Symantec Enterprise Vault Technical Note Backing up Enterprise Vault in a clustered environment Windows December 2006
Symantec Enterprise Vault Backing up Enterprise Vault in a clustered environment Copyright 2006 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec Enterprise Vault 7.0 Symantec, the Symantec logo, and Enterprise Vault 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. The product described in this document is distributed under licenses restricting its use, copying, distribution, and decompilation/reverse engineering. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written authorization of Symantec Corporation and its licensors, if any. THIS DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED AS IS AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID, SYMANTEC CORPORATION SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH THE FURNISHING PERFORMANCE, OR USE OF THIS DOCUMENTATION. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENTATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. The Licensed Software and Documentation are deemed to be commercial computer software and commercial computer software documentation as defined in FAR Sections 12.212 and DFARS Section 227.7202. Symantec Corporation 20330 Stevens Creek Blvd. Cupertino, CA 95014 www.symantec.com
Contents Introduction... 5 Creating a batch file for use in a clustered environment... 6 Obtaining the batch file template... 6 Overview of the batch file actions... 6 Changing to read-only mode... 6 Returning to read-write mode... 7 The noexecute option... 7 Editing the batch file template... 7 CLUSTER_TYPE... 8 SERVERNAME... 8 EXCHANGESERVER... 8 CLUSTERNAME... 8 CLUSTERGROUP... 8 TASKS_LIST... 8 SERVICES_LIST... 9 Testing and implementing your batch file... 9
4 Contents
Backing up Enterprise Vault in a clustered environment This Technical Note provides supplementary information for the Administrator s Guide on how to back up Enterprise Vault when it is clustered using VERITAS Cluster Server (VCS) or Microsoft server clusters. It describes how to create a batch file to perform the required tasks to place Enterprise Vault in read-only mode before a backup, and to return it to read-write mode after a backup, allowing you to perform backups while Enterprise Vault remains online. Introduction The Enterprise Vault Backup Procedures chapter in the Administrator s Guide explains that during a backup, a user or process must not add new data to Enterprise Vault because integrity would be lost between the databases, indexes, and vault stores. A backup should represent one snapshot in the past to which you can revert. Ideally you should stop all Enterprise Vault services during the allocated time for backups and then restart them when the backup is complete. However, it is possible to stop only the key components of the Storage and Indexing services that affect backup integrity. Using this approach, the Enterprise Vault services can be left running during the backup of Enterprise Vault, enabling users to access archived messages from both Outlook and the search application. The Administrator s Guide describes a procedure for performing online backups using this approach: see the section Performing Online Backups in the Enterprise Vault Backup Procedures chapter. The section describes how to create batch files for stopping the key components before backup and for
6 Backing up Enterprise Vault in a clustered environment starting them again when the backup is completed. However, the batch files described in the Administrator s Guide are not suitable for use in a clustered Enterprise Vault environment. Creating a batch file for use in a clustered environment This Technical Note describes how to edit a supplied batch file template for use in a VCS or a Microsoft server cluster environment. After suitable editing you can use the batch file to: Stop the key components so that Enterprise Vault is in a read-only condition during a backup. Return Enterprise Vault to a read-write condition after a backup. The batch file template is named EVOPMODE.BAT. It can also be edited for use in a non-clustered environment, if required. EVOPMODE.BAT uses EVService, a command-line utility that is described in the Utilities manual. For this reason, you should run the batch file from the Enterprise Vault installation folder (typically C:\Program Files\Enterprise Vault) or include the installation folder on your path. Obtaining the batch file template You can download EVOPMODE.BAT from the following link on the Symantec Support Web site: http://support.veritas.com/docs/286317. Note: The supplied file is only a template. It requires editing before it can be used. Overview of the batch file actions After suitable editing you can use EVOPMODE.BAT to perform the following actions. Changing to read-only mode Run the following command to place Enterprise Vault in read-only mode before backup: evopmode readonly This command provides the mechanisms to: Stop all Enterprise Vault tasks and the Storage, Indexing, and Shopping services
Backing up Enterprise Vault in a clustered environment 7 Make the necessary registry changes Start all the Enterprise Vault tasks and the Storage, Indexing and Shopping services again Note: EVOPMODE.BAT changes the required registry settings without the need for the registry files described in Step 2 of the Performing Online Backups section of the Enterprise Vault Backup Procedures chapter of the Administrator s Guide. Returning to read-write mode Run the following command to return Enterprise Vault to read-write mode after a backup has completed: evopmode readwrite This command provides the mechanisms to: Stop all Enterprise Vault tasks and the Storage, Indexing, and Shopping services Change the registry back to its original configuration Start all the Enterprise Vault tasks and the Storage, Indexing and Shopping services again The noexecute option EVOPMODE.BAT has a noexecute option for use in conjunction with the readonly or readwrite options. If you specify noexecute, the file performs no actions, but simply lists the actions it would take, and reports any problems. For example, to run the batch file with the readonly option but without performing any actions, enter the command: evopmode readonly noexecute Editing the batch file template Before running EVOPMODE.BAT you must edit it to provide details of your VCS or Microsoft server cluster configuration, and to specify the Enterprise Vault tasks and services to stop and start. In a clustered environment you should typically create a batch file for each virtual server. EVOPMODE.BAT is supplied with detailed comments. Follow these carefully when editing the file. You need to edit the file to provide suitable values for the following variables.
