meliora Posted September 21, 2004 Report Share Posted September 21, 2004 Hi there, I have scoured the dantz manuals, website kb, googled, and cannot find a FAQ/how-to that simply tells exactly what files need to be backed up on my Exchange 5.5 server (running under Win2K), using Retrospect 6.5 with Exchange, in order to be able to restore properly in the event of complete data loss. I'm using retrospect 6.5 multi-server, and backing up exchange 5.5/win2k machine as a network client, with the exchange agent installed. Can anyone point me to a how-to that explains the whole process (exactly what exchange and windows files need to be backed up, such as edb, log, pat, win system, registry files, etc). Do I need to back up the exchange container? Storage Group? Mailboxes? All of them? The 6.5 UG (pg 275) seems to say that backing up "any or all" of these will yield a valid backup and allow for later restore, but the wording doesn't give me confidence. I also read in the manual (pg 276 of 6.5 user's guide) that after you've backed up databases, you can't necessarily restore from a single backup set (you may need other backup sets) like you would with files, "depending on your backup strategy", but it doesn't say why or in what scenarios. Does anyone know what scenarios would require multiple backup sets (assuming each backup set has at least one "full" backup)? Also, is it necessary to create an exchange user just to do the retrospect backups? Have I missed some obvious faq? Thanks to any takers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Hi Retrospect knows which files need to be backed up so you don't have to. All you need to do is choose the exchange database as the source for your backup. This will backup all of the files needed to restore the entire database. In other words you don't have to tell Retrospect to back up edb files, log files etc. Retrospect alreay knows what to backup. If you want the ability to restore individual messages or mailboxes you will also need to back up mailboxes seperately. Esentially this means you will backup the exchange databases twice. One time as the full database, another time as seperate mailboxes. If you do full backups of exchange every day you will be able to do a full restore from any backup set. If you do differential or incremental exchange backups you may have to use tapes/disks from multiple backup sets to do a full restore. There are reasons for this but it is really confusing. Its best to do at least one "full" exchange backup any time you change backup sets. If Retrospect runs OK without the Retrosepct user account then there is no need to set it up. In the long run it may be better to do so anyway. Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meliora Posted September 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Thanks for the help. So does that mean with Retro 6.5 I don't even need to run the Exchange Agent before running my backup? In versions 5.5 and 6, you needed to schedule the Exchange agent to run before your regular backup ran. And I'm assuming I don't HAVE to backup mailboxes for the full backup to work? Only if I want to be able to restore individual mailboxes? Lastly, so you're saying if I do one "full" exchange backup as the first backup after I've changed storage sets, then I won't ever need to use multiple backup sets to do a full database restore (as they obscurely refer to in the manual)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natew Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Ah - I see your confusion now. In Retrospect 6.5 the exchange agent add on is built into the software. You don't need to use a seperate exchange agent like past versions of Retrospect. You are correct about the mailboxes, you only need to back them up if you want to be able to restore individual mailboxes. Quote: Lastly, so you're saying if I do one "full" exchange backup as the first backup after I've changed storage sets, then I won't ever need to use multiple backup sets to do a full database restore (as they obscurely refer to in the manual)? Exactly. Retrospect uses progressive backup to track which files need to be backed up. Unfortunately Exchange does not understand progressive backup. In other words Exchange doesn't know where the full backup and incremental backups are stored. It just knows to do an incremental backup copying only the data that is new or changed since the last incremental backup. Confused now? The bottom line is do full exchange backups relatively often and especially when you change backup sets or run a recycle backup. Then you'll be fine. Thanks Nate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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