Question about backups...does Exchange store need to be stopped? 1

[wahnula]

Howdy,

My SBS2003 Premium SP1 server goes through two backup routines nightly: The SBS backup to an internal drive and another backup program, a file-copy program called SyncBackSE that copies all of the data array and the Exchange store to an external drive that is rotated daily.

This file-copy backup is my go-to backup when someone overwrites a file or a file gets corrupted. I am wondering, though, if the Exchange backup would be as useful since it is run without stopping the Exchange store service. I am copying the entire MDBDATA folder, remember this is a simple file-copy app, will the data be of any use in the event of server theft or office fire?

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[noveyron]

Hi Tony

The need (?) for an SBS backup to internal storage in case of overwriting/corruption can be eliminated by enabling the shadow copy functionality where relevant, thus allowing your users to restore previous versions of files folders, with no admin overhead from yourself

The MDBDATA folder would have some usefulness in the event of a disaster, but if I were you, I would simply do the SBS backup to removable storage in the first place, it will back up all your data, and do an exchange aware backup at the same time.

 

[wahnula]

Thanks noveyron. I think the shadow copy function might confuse my users, and there's not a dire need for it. I've only needed to restore files a handful of times. Good tip though, and I still might choose to do it.

As for the external backup, internal backup is much faster and easier to restore, I'd like to keep it, maybe add another backplane so I could swap drives easily.

I figured in the event of a REAL disaster, I could connect the file-copy drive to a client via USB and map the users to it, allowing work to continue while the server was being restored. I have practiced this and it works. Of course Exchange would not be available during this time. I also like having ALL my data in my backpack, ready to plug into any machine and get at the files I want to see at any time anywhere. I use rugged laptop drives and it's about time to replace them, maybe I'll just get big enough drives to partition them to handle SBS backup plus the file-copy backup.

Unconventional, I know, but I've thought it through in my limited brain and it makes sense to me!

I was just concerned about the usefulness of the MDBDATA folder backup.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[ShackDaddy]

The backup of the MDBData folder won't be very useful unless the information store was stopped when you took it, since it will be considered "dirty" if you try to put it back in place. I wouldn't bother doing it.

Much better to do even a single scheduled Exchange backup to the external media once a week to supplement the daily internal backups.

Dave Shackelford
Shackelford Consulting

 

[wahnula]

...since it will be considered "dirty" if you try to put it back in place. I wouldn't bother doing it.

Much better to do even a single scheduled Exchange backup to the external media once a week to supplement the daily internal backups.

Thanks Dave. I can schedule an NTBackup of the Exchange Store (I believe that stops and starts the stores, no?) weekly and cancel the file-copy backup. This is the only part of the backup plan that has not been tested, and it's good to know it's just taking up space and wasting resources.

The goal with this backup is to be able to restore to new hardware, as in the case of a fire or theft. My mainboard is still available (at ungodly prices) through eBay but I don't want to be locked in to a 2005 platform.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[ShackDaddy]

NTBackup doesn't need to stop and start anything because it's a completely different kind of backup. It's a "streaming" backup while a file copy is copying files from the "outside" and doesn't care about what state the database is in at the time. There's no point in backing up Exchange without an "Exchange-aware" backup program unless you are stopping the Information store before the backup, and you shouldn't need to be doing that. No "Exchange-aware" backup program will need to stop and start services.

System State works the same way. You aren't going to be able to easily back up your AD and registry with a file backup, but a tool with the ability to back up system state will keep you protected.

It would also be much less work for you and less complicated to simply turn on Shadow Copy instead of messing with file copies. Shadow copy tracks multiple revisions of documents up to a couple of months back. I doubt that your file backup strategy is keeping many layers of revisions, plus Shadow Copy takes snapshots at 7am and noon every day by default, so users who are falling asleep at their desks after lunch and accidently overwrite a document that they worked all morning on can recover back to the snapshot that was taken at noon. And all of that can be placed in the users hands so that the admin isn't involved in worrying about restores of user data after the initial training period.

The way I see it, if you had to bring in a new server, you install SBS on it again, using all the same names (and directories if possible) and then once it's up, restore your company files, then restore system state and Exchange Stores. You'd recover files first so that when you restore system state, the shares stored in the state database can properly land on existing files.

Dave Shackelford
Shackelford Consulting

 

[wahnula]

Great explanation. Thanks Dave.

Tony

Users helping Users...