Symantec Backup Exec 11d for Windows Servers Sets the Standard for Exchange 2007 Server Data Protection Agent for Microsoft Exchange Server TechPDF Peter Imming, Backup Exec Product Management April 16, 2007
Symantec Backup Exec 11d for Windows Servers Sets the Standard for Exchange 2007 Server Data Protection Contents Executive Summary...3 Exchange 2007 Backup Challenges...3 New Exchange 2007 Terminology...3 Exchange 2007 Backup\Recovery Considerations...4 Addressing the Exchange 2007 Backup\Recovery Challenges...5 New Backup Exec 11d Support for Exchange 2007 Product highlights...5 Exchange 2007 64-bit Architecture Needs...8 Switching to an Exchange 2007 VSS-based Backup Infrastructure...8 Exchange 2007 Backup Types...8 Improving the Exchange 2007 Server Backup and Recovery Experience...11 Eliminate Exchange 2007 mailbox backups but still recover individual messages, folders, and mailboxes..11 One-pass Exchange 2007 backups with Backup Exec Granular Recovery Technology (GRT)...11 Exchange 2007 Individual Mailbox, Message, and Public\Private Folder Recovery from GRT-enabled Backups.....13 Backup Exec 11d Continuous Protection of Exchange 2007...14 Configuring Continuous Protection Backup Jobs...15 Automated Transaction Log Management...17 Backups of Exchange 2007 LCR and CCR Environments...18 Backup Exec 11d Continuous Protection with Exchange 2007 LCR Configurations...21 Other Advantages of Backup Exec 11d w/grt with Exchange 2007 LCR and CCR Configurations...21 Exchange 2007 LCR\CCR Recovery...23 Exchange 2007 LCR\CCR Data Protection Best Practices...24 System Requirements...24 Exchange 2007 Data Protection General Guidelines...25 Summary...26 2
Executive Summary In today's world, reliable Email/Messaging software is critical for companies growing business. With the latest Exchange 2007 enhancements and the overall expansion of the email, messaging market, Industry Analyst s are projecting a 39% growth in the Exchange market between 2007-2009. In addition, many of the today s current Exchange 2000 and 2003 customers will be making the move to Exchange 2007. So the question is, how are you protecting that data? New Exchange 2007 Backup Challenges Exchange 2007 represents a large change to most current Exchange customers with a new 64-bit only architecture, new high-availability functionality, a new distributed architecture, and more. As with any major new application release, there are a number of new advantages from the added and improved feature set. This paper focuses on which of these Exchange 2007 changes will affect your backup and recovery strategies. KEY BENEFITS Full Support for 64-bit Exchange 2007 VSS Backup Architecture Integrated LCR\CCR configuration support Recovers individual Exchange 2007 email messages, mailboxes, and public and private folders from singlepass database backups without mailbox backups in seconds Eliminates daily Exchange 2007 backup windows with Continuous Protection Note: This paper focuses only on the new capabilities and strategies associated with Exchange 2007 only. For complete information on the new technologies originally introduced in Backup Exec 11d for Exchange 2000 and 2003, please see the following whitepaper Redefining Exchange Server Data Protection with Symantec Backup Exec 11d for Windows Servers at http://www.symantec.com/enterprise/products/whitepapers.jsp?pcid=1018&pvid=57_1 New Exchange 2007 Backup Terminology Term Description Store Writer New Exchange 2007 Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) Writer responsible for backups from the active instances of the Storage Groups and restores to active instance locations Replication Writer New Exchange 2007 Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) Writer responsible for backups from the LCR and CCR replica locations LCR (Local Continuous Replication) Local continuous replication (LCR) is a single-server solution that uses built-in asynchronous log shipping and log replay technology to create and maintain a copy of a Storage Group on a second set of disks that are connected to the same server as the production Storage Group. CCR (Cluster Continuous Replication) Cluster continuous replication (CCR) is a high availability feature of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 that combines the asynchronous log shipping and replay technology built into Exchange 2007 with the failover and management features provided by the Microsoft Windows Cluster service. 3
Exchange 2007 Backup\Recovery Considerations This chart illustrates the new backup and recovery challenges introduced by Exchange 2007. These are just some of the items that should be considered when looking for complete Exchange 2007 support in your backup and recovery application New Exchange 2007 Functionality Summary Exchange 2007 Backup Software Checklist Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) as the primary backup method Microsoft recommends VSS support vs. legacy ESE API for all Exchange 2007 backup applications Is your backup application Exchange 2007 VSS aware? Does it fully support new Exchange 2007 VSS Store and Replication VSS Writers for high-performance snapshot backups? 64-bit Only Architecture Exchange 2007 64bit architecture improves both scalability and performance Is your backup application built for Exchange 2007 64-bit backups from both 32-bit and 64-bit backup servers? Distributed Exchange Server Roles As single Exchange Server can distribute roles across multiple servers Does your backup software understand and support Exchange 2007 distributed server roles? Will your application support restoring to original or alternate locations, including? Redirected Restore Capabilities Provides complete flexibility during restores of critical Exchange data and provides data portability o o o Original or alternate Storage Group Recovery Storage Group Original or Alternate Database name o Any location on the file system of the Exchange 2007 server (e.g. f:\test) Local and Clustered Exchange 2007 built-in Hot spare Continuous Replication (LCR and log shipping capabilities for and CCR) higher availability out of the box Support for LCR and CCR configurations to backup from either active or passive replica for low impact backups? 4
