CA ARCserve and CA XOsoft r12.5 Best Practices for protecting Microsoft Exchange

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1 CA RECOVERY MANAGEMENT R12.5 BEST PRACTICES CA ARCserve and CA XOsoft r12.5 Best Practices for protecting Microsoft Exchange Overview Benefits The CA Advantage The CA ARCserve Backup Support and Engineering teams provide the following tips and recommendations for you to effectively use the CA ARCserve Backup r12.5 Agent for Microsoft Exchange (Exchange Agent), and CA XOsoft r12.5. For more information about the Exchange Agent, see the CA ARCserve Backup for Windows r12.5 Agent for Microsoft Exchange Guide. For more information on protecting Microsoft Exchange with CA XOsoft r12.5, see the CA XOsoft Replication for Windows Microsoft Exchange Server Operation Guide and the CA XOsoft High Availability for Windows Microsoft Exchange Server Operation Guide. The benefit of our products is the key solution to a building block of expedient, efficient data recovery and business continuity plans. From the basics of building secure backups to establishing and executing disaster recovery plans, procedures and processes, CA provides you with advanced technology integrated into a superior solution. CA ARCserve Backup and XOsoft products provide backup and restore and protection against any kind of data corruption to your business applications, servers, databases or file systems in the case when disaster strikes. For example, in the event of a hurricane, a blackout, or far more likely, a virus attack or software or user error, your ability to respond well to the crisis can make the difference between a bright future and the end of your business. Disaster recovery planning (DRP) is not just about insurance, it is about maintaining your competitive edge. CA s products are designed to give you that edge.

2 CA ARCserve Backup for r12.5 Agent for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Server, Microsoft Exchange 2007 Server SP1 System Requirements for the Exchange Agent: Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard Edition Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium Edition Microsoft Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Standard Edition x64 Messaging Server Microsoft Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Standard Edition x64 Security Server Microsoft Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Premium Edition x64 Messaging Server Microsoft Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Premium Edition x64 Security Server Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Data Center Edition x64, SP1, SP2. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition x64, SP1, SP2 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition x64, SP1, SP2 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Data Center Edition x64, SP2 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition x64, SP2 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition x64, SP2 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for x64, SP1, SP2 Microsoft Messaging API and Collaboration Data Objects For additional requirements and notes regarding the Exchange Agent installation, please see the CA ARCserve Backup for Windows r12.5 Agent for Microsoft Exchange Guide. CA ARCserve Backup Product recommendations CA ARCserve Backup Agent for Microsoft Exchange Database Level Backup and Restore Protects the Exchange Server database and logs CA ARCserve Backup Agent for Microsoft Exchange Document Level Backup and Restore Provides granular backup and recovery of user s mailboxes and for the public folders CA ARCserve Backup Client Agent for Windows Protects files and the System State. Also used to protect the Active Directory. Use this Client Agent to protect domain controllers. CA ARCserve Backup Disaster Recovery Option Recovers the node to the last full backup state. Load Reduction It is recommended to install the CA ARCserve Backup Manager on a different server than the Exchange server. This reduces the demand for system resources on the Exchange server during backup or restore operations. Page 2

