Eurobackup PRO Exchange Databases Backup Best Practices

Transcription

1 P a g e 1 Eurobackup PRO Exchange Databases Backup Best Practices

2 P a g e 2 Contents Introduction... 3 How to configure Exchange database backup with Eurobackup PRO... 4 Daily backup of Exchange databases... 4 Weekly backup of Exchange databases... 5

3 P a g e 3 Introduction This best practice is related to the Exchange Databases backup. First of all, we have to note that there are two ways to backup an Exchange Server. The first - and most common one - is the database backup. The second one is the mail level backup (also known as brick level backup). The mail level Exchange backup will be covered later by a dedicated best practice. The database backup takes the Exchange databases (for instance: priv1.edb and priv1.stm) which contains all users mailboxes. These databases can be used to restore your Exchange infrastructure in case of server crash. The mail level Exchange backup takes each Exchange object individually ( s, contacts, appointments ). You can use this backup to restore a particular item in the user s mailbox. It is crucial to take an Exchange database backup because the mail level backup cannot be used to restore your entire Exchange server in case of crash. It is also important to note that Exchange infrastructure is closely related to Active Directory and that you cannot restore Exchange if you have lost your AD structure. Be careful to make a regular AD backup (this can be done by configuring a daily or weekly System State backup on your domain controllers). Knowing all that, please find our recommendations: 1. Configure a database backup on all your Exchange servers and keep it at least 30 days. 2. If you want archiving and item by item restore functionality, configure a mail level backup for all or only important mailboxes and configure the retention policy as you want (for instance: last 30 days + last day of month during a year + last day of year during 5 years).

4 P a g e 4 How to configure Exchange database backup with Eurobackup PRO Depending on the size of your Exchange databases and the speed of your Internet line, you can backup databases daily or backup databases once a week and Exchange logs the remaining days. Daily backup of Exchange databases Please find the configuration hereunder: 1. Install Eurobackup PRO on Exchange server. 2. Log on Eurobackup PRO agent with previously provided username and password. 3. Create a new backup set (MS Exchange Backup Set). 4. Type a user friendly name for the backup set. 5. Select System State and Microsoft Information Store for your local Exchange server (if you have several Exchange servers you will see them in the list but the backup will not work correctly for remote Exchange servers). 6. Choose a temporary directory with lot of free space to make a copy of the Exchange databases, check Remove temporary files after backup and click Next. 7. Select Database Schedule and click Properties. 8. Select Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, choose the start time and click OK. 9. Select Log Files Schedule, click Remove and click Next. 10. Create a custom encryption key (AES CBC with at least 8 characters / this encryption cannot be changed afterwards / if you lose this encryption key, data s cannot be restored), click Next and then Finish. 11. Expand your new backup set and choose Retention Policy option to change the default settings. 12. Now choose the In-File Delta option and click on Advanced. 13. Select Friday, choose Differential and click OK. 14. Uncheck No. of Delta option. 15. You can now save your settings by clicking the Save Setting button on the main bar.

5 P a g e 5 Weekly backup of Exchange databases Please find the configuration hereunder: 1. Install Eurobackup PRO on Exchange server. 2. Log on Eurobackup PRO agent with previously provided username and password. 3. Create a new backup set (MS Exchange Backup Set). 4. Type a user friendly name for the backup set. 5. Select System State and Microsoft Information Store for your local Exchange server (if you have several Exchange servers you will see them in the list but the backup will not work correctly for remote Exchange servers). 6. Choose a temporary directory with lot of free space to make a copy of the Exchange databases, check Remove temporary files after backup and then click Next. 7. Select Database Schedule and click Properties. 8. Choose the start time and click OK. 9. Select Log Files Schedule and click Properties. 10. Choose the start time and click OK. 11. Click Next. 12. Create a custom encryption key (AES CBC with at least 8 characters / this encryption cannot be changed afterwards / if you lose this encryption key, data s cannot be restored), click Next and then Finish. 13. Expand your new backup set and choose Retention Policy option to change the default settings. 14. Now choose the In-File Delta option and change the default delta type to Differential. 15. Uncheck No. of Delta option. 16. You can now save your settings by clicking the Save Setting button on the main bar.