Addressing the Exchange 2007 Backup and Recovery Challenges As with Exchange 2000 and 2003, Backup Exec 11d will redefine traditional protection of Exchange 2007 by eliminating the need for daily backups while allowing quick recovery of individual mailboxes, messages, and folders. Whether an organization runs Exchange 2007 in a standard deployment, a Local Continuous Replication (LCR) or a Clustered Continuous Replication (CCR) configuration, Backup Exec 11d helps to ensure that Exchange 2007 data is quickly recoverable and available. Backup Exec 11d will also provide support for Exchange 2007 in a complete 64-bit environment, as well as fully supporting Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) snapshot backup infrastructure included with Exchange 2007. However, only Backup Exec 11d provides the ability to perform granular recovery of mailboxes, messages, and public\private folders directly from a single-pass VSS database backups, including from Exchange 2007 LCR or CCR Passive replica locations for low impact backups. This enables businesses to recover critical Exchange 2007 data in seconds from their backups. Note: The Exchange 2007 support discussed in this document is now available in a recently released update to Backup Exec 11d (build 11.0.7170) New Backup Exec 11d Support for Exchange 2007 Product Highlights Feature Description Benefit Complete Exchange 2007 VSS Snapshot Integration LCR Support Optimized for automatic use of VSS with Backup Exec for High- Performance Exchange Snapshot Backups (Full, Copy, Incremental, Differential) Local continuous replication (LCR) is a single-server Microsoft Exchange 2007 feature that uses built-in log shipping and log replay technology to maintain a copy of a storage group on a second set of disks for quick recovery VSS is now used as the default backup and recovery method of Exchange 2007 Backups can be taken from primary or replica database If replica is not available for any reason at time of backup, backups can automatically occur on primary database instead Use Backup Exec Continuous Protection with LCR for ensuring server level protection of LCR configurations. Use Backup Exec Continuous Protection with LCR for ensuring off-site and off-server protection. LCR provides only a single local copy of a Storage Group 5
CCR Support Redirected Restore Support Continuous Protection 1 Granular Recovery Technology 2 Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) is designed to provide a higher level of availability for Exchange 2007 Mailbox servers by providing a clustered solution that takes advantage of the log shipping capabilities of LCR but extending them off-server Restore Exchange 2007 VSS databases to: Original or Alternate Storage Group Original or Alternate Database Name Any File System Location on Exchange Server Recovery Storage Groups (RSGs) Eliminates backup windows and enables email continuity Recovers to a specific time, even just 15 minutes ago Recovers critical individual Exchange documents such as emails, folders, or mailboxes in just seconds through the use of GRT Restores individual Exchange objects including individual mailboxes, private folders, public folders, and even individual email messages, contacts, and calendars Backups can be taken from primary or replica database If replica is not available for any reason at time of backup, backups can automatically occur on primary database instead Allows the freedom and flexibility to recover your Exchange when and where you need it Allows databases to be recovered to offline locations (e.g. d:\test) and log files replayed without affecting production databases Eliminate daily backup window for Exchange (including mailbox backup) Recover Exchange to a specific point in time Recover the Exchange data you want, when you want, where you want Eliminate mailbox backups forever Reduce recovery time of individual objects versus entire Exchange database Restore only the emails, mailboxes, for increased ability to quickly recover your most critical Exchange data 1 The Continuous Protection feature does not currently support Exchange 2007 Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) configurations. 2 Exchange 2007 (VSS) snapshot backups leveraging GRT, do not support off-host backups or backup-to-disk (B2D) locations on remote or network attached storage (NAS) devices. The B2D target locations for GRT-enabled backups of Exchange 2007 must be stored on a local drive to the Backup Exec Media Server 6
Full Disaster Recovery Support Backup and Restore Performance Complete Exchange Server Protection Single Instance Storage (SIS) Support Supports complete backups of all Exchange components including Storage Groups and mailbox databases No separate jobs for database and granular recovery of individual emails, mailboxes, or folders Uses the native Exchange Server backup APIs and messaging APIs for reliable Exchange protection Includes an Agent for Windows systems (Remote Agent for Windows Servers along with the Continuous Protection Agent) to ensure that all of the necessary data outside of Exchange on an Exchange Server can be just as easily protected Key management service database and site replication service databases can be easily protected if deployed Maintains Exchange s native singleinstance storage of attachments during database backups Provide full disaster recovery support of Exchange from an easy to use point-and-click interface Cut backup times by half or more by eliminating mailbox backups Obtain the benefits of individual mailbox, folder, and messagelevel recovery from your normal high-performance backups of the Exchange databases GRT-enabled backups support both the Microsoft Exchange (ESE) backup and restore APIs and use of the VSS snapshot backups 1 Includes everything you need for complete peace of mind for your Exchange Servers, including all Exchange and non-exchange Server data protected in an integrated fashion If these services databases have been deployed, they can be easily included in the traditional Exchange Server backups 3 Eliminate the backup of redundant copies of files sent to large numbers of users Reduce the time and media required to protect the Exchange environment 3 7