3 Exchange Server Configuration recommendations Circular Logging: Circular Logging must be disabled to take advantage of incremental and differential backups. If Circular Logging is not disabled and you submit an incremental or differential backup, the agent automatically converts the backup to full. Transaction Log Space: Make sure that you have enough space on your Exchange Server in case you want to restore transaction logs. Leave at least twice the amount of space that you expect your transaction logs to use. In addition, if you intend to restore Brick or Document Level backups, you should leave enough space to accommodate the size of the backups because the size of the database file may increase during the restore. Installation prerequisites for the Exchange agent Ensure that you have Administrator privileges. Ensure that you know the name and password of the machine you are installing the agent on. If you will be performing remote backups, ensure that File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks is enabled on the agent machine that you will be backing up. The Net Logon service must be started to support pass-through authentication of account logon events for computers in a domain. Ensure that Microsoft Messaging API and Collaboration Data Objects is installed before you install the agent. You must perform this task because the agent requires the Messaging API (MAPI) client libraries to run properly and to perform document level backup operations. For more information on how to complete the above steps, please refer to the CA ARCserve Backup for Windows r12.5 Agent for Microsoft Exchange Guide. Exchange Agent Service Account Requirements for Database Level Backup and Restore The backup agent service account must be: A domain user account. A member of the Administrator group and the Backup Operators group on the Exchange Server system. Assigned the Exchange Full Administrator role on the Exchange Organization level or the Exchange Administrative Group level. Note: When you are not using the following options, the service account only needs to be assigned the Exchange View Only Administrators role: Recovery Storage Group Allow databases of destination storage group to be overwritten Microsoft VSS Writer Requirements A shadow copy is created for each storage group that you back up when you back up Exchange Server 2007 systems using Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS). The size of the shadow copy storage area may increase when VSS creates multiple shadow copies on the same volume concurrently. In this case, more available free disk Page 3

4 space is required to ensure that your backups are successful. For more information, see Volume Shadow Copy Service Tools and Settings on the Microsoft website. Exchange Agent Backup Recommendations Always perform online backups of the Exchange server. Ensure media integrity by using the Calculate and Store CRC Value on Backup Media global option. Always perform a full backup of the Exchange server database. To improve backup performance with the Document Level backup, increase the Exchange Agent value for the Number of Threads configuration settings; and reduce the Exchange Agent value of Thread Priority configuration setting. This increases performance and minimizes resource usage on the Exchange server. Enable multiplexing to take advantage of high performance destination devices. Enable the Complete Messaging Single Instance Storage Exchange Agent configuration option. To save some backup time cycles, select the Disable File Estimate global option for the backup job. Use the incremental or differential backup methods to protect the data that has changed since the last full backup. Use backup filters to exclude, or include data from backup sets. A Document Level backup of all mailboxes in the environment may not be a desirable backup plan, due to the amount of time that might be required to complete that backup job. Instead, make smaller Document Level backups based on mission critical groupings. An example might be to back up executive and secretary mailboxes daily, as these may be a smaller grouping of mailboxes. Remaining mailbox groupings are backed up once a week, perhaps over a weekend. Create suitable data protection policies for restore times for these different mailbox groupings. Install and configure an Exchange standby server to test database and log restores and as a restore point for Document Level backups. Use CA XOsoft Disaster Recovery and High Availability for Microsoft Exchange to create alternate standby or switchover Exchange server nodes, in the event of disasters. Do not perform only a document level backup. An Exchange server database level backup is a must have for system failures, database corruption or disaster recovery. Restore Recommendations Perform a test restore of the Exchange log files on a regular basis, to a standby Exchange server, to determine how much time this may take. Depending how often full backups are performed, replay of log files can take a long time, as every transaction since the last backup must be scanned. Perform a test restore to a standby server, at least once a month. If you are restoring to an original location that contains existing data, select the conflict resolution option, Overwrite only when modified. If you are restoring to an original location in an empty folder or an alternative location, select the conflict resolution option, Restore as copy. Page 4