8 Backing up Enterprise Vault in a clustered environment CLUSTER_TYPE Set the value of CLUSTER_TYPE to one of: VCS for VERITAS Cluster Server MSCS for Microsoft server cluster NONE for an unclustered environment SERVERNAME Set the value of SERVERNAME to the name of the Enterprise Vault server to be backed up. In a cluster, this must be the name of the virtual server. EXCHANGESERVER Set the value of EXCHANGESERVER to the name of the Exchange Server processed by the Enterprise Vault server. EXCHANGESERVER is used when creating the list of tasks for the TASKS_LIST variable (see TASKS_LIST on page 8). If the Enterprise Vault server processes multiple Exchange Servers, you may want to create additional Exchange Server variables here, such as EXCHANGESERVER2, for use when specifying tasks for the additional Exchange servers in the TASKS_LIST. CLUSTERNAME Set the value of CLUSTERNAME to the name of the cluster. In a VCS environment, remember that cluster names are case-sensitive. CLUSTERGROUP Set the value of CLUSTERGROUP to the name of the service group (VCS) or resource group (MSCS) used by the virtual server. In a VCS environment, remember that the service group name is case-sensitive. TASKS_LIST The value of TASKS_LIST determines the list of tasks to be stopped and started. The batch file sets the value of TASKS_LIST by concatenating the tasks listed in the lines beginning SET TASKS_LIST. The batch file allows for two methods of starting and stopping tasks. Use either one of these methods: Start and stop tasks individually using EVService. If you use this method you must edit the list of tasks to remove any that do not apply to your
Backing up Enterprise Vault in a clustered environment 9 particular installation. If the Enterprise Vault server processes more than one Exchange Server, you must add the tasks for the additional Exchange Servers. Use the Enterprise Vault Task Controller Service to stop and start the tasks. If you use this method: Ensure that all Enterprise Vault tasks are set to automatic startup. Edit the SET TASKS_LIST values to remove all lines except the line: SET TASKS_LIST= Edit the SET SERVICES_LIST values to add the Enterprise Vault TaskControllerService. See SERVICES_LIST on page 9. SERVICES_LIST The value of SERVICES_LIST determines the list of services to be stopped and started. The batch file sets the value of SERVICES_LIST by concatenating the services listed in the lines beginning SET SERVICES_LIST. You must edit this list to specify the services to be stopped and started. Normally in a clustered environment you need to list the Storage, Indexing and Shopping services, as already supplied. If you want to use the Enterprise Vault TaskControllerService to stop and start Enterprise Vault tasks, you must add the following entry (all on one line) to this list: SET SERVICES_LIST=%SERVICES_LIST% Enterprise Vault Task Controller Service In a VCS environment, remember that service names are case-sensitive. Testing and implementing your batch file When you have edited EVOPMODE.BAT, test both the readonly and readwrite options with the noexecute option. View the output to determine what effect running the file would have. Edit and test the file further, as necessary. Finally, at a convenient time for your organization, execute the batch file without noexecute and watch the services in the Control Panel to make sure they are stopping and starting all of the necessary Enterprise Vault services. When you have verified that the batch file is configured correctly for your environment, schedule the execution of the batch file according to the starting and stopping of your backup software. Some backup applications have an option to run a batch file before and after a backup job, but if yours does not, use the Windows Task Scheduler. If you are scheduling the batch file manually, it may require some trial and error to find the appropriate times. Be sure to allow extra time after the backup before executing the batch file that returns Enterprise Vault to read-write mode, in case the backup takes longer than normal.
10 Backing up Enterprise Vault in a clustered environment