Exchange 2007 64-bit Architecture Needs Since Exchange Server 2007 runs exclusively on x64 Windows 2003, protecting Exchange 2007 with existing backup infrastructures becomes a large challenge for many organizations. Fortunately, Backup Exec 11d is there to provide a solution for existing 32-bit infrastructures to fully protect Exchange 2007, while also providing new 64-bit backup infrastructures a 64-bit version of Backup Exec the ability to seamlessly transition to that platform when ready at no additional charge. Backup Exec 11d is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Each version is capable protecting Exchange 2007, the underlying 32-bit or x64 Windows operating system, and Exchange Server s files and settings from a Windows 2003 system. For 32-bit versions of Backup Exec 11d, the Exchange 2007 System Management tools must be installed on the Backup Exec 11d server for communication with the 64-bit Exchange 2007 server. (see Figure 2) Figure 1. Exchange 2007 64-bit Architecture with 64-bit/Backup Exec 11d Switching to an Exchange 2007 VSS-based Backup Infrastructure Support in Exchange for Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) was introduced in Exchange Server 2003 and enhanced extensively by Microsoft for the Exchange 2007 release. Currently, most vendors, including Microsoft, do not provide an Exchange-aware VSS-based backup solution. The Windows Server 2003 Backup utility (NTBackup) does not support VSS backups of Exchange. NTBackup can take VSS shadow copies of the Exchange database and log files, but this is done at the file system level and these backups are not Exchange-aware VSS backups. Microsoft now recommends that backup applications be fully VSS aware and compliant. Please see the following Microsoft Technet articles for specific information on the advantages of VSS over legacy backup methods http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998870.aspx http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124515.aspx http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2004/06/25/166104.aspx 8
Traditional backups are not enough Current Exchange 2007 backup administrators have two basic ways to back up and restore Exchange 2007 Server data Using the Legacy Streaming API backup This method utilizes the legacy Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) api s from Microsoft that have been in use since early versions of Exchange and most other Exchange-capable backup software since their introduction, including the free Microsoft backup utility (NTbackup.exe). While these api s have been in use for some time, they are now being phased out in favor of newer more efficient technologies. Using the New VSS snapshot backup Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) is a new snapshot framework built by Microsoft for use in high-performance, low impact backups of most Microsoft applications and Operating Systems such as Microsoft Windows Server 2003. VSS support for Exchange was introduced originally in Exchange 2003. Please see the following chart to understand the key differences of backup and recovery functionality between NTBackup and Backup Exec 11d support for Exchange 2007 Exchange 2007 Data Protection and Recovery Functionality VSS-aware for Exchange 2007 VSS Based Snapshot Backups Continuous Protection to a Remote Location Granular Recovery of Messages, Mailboxes and Public Folders NTBackup NO NO NO Exchange 2007 w/backup Exec* YES YES YES LCR\CCR Replica Backup Support NO YES Point in Time Recovery Control NO YES Redirected Restores to VSS Supported Locations Complete Exchange 2007 Server Recovery in Minutes NO NO YES YES 9
Exchange 2007 Backup Types The Backup Exec 11d Exchange Agent offers several methods of performing an online or hot backup of Exchange 2007 databases, including: Backup Type Description Full Copy Incremental Differential A full backup is a complete backup that protects every selected Exchange 2007 database and all necessary log files. Log files older than the checkpoint at the time the backup was started are deleted after the backup completes successfully to prevent Exchange log files from accumulating A copy backup is a complete backup and is the same as a full backup except that Exchange 2007 log files are not deleted at the completion of the backup. You can perform a copy backup if you want to save a copy of your Exchange databases at a specific point in time. An incremental backup is a change-only backup that only archives the transaction log files since the last full or incremental backup. Log files older than the checkpoint are deleted after the backup is complete. You cannot perform an incremental backup when circular logging is enabled. To restore data from an incremental backup, you must have the most recent full backup and each subsequent incremental backup set available. After the restore process is complete, the transaction logs are applied to the Exchange database that you restored with the full backup. A differential backup is a change-only backup that only archives the transaction log files since the last full or incremental backup. The transaction logs are not deleted. You cannot perform a differential backup when circular logging is enabled. To restore data from a differential backup, you must have the most recent full and differential backups available. Each backup method has advantages and disadvantages, including: Full backup: Backs up the selected database and the associated transaction logs and then deletes the logs after backup. Full backups are the foundation backup type on which complex and scalable backup schemes can be based. If given a choice of only one method of backup, choose full. Copy backup: The copy backup does not remove the Exchange 2007 transaction log files. The log files must be removed via Full or Incremental backups or the log file drive will eventually fill up with Exchange transaction logs. If this occurs, your Exchange database will be taken offline until the log files are purged. Incremental backup: The advantage of the incremental method is that it backs up the least amount of data and therefore has the least impact on the Exchange Server. Another advantage is that it helps conserve log file space. The disadvantage is that all Incremental backups must be restored consecutively after restoring a Full backup. For example, if Full backups are performed Sunday and incremental backups during weekdays, then five (one Full, plus four Incremental) sets of data would be needed to recover from an Exchange-related disaster on Friday. 10