5 Configure the Exchange Agent for Microsoft Windows Exchange Cluster For the agent to properly perform document level backups on an Exchange cluster, the cluster resource type CA ARCserve Backup Exchange Agent Notifier must be registered and the resource instance type CA ARCserve Backup Exchange Agent Notifier must be created. For more information on how to configure the Exchange Agent for Microsoft Windows clusters, please refer to the CA ARCserve Backup for Windows r12.5 Agent for Microsoft Exchange Guide. Remote Server Views in the Backup Manager Depending on the configuration of the server on which CA ARCserve Backup is installed, you can view remote Exchange servers from: The Exchange Organization View The Windows Systems object For more information on remote views, please refer to the CA ARCserve Backup for Windows r12.5 Agent for Microsoft Exchange Guide. Database Level backup options When you submit a backup job, you must specify a backup option. The backup option tells CA ARCserve Backup how you want your data to be backed up. When you use the agent, you can select a backup method for your Database Level backup job at the storage group level or you can use a globally scheduled backup method. If at least one storage group does not use the *default* backup options, the Exchange database level backup source will be packaged explicitly when it is selected dynamically. In this case, if you add or remove storage groups from the Exchange server, you must repackage the jobs. For information about packaging jobs, see the CA ARCserve Backup for Windows r12.5 Administration Guide. Microsoft does not support incremental backups when the Circular Logging feature is enabled. If you do not disable Circular Logging and submit an incremental backup, the agent automatically converts the backup to full. Backing up Exchange with database-level backups and restoring document level data. CA ARCserve Backup does not currently support direct restore of document level data from a database level backup because this behavior would be against Microsoft s Best Practices for Exchange recovery. Instead, you can restore a DB level backup to a Recovery Storage Group and use the option Mount database after restore in the Last Backup Set Options section of the Agent Option GUI in the Restore Manager. Then, copy the document level data back to the live DB. Note that this can take time based on the size of your mail DB. Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Disaster Recovery Every time you back up your Exchange Server, you should perform a database level backup. Perform a test restore to a standby server at least once a month. Restore the system in disaster recovery scenarios. Page 5

6 Back up an Exchange Server system at the storage group level; it cannot be used to perform a more granular level of backup. Back up from replication and back up from an active database. Restore only individual databases and restore log files. Restore data to its original location and alternate locations such as: Another Exchange server Another Storage Group Another Database Windows File System With the use of a Recovery Storage Group, you can restore individual mailboxes from a database level backup using advance filters. For information about Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Disaster Recovery, see the Disaster Recovery for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Server white papers on the Microsoft website. Perform the following steps to restore the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007: Restore the Windows operating system on your Exchange Server and\or your domain controller and ensure that the System State with Active Directory is in a consistent state with the backup you intend to restore. Ensure that the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 application is operational and that you have the same Service Pack you had prior to the disaster. Restore the databases to the Exchange Server. For instructions on how to restore the databases to the Exchange Server, see Perform a Database Level Restore in the CA ARCserve Backup Agent for Microsoft Exchange user guide. Page 6

7 CA XOsoft r12.5 considerations for Exchange 2007 For more information on protecting Microsoft Exchange with CA XOsoft r12.5, see the CA XOsoft Replication for Windows Microsoft Exchange Server Operation Guide and the CA XOsoft High Availability for Windows Microsoft Exchange Server Operation Guide. System Requirements for the Exchange 2007 Microsoft Windows 2003 for x64, Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for x64 Microsoft Messaging API and Collaboration Data Objects For additional requirements and notes regarding the Exchange Agent installation, please see the CA ARCserve Backup for Windows r12.5 Agent for Microsoft Exchange Guide. CA XOsoft r12.5 product recommendations CA XOsoft r12.5 DR Provides replication of the Exchange 2007 server database CA XOsoft r12.5 HA Provides replication and switchover capabilities of the Exchange 2007 server CA XOsoft r12.5 CDP Provides the ability for an end user to recover deleted s How to Restore Exchange Data from the CA XOsoft integrated backup If using the Windows client agent: First, if this is during business hours, failover to the Standby server; otherwise, proceed to the next step. Dismount the databases; move or delete the contents of the Exchange database folder(s) (ex: \Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA ). Then, perform the restore and mount the databases. It is advisable to have CA XOsoft initiate reverse replication from the Replica back to the Master to apply any data changes that happened while the Master Server was offline. How to replicate Exchange database In order to replicate your exchange database, you will first need to purchase the required number of CA XOsoft DR licenses for Exchange (one license for every node that would be part of the Replication scenario). Then, use the CA XOsoft Scenario Creation Wizard to create a Replication scenario to protect the production Exchange server by storing a copy of its data along with updates in an asynchronous manner to a standby server over the network (LAN or WAN). Customers have the flexibility of building the scenario manually using either the GUI or the PowerShell command-line interface. Page 7

