]

The Exchange Client has two functions, the first one is backing up the databases ( directory / information store ).
With these backups you can restore Exchange by using the agent after losing or corrupting the databases. The second function is the brick-level backup. This option is purely meant for the ability to restore individual mailboxes or folder and should NOT be used for a full server restore.
If you backup both the dir.edb and priv.edb ( by file ) AND the dir/information store ( by Exchange agent ) you backup the same data twice, but each form a different kind of view

hope I'm clear

regards

 

[Moffet]

Hey Cyklops,

Thanks for responding. Sorry, wasn't explained very clearly - I was just relaying what I was told by someone else. After looking at it myself, I saw that it wasn't backing up the actual file from the file system, but it was set to backup both Exchange Server and Bricks level in the My Compter section AND under the Exchange Organisation and so was doing it twice. I disabled it in one place yesterday and last night's backup worked fine and we still have Bricks level as well as the entire exchange server.

You did answer my basic question about whether you can use bricks level to do a full restore, thanks. I may need to know that in the future if the database grows another 5GB or so and need to turn one of them off.

Cheers