Differential backup: A Differential backup is a change-only backup that only backs-up the Exchange 2007 transaction log files since the last Full or Incremental backup. The transaction logs are not deleted. To restore data from a Differential backup, you must have the most recent Full and Differential backups available. Improving the Exchange 2007 Server Backup and Recovery Experience Backup Exec 11d (build 11.0.7170) embraces and extends Exchange 2007 functionality with unique capabilities and features not found in other traditional backup and recovery applications. Backup Exec 11d (build 11.0.7170) can be obtained from www.backupexec.com and is a free upgrade to all Backup Exec 11d customers. This update to Backup Exec can be installed directly over an existing Backup Exec 11d (build 11.0.6235) installation using existing 11d license keys and will upgrade existing jobs, schedules, settings, catalogs, etc. Please also see www.backupexec.com/exchange for demonstrations on Exchange specific features covered in this paper. Eliminate Exchange 2007 mailbox backups but still recover individual messages, folders, and mailboxes With Backup Exec 11d s revolutionary new Granular Recovery Technology (GRT)-enabled backups, Exchange 2007 mailboxes, messages, and folders are always backed up with the Exchange 2007 mailbox store databases. You no longer have to back up Exchange 2007 mailboxes separately from the databases to restore an individual mailbox, email message, public folder, private folder, contact, or calendar. If you select to enable the restore of individual items, you can restore individual mail messages and folders from the Exchange mailbox store database backups without having to restore the entire database. The benefits of GRT-enabled backups include: Back up big items but restore small items Single checkbox set and forget Easy Restore view In Backup Exec One-pass Exchange 2007 backups with Backup Exec Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) Prior to Backup Exec 11d, organizations backed up individual Exchange mailboxes separately from the information store so they could restore individual mailboxes. This resulted in additional time and media-consuming backups. With Backup Exec 11d, you can enable the option to restore individual mail messages and folders from information store backups. Backups are performed by simply selecting the big items such as Exchange Storage Group(s) or mailbox store(s) to back up. Since all user data is contained in the Exchange 2007 Server databases, protecting that data is the main objective. You can simply browse to the Exchange 2007 server you want to protect and select which mailbox stores or Storage Groups to protect. Again, unlike other backup solutions there is no need to select individual mailboxes for protection (see Figure 2). 11
Figure 2. Selecting Exchange data for GRT-enabled backup Symantec recommends that you select individual Storage Groups for backup rather than individual databases in Storage Groups. Although you can select individual databases in a Storage Group for backup, the transaction logs for the entire Storage Group are backed up for each database selected. For example, if you select four databases in a Storage Group for backup, the entire collection of transaction logs for the Storage Group is also backed up four times. The transaction logs are not deleted until a full backup is run on every database in the Storage Group. You can still restore an individual database from a Storage Group backup. Enabling GRT technology for single-pass backups of Exchange in Backup Exec is as simple as selecting a checkbox in the job properties of your Exchange 2007 backup. (see Figure 3). 12
Figure 3. Enabling restore of individual mail messages and folders If you checked Enable the restore of individual mail messages and folders from Information Store backups on the backup job properties for Exchange 2007 backups, then you can restore individual messages and folders from that backup. This setting enables Backup Exec to collect additional information during the backup and place it in the Backup Exec catalogs. This extra information enables you to restore single mail messages or folders from Exchange 2007 database backups sent to disk and/or tape. This setting is the default for all Exchange 2007 backups. GRT-enabled backups can be done to tape or disk; however, it is recommended that they be done to disk initially for quick recovery purposes, and then duplicated to tape if needed for off-site storage. GRT-enabled backups to tape require a two-step staging process for individual mailbox, message, and folder restores. GRT-enabled backups require the use a Backup Exec policy to control both the full and incremental backup schedules. Incremental GRTenabled backups must be done to disk only. Exchange 2007 Individual Mailbox, Message, and Public\Private Folder Recovery from GRT-enabled Backups Restores from GRT-enabled backups are just like browsing Microsoft Outlook to locate individual messages to recover. Simply browse to your Exchange 2007 backup set in the Backup Exec 11d Restore view to select the individual messages, mailboxes, or folder data you wish to recover. You can then restore the data to the original location or redirect the data to an alternate Exchange 2007 location. (see Figure 4) 13
Figure 4. GRT-based Restore View of Exchange 2007 Messages Important note: Backup Exec 11d also introduces a specific Backup Exec agent for Microsoft Active Directory. Just like the Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Exchange Servers, the Backup Exec Agent for Active Directory also includes the Granular Recovery Technology, enabling object level recovery of Active Directory from a single-pass backup without any reboots of your Active Directory Domain Controllers. For more information, please see the white paper on the new Backup Exec 11d Agent for Active Directory titled Quick Recovery of Microsoft Active Directory Using Symantec Backup Exec 11d Agent for Active Directory on http://www.symantec.com/enterprise/products/whitepapers.jsp?pcid=1018&pvid=57_1 Backup Exec 11d Continuous Protection of Exchange 2007 As previously mentioned, GRT-enabled backups provide administrators the best-of-both worlds by being able to protect Exchange at the Storage Group and Mailbox Store database level while also providing granular recovery of individual mailboxes, messages, and folders from a single-pass backup. Most organizations today run these traditional full or incremental backups of Exchange databases nightly using Backup Exec 11d. However, as Exchange has become mission critical to most organizations, the need for more frequent recoveries of Exchange data beyond daily backups has also increased. It is no longer acceptable for many organizations to only be able to recover Exchange mailboxes, messages, folders, and databases from the previous night s backups. The Symantec Backup Exec Continuous Protection Server (CPS) combines data protection with continuous protection (or replication) technology and disk-based data protection. The Continuous Protection of Exchange technology in Backup Exec 11d uses the same GRT-enabled technology for full database or granular recovery but extends it further by enabling these backups to occur more often to ensure Exchange 2007 recoveries are always possible. Continuous Protection enables Backup Exec to create GRT-enabled Recovery Points of Exchange 2007 at intervals that you specify in the Backup Exec console. With Continuous Protection for Exchange, you should 14