8 How to provide mailbox recovery CA XOsoft does not recover the mailbox directly. However it is possible to recover the contents of the mailbox. There are two methods: CDP Repository to recover permanently deleted s. This feature requires a license for the CDP feature as well as an SQL Server 2005 installation to store the deleted s. Using the ws_ex2ex or Microsoft ExMerge utilities with the process described in the CA Knowledgebase Article: TEC Individual Recovery Method for XOsoft using Data Rewind. NOTE: Microsoft ADSI Edit (adsiedit.msc) and Exchange PowerShell commands may also be used to achieve the same functionality. How to provide Exchange high availability In addition to providing replication services for Exchange servers, CA XOsoft also has the ability to provide High Availability functionality for Exchange. If you want CA XOsoft to perform the switchover or switchback for you, you will need to have the required number of High Availability licenses (one license for every node that would be part of the High Availability scenario). You can read more about CA XOsoft s Exchange HA capabilities by accessing the product guides at this link. How to switchover/switchback Exchange Switchover can be automatic or manual, depending on the Administrator s preference. If switchover is set to Automatic, the replica Exchange machine will take over for the master in the event the Master server fails. If switchover is set to Manual, the Administrator will have to press the switchover button in the event of the Master server fails. If, for any reason, the switchover or switchback did not complete successfully, it is possible to use Recover Active Server functionality to set which ever server should be the active exchange server. NOTE: We do not recommend enabling AUTOMATIC switchover when replicating across a WAN unless the WAN has a backup segment in case the primary WAN goes down. This would avoid a split-brain issue (i.e. both the Master and Replica Exchange servers must be active at the same time). CDP for Exchange CA XOsoft gives Administrators the option of allowing users to retrieve their own permanently deleted s. This feature requires a license for the CDP feature as well as an SQL Server 2005 installation to store the deleted s. Preparation for End User Recovery will consist of three steps: Deploy the CA XOsoft Engine to the Master and Replica Exchange servers with CDP Repository support enabled. This will require.net 2.0 Framework to be installed, and the Remote Engine Installation Utility can do this for you. Create a CA XOsoft CDP Database on an SQL 2005 Server. There is a wizard in the CA XOsoft Manager to do this for you. Page 8

9 Set up a CDP Web server. This can be done on the Control Service machine, or it can be a separate server. If you want the end users to be able to save their files to incorporate them back into Outlook, you will need to have Outlook installed on the CDP Web server before you install this component from the CA XOsoft installation media. Enable end users to recover their own deleted s. On the machine that you install the CDP Web server to, there will be a shortcut created under Start->Programs->CA-> XOsoft-> Retrieval that links to If you selected SSL during the install of the Control Service, you need to use the hostname of the Control Service (instead of the IP address). For example: You can have the users set this link as a favorite in Internet Explorer (Internet Explorer is the only web browser support at this time). They will use their domain security to log in to the Retrieval site. The users can retrieve all their messages, or filters are available to limit the amount of messages returned by such characteristics as the sender, recipient, date received, etc. if Outlook has been installed on the CDP Web server, the user can download the retrieved s as.msg files. Considerations regarding Data Rewind for Exchange. Rewind was not designed or intended to replace backup technology. Rewind was not designed to store more than a few hours of rewind points. As a best practice rule, you should not keep more than 24 hours of Rewind data. We strongly recommend significantly LESS than 24 hours (Generally set the retention period for 4-6 hours worth of Exchange data). Set the disk allocation for Rewind based on the daily change rate of the dataset. If you wish to be able to rewind 6 hours, then the disk allocation should be set to slightly above 25% of the daily change rate. If daily change rate is 8 GB, then allocate 2.25 to 2.5 GB of storage for Exchange Data Rewind. In addition, consider utilizing the Assured Recovery feature with VSS snapshots enabled. Snapshots offer a much more efficient means of storage. This will offer increased flexibility when implementing the Rewind feature. If you need to go further back than 6 hours, you can restore a snapshot. For further granularity, you can set Rewind to 6 hours, and have Assured Recovery run every 4 hours to generate a VSS snapshot. Copyright 2009 CA. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. All other trademarks, trade names, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.