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Windows Backup, Windows 2008 and Exchange 2007…

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What are the options for backing up Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows 2008?

  1. Microsoft’s VSS based application that supports the Exchange 2007 VSS Writer. (..DPM in other words)
  2. 3rd party ‘Exchange aware’ VSS based application
  3. 3rd party ‘Exchange aware’ streaming backup that uses the backup APIs locally on the Exchange Server and makes a backup locally
  4. 3rd party ‘Exchange aware’ streaming backup that uses the backup APIs locally on the Exchange Server that uses a local agent to stream the backup remotely to a backup application
  5. NTBackup from Windows 2003 running locally (‘Backing up Exchange 2007 on Windows 2008’)
  6. NTBackup and a registry change to backup Exchange remotely from a Windows 2003 Server (See ‘Using Backup to Back Up and Restore Exchange Data’)

*Note that options 5 and 6 are unfortunately not supported by Microsoft.

The main problem I’d have thought is going to be small branch offices or small companies that have relied on NTBackup in the past and I imagine there is going to be a lot of these.  (For test rigs surely an unsupported NTBackup or circular logging (or CRCL) will be sufficient?)

..and I’m not sure what the answer is.  DPM will work remotely very successfully so for a lot of branch office scenarios it may do the trick.  ..and for smaller companies DPM is not a huge investment and is, in my experience, very easy to operate and manage so could be the answer..?  Would still like to see the Windows 2008 Windows Backup utility support Exchange though…

And just to reiterate:

“Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2008 no longer supports Exchange-aware backups or restores. Unlike earlier versions of Windows Backup, you cannot make or restore streaming backups of Exchange by using Windows Server Backup. To back up and restore Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) on Windows Server 2008, you must use an Exchange-aware application that supports the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) writer for Exchange 2007, such as Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager, a third-party Exchange-aware VSS-based application, or a third-party Exchange-aware application that uses the streaming backup APIs locally on the Exchange server to make a backup locally on the Exchange server. An application that uses a backup agent that runs locally on the Exchange server and streams the backup remotely to a backup application is considered a local backup.”  (@ technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998870.aspx)