perform a Full backup once a week or once a month. Exchange transaction logs are continuous protected by Backup Exec, and are consolidated into easily managed Recovery Points automatically by Backup Exec to ensure you always have your Exchange databases protected up to the latest complete transaction log. When you enable Recovery Points to run at intervals between the weekly or monthly Full backups, you can restore individual mailboxes, messages, private and public folder of all Exchange Server components, including embedded objects, and attributes at a point in time when the Recovery Point was created. The Exchange database and transaction logs are completely protected and quickly recoverable in a disaster recovery situation to provide comprehensive protection for your Exchange environment. When CPS components are installed on the Backup Exec 11d media server and the Backup Exec 11d Agents on the Exchange Server, you can enable GRT technology and continuously protect Exchange 2007 data with these benefits: Eliminate daily backups Exchange 2007 is protected continuously Recover emails, folders, and mailboxes Seconds using GRT Technology Automatically truncate Exchange transaction logs for automated log growth control Provide complete disaster recovery of Exchange Databases up to the latest transaction log Configuring Continuous Protection Backup Jobs As described previously, GRT-enabled backups can be enabled as part of normal Exchange full or incremental backups by selecting a checkbox. Continuous Protection of Exchange uses the same GRT and principles. All interaction between Backup Exec and the Continuous Protection technology occurs on the Backup Exec 11d server. The Exchange Continuous Protection job is created, deleted, stopped, and started by Backup Exec. The Exchange transaction logs available on the Backup Exec server can be used for a complete restore of the Exchange databases or for GRT-enabled granular restore of individual mailboxes, messages, and folders. Exchange Storage Groups are initially selected for backup the same way as they are in a traditional Exchange backup. Symantec recommends that you select individual Storage Groups for backup rather than individual databases in Storage Groups. Although you can select individual databases in a Storage Group for backup, the transaction logs for the entire Storage Group are backed up for each database selected To configure continuous backups of Exchange, administrators only need to select a single checkbox and choose their recovery point creation interval from within the Backup Exec Job Properties screen (see Figure 5). 15
Figure 5. Selecting Exchange database for continuous backup Continuous Protection produces the same GRT-enabled backups that you can use to recover from, just more frequently. These frequent GRT-enabled backups are known as recovery points. Recovery points can only be created as part of the Continuous Protection strategy. If you choose not to use recovery points, individual mail messages and folders can only be recovered from the last full backup. As part of the Continuous Protection of Exchange, you can enable Backup Exec to make recovery points at intervals that you specify. Recovery points create backup sets that you can browse from the Restore view. You can recover individual messages or folders from a point in time when either a full backup or recovery point was run For more information on how to configure Backup Exec for Windows Servers (BEWS) and Backup Exec Continuous Protection Server (CPS) for a Continuous Exchange Backup job, please see the following document. http://library.veritas.com/docs/287706 The recovery point only affects Exchange resources in the backup selection list. Resources that are not related to Exchange but are in the same backup selection list are not affected by recovery points. If recovery points are set to occur less frequently than the default rate of every eight hours, transaction logs are also deleted less frequently and therefore use more disk space. If recovery points are set to occur more frequently than the default rate of every eight hours, some additional ramifications must be considered: The Job Monitor view and the restore selections list may become crowded and difficult to read. The performance of the Exchange Server may be slower than when the recovery points are set to occur at the default rate. 16
Each time a recovery point is made, it also truncates the Exchange 2007 transaction logs so that log growth is controlled. These recovery points are also designed to be virtualized and space saving to help ensure you are not creating new complete backups of Exchange that require additional disk space each time a new recovery point is created. The actual disk space consumed by an individual recovery point is only the size of the transaction logs that have been continuously protected combined with the associated last full backup. Automated transaction log management Exchange 2007 uses shared transaction logs for each database within a Storage Group (except in LCR\CCR configurations where only a single database per Storage Group is permitted), allowing the protection of Exchange in a highly granular manner via Continuous Protection of the logs of the individual mailbox store databases. Exchange Server can generate large numbers of transaction logs very quickly if the Exchange Server is busy. To control log growth, frequent incremental or full backups are required since Exchange Server deletes or truncates the committed log files after these types of backups. To help manage log file growth on the Exchange Server, each time a recovery point is made, Backup Exec truncates the transaction logs on the Exchange Server so that log growth is controlled automatically. Individual mailbox, message, and folder recovery Recovery points create virtual backup sets that represent points in time of your Exchange database. Simply browse through them to select data to restore from the Restore view of Backup Exec just like any other GRT-enabled backup of Exchange. You can recover individual messages or folders from a point in time when either a full backup or recovery point was run. Even without recovery points, you can restore individual messages or folders from any full backup. If you restore individual items from a GRT-enabled backup on tape device, then Backup Exec must temporarily stage the entire database to a path on the Backup Exec server to extract individual items. Because of the potentially large Exchange database file sizes that are created in the staging location path, system volumes should not be used as a staging location. To enter the path, on the Restore Job Properties pane, under Settings, click Advanced, and then enter a path in Path on media server for staging temporary restore data when restoring individual items from tape. For more information about this path, see Advanced options for restore jobs in the Backup Exec 11d Administrators Guide. Full mailbox store database recovery Backup Exec 11d s Continuous Protection technology is designed to take advantage of GRT technology to enable individual mailbox, message, and folder-level recovery when needed. However, in disaster recovery situations where an entire Exchange mailbox store database(s) is damaged or corrupted, a complete recovery is only a couple of clicks away with Backup Exec. Exchange transaction logs are files containing a running log of changes to the Exchange mailbox store database. Backup Exec 11d s Continuous Protection automatically combines full database backups and the continuously replicated Exchange transaction logs to provide a complete restore to any point in time of the Exchange mailbox store databases, including up to the latest complete transaction log. 17
To recover a database from error or corruption, Backup Exec can direct Exchange to replay these logs back into the database. Backup Exec 11d provides complete control during recovery of Exchange over how the transaction logs should be used during recovery. Backups of Exchange 2007 LCR and CCR Environments As Exchange is now often viewed as mission critical, it is important that it always be available. To meet this need, Exchange 2007 introduces two new technologies to expand the high-availability features of Exchange. Local Continuous Replication (LCR) and Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR). These technologies allow for a duplicate or replica copy of the database to be created and kept in-synch with the original production database through a process known as log shipping where the 1mb Exchange 2007 transaction log files are copied and replayed against the replica database. Replicas can replace the active database in the event that the active database is unavailable. When a storage group has been enabled for LCR, a second copy of the database in the storage group is created and automatically maintained in the location specified for the LCR copy. (see figure 5) LCR configurations provide several advantages to Exchange 2007 customers when configured, including: Reducing the recovery time from corruption or failure of a production database by allowing administrators to quickly switch to the secondary passive replica copy of the database with a two-step recovery In some cases, LCR can reduce the number of regular Full backups that are required for complete Exchange 2007 database protection. Backups are still critical to have of Exchange 2007 when a disaster strikes. Although LCR does not eliminate the need to take backups, in many cases it can reduce the need to take daily Full backups. Enabling you to offload the VSS backup process from the production storage group to the storage group passive replica copy. Minimal impact to production database and log disk I/O during backup from passive replica copy All four backup types (full, copy, incremental, and differential) can be taken from the LCR copy locations, which preserves valuable disk I/O on the active database logical unit numbers (LUNs) to serve clients. 18
Figure 5. LCR Configuration with Backup Exec 11d Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) is designed to provide a higher level of availability for Exchange 2007 Mailbox servers by providing a clustered solution that takes advantage of the log shipping capabilities of LCR but extending them off-server. CCR enables the continuous and asynchronous updating of a second passive copy of a database with the changes that have been made to the active copy of the database. During installation of the passive node in a CCR environment, each Storage Group, and its database is copied from the active node to the passive node. After the initial database copy is performed, log copying and replay are performed continuously by Exchange 2007. CCR advantages include: CCR has no single point of server failure that a LCR configuration does. Unlike other clustering situations, CCR as no special hardware requirements. CCR has no shared storage requirements or quorum disk requirements CCR can be deployed in geographically dispersed environments In some cases, CCR can reduce full backup frequency, reduce total backed up data volume, and shorten the service level agreement (SLA) for recovery time from first failure. Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) backups on the passive node are supported to allows administrators to offload backups from the active node and extend the backup window. 19
Figure 6. CCR Configuration with Backup Exec 11d Backup Exec 11d takes advantage of the second copy of the database and transaction log file in CCR and LCR by providing the ability to take VSS backups from the replica copy or the active database as an option. (see Figure 7). Backup Exec 11d VSS-enabled backups from Exchange 2007 LCR or CCR replica copy databases provide the following advantages: Reduces the impact of the backup on the production database because all the backup I/O traffic is derived from the replica copy location. Increases the backup window because backup traffic does not affect the client response times using the active production database. Increases the database maintenance window because maintenance can take place against the active copy while backups are in progress on the passive replica copy. Enables larger databases, due to a larger backup window, which enables a larger mailbox 20
Figure 7. LCR\CCR Replica or Active Backup Selection with Backup Exec 11d The Exchange Server 2007 VSS writer support in Backup Exec 11d is extremely powerful and flexible when it comes to protecting LCR and CCR configurations. Backup Exec can be leveraged to take snapshot-based VSS backups from either the active or passive replica copy of the Exchange database. Additionally, Backup Exec 11d also provides the ability to mix backup types between the active and passive replica databases. This allows low impact Full backups to be taken from the passive replica copy and a fast incremental or differential backup to be subsequently taken from the active production database and vice-versa to accommodate your needs of complete and flexible Exchange 2007 protection. Backup Exec 11d Continuous Protection with Exchange 2007 LCR Configurations The Full backup portion of the Continuous Protection of Exchange can occur from either the active or passive replica copy of the database. The Exchange 2007 log files however are continuously protected from the active copy to ensure the highest level of recovery. Other Advantages of Backup Exec 11d w/grt with Exchange 2007 LCR and CCR Configurations Local Continuous Replication (LCR) and Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) provide a limited level of protection for Exchange 2007 mailbox data out of the box. However, LCR and CCR are not replacements for regular Exchange 2007 backups. LCR and CCR copies are near-time copies of the running database. LCR and CCR provide only a single copy of the database to recover from They are continuously updated and used for fast recovery purposes. In the event of a virus outbreak or physical corruption of log files, those issues would be passed from the primary to the 21
replica copy of the database. Additionally, LCR and CCR provide no native ability to recover individual mailboxes, messages, or public\private folders. Backup Exec 11d s new GRT technology and Continuous Protection technology fully supports LCR and CCR environments and overcomes several of the major limitations associated with traditional LCR-only or CCR-only recoveries. Backup Exec 11d s Continuous Protection of Exchange support is designed to work with LCR (not CCR) configurations to provide additional capabilities beyond what LCR can provide natively. This includes: Ability to backup LCR configurations to provide off-server support without the need to implement clustering Ability to provide granular recovery of mailboxes, messages, and folders from LCR replica backups Ability to create multiple point-in-time copies of LCR environments The following chart illustrates some of the key advantages of using Backup Exec 11d with LCR and CCR configurations. Considerations Exchange 2007 LCR\CCR Backup Exec 11d with LCR\CCR Ease of Restore Process Integrated Solution One-Pass Fast Individual Object Recovery Multi-step process using PowerShell Command line NO Requires use of separate utility (EXMerge) in Exchange Server 2003 to extract mailbox data from the stores into.pst files and optionally to merge the extracted data back into the online stores. * NO Entire Exchange database must be recovered first to RSG first to recover an individual mailbox with ExMerge utility. Single-step process from Backup Exec GUI* * Yes All needed components are included and integrated with Backup Exec 11d Agent for Microsoft Exchange Server. YES GRT allows for direct individual, mailbox, message, and private and public folder restore without restoring entire Exchange database first. * * Requires LCR\CCR replication to be temporary disabled during restore process via PowerShell command line ** CCR configurations are not currently supported with the Continuous Protection of Exchange features of Backup Exec 11d 22
VSS Snapshot Support NO LCR\CCR is not a replacement for regular backups. Data cannot be restored from VSS snapshot backups. YES GRT supports database, individual mailbox, message, and folder recovery from Exchange 2007 VSS snapshot backups. Public Folder Restore NO Public folder stores are not supported for restore using the Recovery Storage Group. YES Public folders can be restored directly by Backup Exec 11d GRTenabled backups to original or redirected locations. Continuous Protection to a Remote Location without need for cluster Multiple-backup Copies NO Not supported NO LCR\CCR can only keep a single current copy of the database and is not a replacement for backup YES Backup Exec Continuous Protection for Exchange supports LCR configurations for off-server continuous protection** YES Backup Exec 11d supports creating Tape and Disk Support NO YES Backup Exec 11d supports disk and tape backups of Exchange 2007 as well as integrated disk-to-disk-totape support (D2D2T)*** Entire Exchange Server Restore NO YES Entire Exchange Server can be recovered from Backup Exec 11d backups. *** If you restore individual items from a GRT-enabled backup to a tape device, then Backup Exec must temporarily stage the entire database to a path on the Backup Exec server to extract individual items. Exchange 2007 LCR\CCR Recovery Recoveries of Exchange 2007 databases in a LCR\CCR environment are also done using the Exchange 2007 VSS infrastructure. The recovery procedures of a database in a LCR\CCR environment are similar to recovering a standard Exchange 2007 configuration, with the following exceptions: Restores are only supported to the Active location of the database. You cannot restore directly to the passive replica location. This is a limitation of Exchange 2007. 23
Before you restore a database from a Storage Group that was configured for LCR\CCR, you should disable replication for the Storage Group. After the restore has completed, you can reconfigure the Storage Group to begin replication again Exchange 2007 LCR\CCR Data Protection Best Practices To decide which backup methods to use, consider the following. Before enabling LCR, make sure that you have sufficient disk space to store the LCR copy If a backup of a storage group is taken from a replica, you cannot initiate a backup from the active storage group until the first backup finishes Back up Exchange data to disk if possible. If Exchange data such as mailboxes, folders, and even individual messages are the main restore cases for your environment, consider backing up Exchange data to disk through GRT-enabled backups. This allows for very quick restores of individual Exchange items without staging the entire Exchange database backup to disk first to do the restore. A common task during Exchange-aware backups is the truncation of transaction log files after the backup has completed successfully. The replication feature in LCR guarantees that logs that have not been replicated are not deleted. As a result, running backups in a mode that deletes logs may not actually free space if replication is sufficiently far behind in its log copying. System Requirements To support the restore of GRT individual mail messages and folders from information store backups, the Backup Exec server must be installed on a Windows operating system that supports mini-filter drivers including: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (with at least Service Pack 1) Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Editions The Microsoft CDO/MAPI Client Package for Exchange 2007 must be installed on the Exchange 2007 server to enable GRT backups. The package can be downloaded from Microsoft here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2714320d-c997-4de1-986f- 24F081725D36&displaylang=en To support Backup Exec Continuous Protection of Exchange, the following requirements must be met: CPS must be installed on the Backup Exec 11d media server. Exchange must be installed on a system remote to the Backup Exec 11d media server. They cannot be installed on the same system. Both the Backup Exec 11d Remote Agent for Windows Servers and the Continuous Protection Agent must be installed on the Exchange 2007 Server Both CPS agents must use the Backup Exec service account. The service account must have domain and local administrator rights CPS does not support and will not function properly in a CCR environment If this option is selected, also select a backup-to-disk folder on a local NTFS volume as the destination device. Note: Exchange 2007 backups cannot be done from a Windows 2000 server with Backup Exec 11d 24
Exchange 2007 Data Protection General Guidelines Exchange 2007 greatly expands the number of Storage Groups permitted with up to 50 Storage Groups on Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition. It is highly recommended that a single database per Storage Group configuration be used to enable the simplest and most granular recovery capabilities for the database Avoid making the Exchange Server a domain controller. For disaster recovery purposes, it is much easier to restore Exchange if you don t have to first restore the Exchange Server or primary domain controller. Do not install Exchange into a domain that does not have at least two domain controllers. Database replication is not possible with only one domain controller in a domain. If the domain controller fails and corrupts the Exchange Server, some transactions may not be recoverable if they were not included with the last backup. With at least two domain controllers in a domain, databases on the failed domain controller can be updated using replication to fill in missing transactions after the database backups have been restored. To restore a consistent snapshot of backup data during disaster recovery, a good strategy is to coordinate the full backups of the Windows operating system files, Exchange Server application files, and the Windows system state with the full backups of the Exchange Server database. Follow this strategy for differential or incremental backups of files and database backups too. If this cannot be accomplished, at least back up the Windows system state with each Exchange database backup since this will not add much time to your backup and will provide a higher degree of protection for a disaster recovery. Disable Write Cache on the SCSI controller. Windows does not use buffers, so when Exchange (or other applications) receives a write complete notice from Windows, the write to disk has been completed. If Write Cache is enabled, Windows responds as though a write to disk has been completed, and it will provide this information to Exchange (or other applications) incorrectly. The result could be data corruption if there is a system crash before the operation is written to disk. Locate transaction log files on a separate physical disk from the database. This is the single most important configuration affecting the performance of Exchange. This configuration also has recovery implications, since transaction logs provide an additional recovery resource. Continuous Protection of Exchange does not support the delegation of Exchange Continuous Protection jobs to Backup Exec Central Admin Server Option (CASO) managed media servers. Continuous Protection of Exchange jobs must be created and managed on the Backup Exec media servers. Disable circular logging. Circular logging minimizes the risk that the hard disk will be filled with transaction log files. But, if a solid backup strategy is in place, transaction log files are purged during the backup, thus freeing disk space. If circular logging is enabled, transaction log histories are overwritten, incremental and differential backups of Storage Groups and databases are disabled, and recovery is only possible up to the point of the last full or copy backup. After a restore of a Storage Group or mailbox store that is being protected by a CPS job has been completed, you must rerun the CPS backup job to restart the replication and recovery points. 25
Summary Microsoft Exchange Server has quickly risen to mission-critical status in many companies; therefore, keeping it highly available and protecting its data is not an option, but a business requirement. Exchange 2007 Server introduces a number of new challenges to your existing backup and recovery environment which can make administration of the backup process complex, time consuming, and challenging. Backup Exec 11d now includes full support of Exchange 2007 to help alleviate the complexities of protecting Exchange 2007 and eliminates the new backup challenges introduced by Exchange 2007 including full 64-bit support, the new VSS backup infrastructure, and LCR\CCR configurations. Additionally, Backup Exec 11 removes the traditional tradeoffs of database versus individual mailbox backups with its revolutionary Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) for single-pass database backups with individual mailbox, message, and folder recovery. In addition to GRT, the Continuous Protection of Exchange features of Backup Exec 11d allow for more opportunities to recover your critical Exchange 2007 data, including mailboxes, folders, messages, or the entire database, while eliminating the traditional daily Exchange backup window. Continuous Protection eliminates any daily Exchange backups and helps ensure you can recover the Exchange data you want, when you want it. Together, GRT and Continuous Protection offer your environment the Exchange protection and recovery technologies your organization needs to succeed with Microsoft Exchange 2007. Please take the time to visit www.backupexec.com/exchange for more information on this subject and to download the trial version of Backup Exec 11d (build 11.0.7170) with Exchange 2007 support. About Symantec Symantec is the world leader in providing solutions to help individuals and enterprises assure the security, availability, and integrity of their information. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in more than 40 countries. More information is available at www.symantec.com. For specific country offices and contact numbers, please visit our Web site. For product information in the U.S., call toll-free 1 (800) 745 6054. Symantec Corporation World Headquarters 20330 Stevens Creek Boulevard Cupertino, CA 95014 USA +1 (408) 517 8000 1 (800) 721 3934 www.symantec.com Copyright 2007 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec, the Symantec Logo, BindView, Enterprise Security Manager, Sygate, Veritas, Enterprise Vault, NetBackup and LiveState are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. 26